title: Effects of thonningianin A in natural foods on apoptosis and cell cycle arrest of HepG-2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
abstract: The anti-cancer activities of Thonningianin A on the HepG-2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line were evaluated by MTT assay, flow cytometry, quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting. Results showed that Thonningianin A effectively inhibited the proliferation of HepG-2 cells by inducing apoptosis, as evidenced by increase in the sub-G1 cell population, DNA fragmentation, and increase in the content of reactive oxygen species. Activation of caspase-9 and the subsequent activation of caspase-3 indicated that Thonningianin A-induced apoptosis is caspase-dependent. Thonningianin A also disrupted the mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) and down-regulated the Bcl-xL mRNA expression in HepG-2 cells. Thonningianin A induced cell cycle arrest by changing the cyclin D1 and CDK4 mRNA expression levels. Moreover, western blotting showed that Thonningianin A significantly down-regulated the NF-kappa-B cell survival pathway, along with up-regulation of the expression level of phosphorylated P38 and down-regulation of the expression level of phosphorylated ERK. The anti-cancer activity of Thonningianin A was confirmed by the characteristic patterns of DNA fragmentation and cell cycle arrest, suggesting that Th A is an effective antitumor ingredient in natural plant foods, and is worthy of further study.
authors.affiliation: College of Food and Bioengineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China. jgjiang@scut.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Tian-Tian
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jian-Guo
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D053453:Caspase 9 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D059447:Cell Cycle Checkpoints / Q000187:drug effects*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D019938:Cyclin D1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D056945:Hep G2 Cells; D006801:Humans; D047348:Hydrolyzable Tannins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D047348:Hydrolyzable Tannins; C411320:thonningianin A; D019938:Cyclin D1; D053148:Caspase 3; D053453:Caspase 9