Targeting
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (
NAD) metabolism has emerged as a promising anti-
cancer strategy; we aimed to explore the health benefits of boosting
NAD levels with
nicotinamide riboside (NR) on
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We established three in vivo
tumor models, including subcutaneous
transplantation tumor model in both Balb/c nude mice (xenograft), C57BL/6J mice (allograft), and hematogenous metastatic
neoplasm in nude mice. NR (400 mg/kg bw) was supplied daily in gavage. In-situ
tumor growth or noninvasive bioluminescence were measured to evaluate the effect of NR on the HCC process. HepG2 cells were treated with
transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in the absence/presence of NR in vitro. We found that NR supplementation alleviated
malignancy-induced
weight loss and
metastasis to lung in nude mice in both subcutaneous xenograft and hematogenous
metastasis models. NR supplementation decreased
metastasis to the bone and liver in the hematogenous
metastasis model. NR supplementation also significantly decreased the size of allografted
tumors and extended the survival time in C57BL/6J mice. In vitro experiments showed that NR intervention inhibited the migration and invasion of HepG2 cells triggered by TGF-β. In summary, our results supply evidence that boosting
NAD levels by supplementing NR alleviates HCC progression and
metastasis, which may serve as an effective treatment for the suppression of HCC progression.