• Journal of Photoscience
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.512-514
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• 2002

S-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is a new kind drug used in photodynamic therapy. ALA-PDT have successfully used in superficial malignancies and some skin diseases. Here the effects of ALA-PDT were studied on leukemia cells and hepatoma cells to explore the application on different kind cancers. It was found from the fluorescence emission spectra, that after ALA incubation the sensitizer - protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) was endogenously produced in both leukemia and hepatoma cells. The fluorescence images showed that the PpIX distribute in cytoplasm. However the efficiency of ALA photodynamic inactivation to two cell lines was different. The leukemia cells were more sensitive for ALA-PDT than hepatoma cells, revealing that the ALA-PDT effect is cell line dependent. However by using ALA-Hexyl ester (He-ALA) instead of ALA, the cell photo-inactivation was improved. The PDT efficiency of He-ALA was 10 times high than that of ALA, showing He-ALA is a very promising drug in ALA-PDT.

• BMB Reports
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• v.51 no.9
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• pp.474-479
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• 2018

Cisplatin is one of the most effective chemotherapeutic drugs used in the treatment of HCC, but many patients will ultimately relapse with cisplatin-resistant disease. Used in combination with cisplatin, resveratrol has synergistic effect of increasing chemosensitivity of cisplatin in various cancer cells. However, the mechanisms of resveratrol enhancing cisplatin-induced toxicity have not been well characterized. Our study showed that resveratrol enhances cisplatin toxicity in human hepatoma cells via an apoptosis-dependent mechanism. Further studies reveal that resveratrol decreases the absorption of glutamine and glutathione content by reducing the expression of glutamine transporter ASCT2. Flow cytometric analyses demonstrate that resveratrol and cisplatin combined treatment leads to a significant increase in ROS production compared to resveratrol or cisplatin treated hepatoma cells alone. Phosphorylated H2AX (${\gamma}H2AX$) foci assay demonstrate that both resveratrol and cisplatin treatment result in a significant increase of ${\gamma}H2AX$ foci in hepatoma cells, and the resveratrol and cisplatin combined treatment results in much more ${\gamma}H2AX$ foci formation than either resveratrol or cisplatin treatment alone. Furthermore, our studies show that over-expression of ASCT2 can attenuate cisplatin-induced ROS production, ${\gamma}H2AX$ foci formation and apoptosis in human hepatoma cells. Collectively, our studies suggest resveratrol may sensitize human hepatoma cells to cisplatin chemotherapy via gluta${\gamma}H2AX$mine metabolism inhibition.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.132-136
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• 2006

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (Arnt) belongs to bHLH-PAS protein family. Here, we study the role of Arnt in both cell growth and glucose metabolism. Our results demonstrated that the absence of Arnt does affect ATP homeostasis but not cell growth in monolayer-cultured mouse hepatoma cells. ATP level of Arnt defective BpRc1 hepatoma cells is less than that of wild type hepatoma cells in both normoxia and hypoxia. BpRc1 cells also fail to increase the expression of glycolytic enzymes in response to hypoxia. Our results suggest that Arnt is essential for glucose metabolism and ATP production but not for cell growth.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.558-564
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• 2019

Hypertriglyceridemia is one of the metabolic syndrome that is often observed as a result of lipid abnormalities. It is associated with other lipids, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease and liver disease. Korean red ginseng is known to affect obesity, dyslipidemia, liver disease and liver function, but the mechanism of its effect is not clear. This study examined the beneficial effects of hypertriglyceridemia and the mechanism of action of Jinan red ginseng extract (JRG) in hepatoma cells. To measure the levels of triglyceride accumulation, we studied the expression of proteins and mRNAs related to lipidogenesis in hepatoma cells (Huh7 and HepG2). JRG decreases the lipidogenic markers, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), CCAAT-enhancer-binding proteins α (C/EBPα) and C/EBPβ which are major regulators of triglyceride synthesis in hepatoma cells. We also found that JRG reduced sterol regulatory element binding proteins 1c (SREBP-1c), C/EBPα and C/EBPβ by regulating liver X receptor (LXR) and stearoyl CoA desaturase (SCD) expressions. In addition, the first-limited step of synthesis triglyceride (TG), glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) is decreased by JRG. These results suggest that the anti-hypertriglyceride effect of JRG in hepatoma cells could be accompanied with the inhibition of lipidogenic transcription factors by regulating LXR and SCD expression.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.891-900
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• 2004

UDP-N-Acetylglucosamine(GlcNAc):$\beta$1,4-D-mannoside$\beta$-l ,4N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-III (GnT-III) and UDP-N-GlcNAc:$\alpha$-6-D-mannosid$\beta$-1,6N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase-V(GnT - V) activities were determined in human hepatoma cell lines and metastatic colon cancer cells, and their activities were compared with those of normal liver cells and fetal hepatocytes. GnT-III activities were higher than those of GnT-V in hepatic carcinoma cells. When the two enzyme activities were assayed in highly metastatic colon cancer cells, GnT - V activities were much higher than those of GnT-III. When GlcN, GlcN-biant-PA and UDP-GlcNAc were used as substrates, the enzymes displayed different kinetic properties between hepatic and colon cancer cells, depending on their metastatic potentials. Normal cells of two origins had characteristically very low levels of GnT-III and -V activities, whereas hepatoma and colon cancer cells contained high levels of activities. These data were supported by RT-PCR and Northern blot analyses, showing that the expression of GnT-III and -V mRNAs were increased in proportion to the enzymatic activities. The increased GnT-III, md -V activities were also correlated with increased glycosylation of the cellular glycoproteins in hepatoma and colon cancer cells, as examined by lectin blotting analysis by using wheat germ glutinin (WGA), erythroagglutinating phytohemagglutinin (E-PHA), leukoagglutinating phytohemagglutinin (L-PHA), and concanavalin A (Con A). Treatment with retinoic acid, a differentiation agent, resulted in decreases of both GnT-III and -V activities of HepG2 and HepG3 cells. In colon carcinoma cells, however, treatment with retinoic acid resulted in a reduction of GnT-V activity, but not with GnT-III activity. Although the mechanism underlying the induction of these mzymes is unclear, oligosaccharides in many glycoproteins have been observed of cancer cells.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.33-40
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• 2004

Objective : This study investigated the apoptotic effect and its mechanism of Radix Aconiti (RA) extract and aconitine, which is a major constituent of RA, in HepG2 human hepatoma cells. Methods : We used MTT and DNA fragmentation assay to investigate cell viability and apoptotic effect on RA extract-treated HepG2 cells. In addition, to clarify the mechanism of RA extract-induced apoptosis, we applied caspase-3 enzyme activity assay and Western blotting method on poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) protein expression. Results : Treatment with RA extract resulted in the decrease of cell viability, and this effect was caused from apoptosis as confirmed by discontinuous fragmentation of DNA in HepG2 cells, but aconitine did not. Also, RA extract-treated HepG2 cells induced the activation of caspase-3 enzyme activity in time- and dose-dependent manners, which was accompanied by the cleavage of 116 kD PARP to 85 kD product. Conclusions : These results suggest that the apoptotic effects of RA extract on HepG2 cells could not be explained by aconitine. Additionally, RA extract induced apoptosis in hepatoma cells through caspase-3 activation and subsequent PARP cleavage.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.169-172
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• 2014

Recently, Hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication system has been established using human hepatoma cells (huh cell) and a variety of HCV clones. In this study, we established an infectious HCV replication system using huh7.5 cells and J6/JFH1 clone (genotype 2a). In addition, we investigated the antigen presentation capability of HCV-infected huh7.5 cells to HCV-specific T cells. Interestingly, HCV-infected huh7.5 cells were not capable of activating HCV-specific T cells. However, huh7.5 cells stimulated by exogenous HCV peptide were able to activate HCV-specific T cells, which was shown to produce TNF-${\alpha}$ and IFN-${\gamma}$. We further examined if HCV infection has an inhibitory effect on the expression of MHC class I molecule of huh7.5 cells. We found that HCV infection did not change the expression level of MHC class I molecule on huh7.5 cells.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.107-113
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• 2013

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of fermented Artemisiae Argyi Folium(AAF) on some activities of human hepatoma cell, HepG2. Method : To investigate the effect of fermented Artemisiae Argyi Folium(AAF) activity on the human hepatoma cells, AAF extracts was fermented by Lactobacillus pentosus K34(AFL) and Sacchromyces cerevisiae STV89(AFS). And the effects of AFL or AFS on the activities of HepG2 cell, such as cell viability, nitric oxide(NO) production and reactive oxygen species(ROS) production, were tested. Result : Human Hepatoma Cells were incubated each for 3 hours and 24 hours. Human Hepatoma Cells treated with the extract was measured with MTT assay. Then AFL was found to be non-toxic at concentrations of 10 ug/mL(3h), 100 ug/mL(24h) or more. AFS was the same result at concentrations of more than 10 ug/mL. The extract increased ROS generation in Human Hepatoma Cells. AFL increased at concentrations of 100 ug/mL more (3h, also 10 ug/mL more) and 50 ug/mL(24h) and AFS increased both 50 ug/mL. In point of NO generation, AFL inhibited at concentrations of 10 ug/mL(3h) and 100 ug/mL(24h) more (3h, also 10 ug/mL more) and AFS also inhibited 50 ug/mL or more. Conclusion : AFL and AFS, obtained from Artemisiae Argyi Folium extracts by fermentation, reduced the NO production and increased ROS production in HepG2 cell, without cytotoxicity on HepG2 cell. The results suggested that AFL and AFS increased the immunological effects of Artemisiae Argyi Folium extracts.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.103-108
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• 1999

The anti-proliferating effects of some plants on hepatoma cell lines were studied by the 3-[4,5-dim-ethylthiazol-2yl]-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT assay), to investigate the anticancer effect with some plants around here. As the result, we saw that the anti-prolferating effect to the plants. Among the plants, Equisetum arvense L. and Lactuca dentata Makino. var, flaviflora Makino of them relatively showed a good ant-proliferating effect. Capsicum annuum L. var. angulosum Mill (Leaf) was the best among them. We also examined morphological changes on the hepatoma cells in this process. In case of Capxicum annuum L. var. angulosum Mill, the tells become vague after 2 days, and then destroyed faster than others. We can fee also the condensated chromosome on the treated cells with Capxicum annuum L. var. angulosum Mill. And we also observed condensation through using a fluorescent microscope by PI staining, and observed DNA fragmentation.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.418-425
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• 2022

Background: Sorafenib is effective in treating hepatoma, but most patients develop resistance to it. STAT3 signaling has been implicated in sorafenib resistance. Artesunate (ART) and 20(R)-ginsenoside Rg3 (Rg3) have anti-hepatoma effects and can inhibit STAT3 signaling in cancer cells. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Rg3 in combination with ART (Rg3-plus-ART) in overcoming sorafenib resistance, and to examine the involvement of STAT3 signaling in these effects. Methods: Sorafenib-resistant HepG2 cells (HepG2-SR) were used to evaluate the in vitro anti-hepatoma effects of Rg3-plus-ART. A HepG2-SR hepatoma-bearing BALB/c-nu/nu mouse model was used to assess the in vivo anti-hepatoma effects of Rg3-plus-ART. CCK-8 assays and Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining were used to examine cell proliferation and apoptosis, respectively. Immunoblotting was employed to examine protein levels. ROS generation was examined by measuring DCF-DA fluorescence. Results: Rg3-plus-ART synergistically reduced viability of, and evoked apoptosis in HepG2-SR cells, and suppressed HepG2-SR tumor growth in mice. Mechanistic studies revealed that Rg3-plus-ART inhibited activation/phosphorylation of Src and STAT3 in HepG2-SR cultures and tumors. The combination also decreased the STAT3 nuclear level and induced ROS production in HepG2-SR cultures. Furthermore, overactivation of STAT3 or removal of ROS diminished the anti-proliferative effects of Rg3-plus-ART, and removal of ROS diminished Rg3-plus-ART's inhibitory effects on STAT3 activation in HepG2-SR cells. Conclusions: Rg3-plus-ART overcomes sorafenib resistance in experimental models, and inhibition of Src/STAT3 signaling and modulation of ROS/STAT3 signaling contribute to the underlying mechanisms. This study provides a pharmacological basis for developing Rg3-plus-ART into a novel modality for treating sorafenib-resistant hepatoma.