Antiproliferative and Apoptotic Effects of Cardamonin against Hepatocellular Carcinoma HepG2 Cells
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2020
Abstract
iver cancer is the sixth most common cancer in terms of incidence and the fourth in terms of mortality. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents almost 90% of primary liver cancer and has become a major health problem globally. Cardamonin (CADMN) is a natural bioactive chalcone found in several edible plants such as cardamom and Alpinia species. Previous studies have shown that CADMN possesses anticancer activities against breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancer. In the present study, the mechanisms underlying the anti-hepatocellular carcinoma effects of CADMN were investigated against HepG2 cells. The results demonstrated that CADMN has anti-proliferative effects and apoptotic action on HepG2 cells. CADMN showed potent cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells with an IC50 of 17.1 ± 0.592 µM at 72 h. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that CADMN arrests HepG2 cells in G1 phase and induces a significant increase in early and late apoptosis in a time-dependent manner. The mechanism by which CADMN induces apoptotic action was via activation of both extrinsic and intrinsic pathways. Moreover, the findings of this study showed the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which inhibit the NF-κB pathway and further enhance the apoptotic process. Together, our findings further support the potential anticancer activity of CADMN as an alternative therapeutic agent against HCC. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
Apoptosis, Cardamonin, Cell cycle arrest, Hepatocellular carcinoma, NF-κB pathway, ROS production
Divisions
fac_med,InstituteofBiologicalSciences
Funders
FRGS grant (FP103-2019A) from the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia
Publication Title
Nutrients
Volume
12
Issue
6
Publisher
MDPI