Persian shallot, Allium hirtifolium Boiss, induced apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Abstract

This study investigated the potential of Persian shallot extract as an anticancer agent in HepG2 tumor cell line, an in vitro human hepatoma cancer model system. The inhibitory effect of Persian shallot on the growth of HepG2 cells was measured by MTT assay. To explore the underlying mechanism of cell growth inhibition of Persian shallot, the activity of Persian shallot in inducing apoptosis was investigated through the detection of annexin V signal by flow cytometry and expression of some apoptosis related genes such p21, p53, puma, caspase-8 family-Bcl-2 proteins like bid, bim, bcl-2 and bax were measured by real-time PCR in HepG2 cells. Persian shallot extract inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells in a dose-dependent manner. The IC value (inhibiting cell growth by 50%) was 149 μg/ml. The results of real-time PCR revealed a significant up-regulation of bid, bim, caspase-8, puma, p53, p21 and bax genes and a significant downregulation of bcl-2 gene in HepG2 cells treated with Persian shallot extract significantly. Therefore, this is the first report on an increased expression of bid, bim, caspase-8, puma, p53, p21 and bax genes and down regulation of bcl-2 gene indicating that the Persian shallot extract possibly induced the process of cell death through the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways and triggers the programmed cell death in HepG2 tumor cell lines by modulating the expression of pro-/anti-apoptotic genes. Furthermore, we showed that Persian shallot extract increased annexin V signal and expression, resulting in apoptotic cell death of HepG2 cells after 24 h treatment. Therefore, according to the results of this study, the Persian shallot extract could be considered as a potential candidate for production of drug for the prevention or treatment of human hepatoma.

6-(Methylsulfonyl) hexyl isothiocyanate as potential chemopreventive agent: molecular and cellular profile in leukaemia cell lines

“…In particular, apoptosis, a physiological process of programmed cell death that plays a key role in homeostasis, is suppressed in many cancer cells. Restoring this ability, therefore, is one of the most important strategies for fighting cancer [ 6 – 9 ]. Phytochemicals derived from edible and medicinal plants have been extensively studied for cancer chemoprevention thanks to their demonstrated ability to modulate the enzymes involved in xenobiotic activation/detoxification, to inhibit cell proliferation and/or to induce apoptosis and the differentiation of neoplastic cells [ 10 – 13 ].…”

“…There are two main apoptotic pathways: the extrinsic (or death receptor) pathway, and the intrinsic (or mitochondrial) pathway that is regulated by the activation or deactivation of BCL-2 family genes [ 8 , 9 , 24 ]. For this reason, possible molecular mechanisms, such as the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways, and apoptotic markers regulating certain tumourigenesis and cell proliferation mechanisms, such as p53, BAX/BCL-2 ratio, cytochrome c, cyclin E2 and cyclin D3 levels, were analysed.…”

Atractylenolide II Inhibits Proliferation, Motility and Induces Apoptosis in Human Gastric Carcinoma Cell Lines HGC-27 and AGS

“…The intrinsic apoptosis pathway is mostly regulated by Bcl-2 family proteins and the pro-apoptotic protein Bax and the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 are typically involved in apoptosis and cellular proliferation [ 19 ]. Moreover, the ratio of Bax and Bcl-2 has a key role in the development of apoptosis.…”

The insight and survey on medicinal properties and nutritive components of Shallot

“…Leelarungrayub et al (2004) indicated that hexane-extract shallot had very high activity on protecting the human erythrocyte from radicals and is possible to be modified for medical plants or commercial product in the future. Sadat Hosseini et al (2017) found that the Persian shallot extract could be considered as a potential candidate for production of drug for the prevention or treatment of human hepatoma. Table 2.…”