title: Methylsulfonylmethane suppresses hepatic tumor development through activation of apoptosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the effect of methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), recently reported to have anti-cancer effects, in liver cancer cells and transgenic mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three liver cancer cell lines, HepG2, Huh7-Mock and Huh7-H-ras (G12V), were used. Cell growth was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 and soft agar assay. Western blot analysis was used to detect caspases, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) expressions. For in vivo study, we administered MSM to H-ras (12V) transgenic mice for 3 mo.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MSM decreased the growth of HepG2, Huh7-Mock and Huh7-H-ras (G12V) cells in a dose-dependent manner. That was correlated with significantly increased apoptosis and reduced cell numbers in MSM treated cells. Cleaved caspase-8, cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved PARP were remarkably increased in the liver cancer cells treated with 500 mmol/L of MSM; however, Bcl-2 was slightly decreased in 500 mmol/L. Liver tumor development was greatly inhibited in the H-ras (12V) transgenic mice treated with MSM, compared to control, by showing reduced tumor size and number. Cleaved PARP was significantly increased in non-tumor treated with MSM compared to control.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Liver injury was also significantly attenuated in the mice treated with MSM. Taken together, all the results suggest that MSM has anti-cancer effects through inducing apoptosis in liver cancer.
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Joo-Hyun
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hye-Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hye-Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Tae-Ho
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Mi-Ra
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hyung-Bae
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Eun-Sang
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Hwa-Young
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Son
authors.affiliation: Joo-Hyun Kim, Hye-Jun Shin, Hye-Lin Ha, Young-Ho Park, Tae-Ho Kwon, Mi-Ra Jung, Dae-Yeul Yu, Aging Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-806, South Korea.
authors.forename: Dae-Yeul
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: Anti-cancer effects; Hepatic tumorigenesis; Liver cancer cells; Methylsulfonylmethane; Transgenic mice