7-3--dihydroxy-4--methoxyisoflavone and Liver-Neoplasms

Thioredoxin1 (TRX1) is a key protein that regulates redox and is considered to be a key target for cancer therapy. Flavonoids have been proven to have good antioxidant and anticancer activities. This study aimed to investigate whether the flavonoid calycosin-7-glucoside (CG) exerts an anti-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) role by targeting TRX1. Different doses of CG were used to treat HCC cell lines Huh-7 and HepG2 to calculate the IC

Topics: Animals; Apoptosis; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Liver Neoplasms; Mice; Mitochondria; Molecular Docking Simulation; Oxidative Stress; Thioredoxins

Calycosin is one of the main ingredients extracted from the Chinese medical herb, Radix astragali (RA). It has been shown to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in several cancer cell lines, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The effects of calycosin on the proliferation and apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, as well as its mechanism, were investigated in this study. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay results suggested that calycosin had anti-proliferation effects on HCC in dose- and time-dependent manners, and had less cytotoxicity in normal cells. Hoechst/PI double staining and flow cytometry results showed cellular morphological changes and apoptosis after treatment of HepG2 cells with calycosin. The western blot assay showed calycosin decreased the expression of Bcl-2 and increased the expression of Bax, caspase-3, and PARP. Calycosin induced the activation of MAPK, STAT3, NF-κB, apoptosis-related proteins, and induced cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase by regulating AKT. In addition, calycosin reduced the expression of TGF-β1, SMAD2/3, SLUG, and vimentin. Furthermore, phosphorylation, apoptosis, and cell migration induced by calycosin were mediated by the production of reactive oxygen species. These events could be inhibited by pretreatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine. Calycosin resisted HCC by activating ROS-mediated MAPK, STAT3, and NF-κB signaling pathways.

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Apoptosis; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cell Cycle Checkpoints; Cell Movement; Cell Survival; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Isoflavones; Liver Neoplasms; Mitochondria; Reactive Oxygen Species

Topics: Antineoplastic Agents; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Caspase 3; Caspase 9; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Drug Stability; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Hep G2 Cells; Humans; Interferon-gamma; Isoflavones; Liver Neoplasms; Protein Folding; Thermodynamics

We cocultured calycosin with human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (BEL-7402) to investigate the effect on cell proliferation. Calycosin can markedly block the cell growth in G1 phase (P < 0.01) on the IC50 concentration. There were seventeen genes involved in cell-cycle regulation showing differentially expressed in treated cells detected by gene chip. Eight genes were upregulated and nine genes were downregulated. Downregulated TFDP-1, CDKN2D, and SPK2 and upregulated CDC2 and CCNB1 might affect cell cycle of tumor cells. Furthermore, we checked the transcription pattern using 2D gel method to find different expression of proteins in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells after exposure to calycosin. Fourteen proteins were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Twelve proteins expression were increased such as transgelin 2, pyridoxine 5'-phosphate, stress-induced-phosphoprotein 1, peroxiredoxin 1, endoplasmic reticulum protein 29, and phosphoglycerate mutase 1. Only thioredoxin peroxidase and high-mobility group box1 proteins' expression decreased. Both genes and proteins changes might be relate to the mechanism of antitumor effect under treatment of calycosin. In conclusion, calycosin has a potential effect to inhibit the BEL-7402 cell growth by inhibiting some oncogene expression and increasing anticancer genes expression, what is more, by blocking cell cycle.

Topics: Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cell Cycle; Cell Cycle Proteins; Cell Proliferation; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Isoflavones; Liver Neoplasms; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Proteomics; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

Compounds that target the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors PPARalpha and PPARgamma are used to correct dyslipidemia and to restore glycemic balance, respectively. Because the majority of diabetic patients suffer from atherogenic lipid abnormalities, in addition to insulin resistance, ligands are required that can activate both PPARalpha and PPARgamma. In this study, we used chimeric PPARalpha/gamma reporter-gene bioassays to screen herbal extracts with purported antidiabetic properties. Extracts of Astragalus membranaceus and Pueraria thomsonii significantly activated PPARalpha and PPARgamma. Bioassay-guided fractionation resulted in the isolation of the isoflavones, formononetin, and calycosin from Astragalus membranaceus, and daidzein from Pueraria thomsonii as the PPAR-activating compounds. We investigated the effects of these and 2 common isoflavones, genistein and biochanin A, using chimeric and full-length PPAR constructs in vitro. Biochanin A and formononectin were potent activators of both PPAR receptors (EC50 = 1-4 micromol/L) with PPARalpha/PPARgamma activity ratios of 1:3 in the chimeric and almost 1:1 in the full-length assay, comparable to those observed for synthetic dual PPAR-activating compounds under pharmaceutical development. There was a subtle hierarchy of PPARalpha/gamma activities, indicating that biochanin A, formononetin, and genistein were more potent than calycosin and daidzein in chimeric as well as full-length receptor assays. At low doses, only biochanin A and formononetin, but not genistein, calycosin, or daidzein, activated PPARgamma-driven reporter-gene activity and induced differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Our data suggest the potential value of isoflavones, especially biochanin A and their parent botanicals, as antidiabetic agents and for use in regulating lipid metabolism.

Topics: 3T3-L1 Cells; Adipocytes; Animals; Astragalus propinquus; Binding, Competitive; Biological Assay; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Cell Differentiation; Cell Line, Tumor; Genistein; HeLa Cells; Humans; Isoflavones; Liver Neoplasms; Mice; PPAR alpha; PPAR gamma; Pueraria; Transcription, Genetic