title: Liquiritigenin induces mitochondria-mediated apoptosis via cytochrome c release and caspases activation in HeLa Cells.
abstract: It has been demonstrated that many flavonoids possess a potent and broad spectrum of antitumor activity. Liquiritigenin is a flavanone extracted from Glycyrrhizae. This study investigated the effects of liquiritigenin on cell viability and apoptosis induction in human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells. The results show that liquiritigenin significantly suppressed cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner in HeLa cells. In addition, liquiritigenin promoted apoptosis in HeLa cells, evidenced by apoptotic morphological changes and Annexin-V binding. The apoptosis induction with liquiritigenin is associated with the up-regulation of p53 and Bax, along with down-regulation of Bcl-2 and survivin. Finally, examination of the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis revealed that cytochrome c is released from mitochondria to cytosol, associated with the activation of caspase-9 and -3, and the cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Overall, the results indicate that liquiritigenin induces apoptosis in part via the mitochondrial pathway, which is associated with p53 up-regulation, release of cytochrome c and elevated activity of caspase-9 and -3 in HeLa cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Nanjing Medical University, 140 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing 210029, PR China.
authors.forename: Changwei
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Sirou
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Yijing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Xiangmei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Xiaoting
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yunqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D053453:Caspase 9 / Q000378:metabolism*; D002470:Cell Survival; D045304:Cytochromes c / Q000378:metabolism*; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D044950:Flavanones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D000077022:Survivin; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C107489:BIRC5 protein, human; D044950:Flavanones; D051034:Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D000077022:Survivin; C495901:TP53 protein, human; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; D045304:Cytochromes c; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; C506433:CASP9 protein, human; D053148:Caspase 3; D053453:Caspase 9; C083152:liquiritigenin