Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer‑related deaths. Traditional therapeutic strategies, such as
chemotherapy, targeted
therapy and interventional
therapy, are inefficient and are accompanied by severe side effects for patients with advanced
liver cancer. Therefore, it is crucial to develop a safer more effective
drug to treat
liver cancer.
Veratramine, a known natural steroidal
alkaloid derived from plants of the lily family, exerts anticancer activity in vitro. However, the underlying mechanism and whether it has an antitumor effect in vivo remain unknown. In the present study, the data revealed that
veratramine significantly inhibited HepG2 cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro. Moreover, it was revealed that
veratramine induced autophagy‑mediated apoptosis by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, which partly explained the underlying mechanism behind its antitumor activity. Notably, the results of in vivo experiments also revealed that
veratramine treatment (2 mg/kg, 3 times a week for 4 weeks) significantly inhibited subcutaneous
tumor growth of
liver cancer cells, with a low systemic toxicity. Collectively, the results of the present study indicated that
veratramine efficiently suppressed
liver cancer HepG2 cell growth in vitro and in vivo by blocking the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway to induce autophagic cell death.
Veratramine could be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of
liver cancer.