Cepharanthine inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma cell growth and proliferation by regulating amino acid metabolism and suppresses tumorigenesis in vivo.

Abstract

Cepharanthine (CEP), a natural compound extracted from Stephania cepharantha Hayata, has been found to have the potential to treat a variety of tumors in recent years. This study aims to evaluate the anti-hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) effect of CEP and determine its in-depth mechanism. In this study, Hep3B and HCCLM3 cells were selected to evaluate the antitumor effects of CEP in vitro, whereas tumor xenograft in nude mice was performed to make in vivo anti-tumor assessment. RNA-sequence (RNA-seq) was used to identify possible molecular targets and pathways. Further, gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was performed to assess the differential metabolites involved in mediating the effect of CEP on the HCC cell line. Our results showed that CEP treatment resulted in the dose-dependent inhibition of cell viability, migration, and proliferation and could also induce apoptosis in HCC cells. RNA-seq following CEP treatment identified 168 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which were highly enriched in metabolism-associated pathways. In addition, CEP down-regulated many metabolites through the amino acid metabolism pathway. In vivo experiment showed that CEP significantly suppressed tumor growth. Our results indicate that CEP has significant antitumor effects and has the potential to be a candidate drug for HCC treatment.

• Authors: Fan Feng, Lianhong Pan, Jiaqin Wu, Lanqing Li, Haiying Xu, Li Yang, Kang Xu, Chunli Wang
• Journal: International journal of biological sciences (Int J Biol Sci) Vol. 17 Issue 15 Pg. 4340-4352 ( 2021) ISSN: 1449-2288 [Electronic] Australia
• PMID: 34803502 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © The author(s).

Chemical References

• Amino Acids
• Benzylisoquinolines
• cepharanthine
• Caspase 3
• Caspase 9

Topics

• Amino Acids (metabolism)
• Animals
• Apoptosis (drug effects)
• Benzylisoquinolines (administration & dosage, chemistry, pharmacology)
• Carcinogenesis (drug effects)
• Carcinoma, Hepatocellular (drug therapy)
• Caspase 3 (genetics, metabolism)
• Caspase 9 (genetics, metabolism)
• Cell Cycle (drug effects)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Cell Proliferation (drug effects)
• Cell Survival
• Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
• Female
• Humans
• Liver Neoplasms (drug therapy)
• Mice
• Mice, Nude
• Molecular Structure
• Neoplasms, Experimental
• Random Allocation