Effect of Sonic Hedgehog signaling blockade on growth of hepatocarcino-ma cells / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM:To investigate the effect of Sonic Hedgehog ( Shh) signaling blockade on the growth of hema-tocarcinoma cells and underlying mechanisms.METHODS: The expression of Shh signaling molecules in hematocarci-noma cell lines BEL-7402, Huh7 and HepG2 was detected by RT-PCR.The cell viability was detected by MTT assay.The cell cycle and apoptosis were analyzed by flow cytometry.The expression of apoptosis-related proteins was determined by Western blot.RESULTS:Shh signaling molecules were all expressed in BEL-7402, Huh7 and HepG2 cells.The mRNA expression of Patched ( Ptch) , Gli1 and Gli2 was down-regulated by anti-Shh antibody.Blockade of Shh signaling pathway inhibited the proliferation of hepatocarcinoma cells with increasing cells in G0/G1 phase and induced the apoptosis of hepa-tocarcinoma cells.Treatment with anti-Shh antibody down-regulated the protein expression of pro-caspase-3, pro-caspase-8 and pro-caspase-9, while up-regulated the protein levels of cleaved caspase-3, cleaved caspase-8 and cleaved caspase-9 in BEL-7402 cells.CONCLUSION:Blockade of Shh signaling pathway inhibits the growth of hepatocarcinoma at different levels by cell cycle arrest and inducing apoptosis of hematocarcinoma cells.