2. Academic Validation
  3. Lactonic sophorolipid-induced apoptosis in human HepG2 cells through the Caspase-3 pathway

Lactonic sophorolipid-induced apoptosis in human HepG2 cells through the Caspase-3 pathway

  • Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2021 Mar;105(5):2033-2042. doi: 10.1007/s00253-020-11045-5.
Xiao Wang 1 2,  Na Xu 3 4,  Qinglin Li 1,  Shengqi Chen 1,  Hui Cheng 1,  Mo Yang 1,  Ting Jiang 1 2,  Jun Chu 5 6,  Xiaojing Ma 7 8,  Dengke Yin 9
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Key Laboratory of Xin'an Medicine, Ministry of Education, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, 230038, Anhui, China.
  • 2 School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, 230038, Anhui, China.
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, School of Tea & Food Science, International Joint Laboratory on Tea Chemistry and Health Effects of Ministry of Education, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, Anhui, China.
  • 4 Department of Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Brookline Ave., Boston, MA, USA.
  • 5 Key Laboratory of Xin'an Medicine, Ministry of Education, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, 230038, Anhui, China. chuj@ahtcm.edu.cn.
  • 6 Department of Data Science, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Brookline Ave., Boston, MA, USA. chuj@ahtcm.edu.cn.
  • 7 Department of Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Brookline Ave., Boston, MA, USA. maxiaojing1011@hotmail.com.
  • 8 School of Food and Biological Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, Anhui, China. maxiaojing1011@hotmail.com.
  • 9 School of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, 230038, Anhui, China. yindengke@ahtcm.edu.cn.
PMID: 33582833 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-020-11045-5
Abstract

Liver Cancer, one of the most common types of Cancer in the world, is the second leading cause of death for Cancer patients. For liver Cancer, there is an urgent need for an effective treatment with no or less toxic side effects. Lactonic sophorolipids (LSL), as a potential Anticancer drug, has attracted wide attention of pharmaceutical researchers with its good biological activities. The effects of LSL and cell death inhibitors were measured by MTT test on HepG2 cells. Meanwhile, the morphology of the cells was observed under a microscope. The Apoptosis rate was detected by flow cytometry, and the expression levels of Enzyme activity of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 were measured by detection kits. Meanwhile, mRNA levels of Apaf-1, Caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl-2 were measured by quantitative real-time RT-PCR; protein levels of Caspase-3, Cleaved Caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl-2 were measured by western blot. LSL can inhibit the proliferation of cells, and it is possible to induce Apoptosis in cells. The HepG2 cells with LSL co-culture exhibited typical apoptotic morphology, and the expression levels of Enzyme activity of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 increased (P< 0.05). We also found that LSL increases cell Apoptosis rate and regulates the expression of genes and proteins associated with Apoptosis through the Caspase-3 pathway. These results indicate that LSL may be one of the potential drug candidates to inhibit the proliferation and induce Apoptosis in HepG2 cells.Key points• LSL, which is of good biological activities such as anti-bacterium, virus elimination, and inflammatory response elimination, has been firstly used to intervene in vitro to investigate its effect on HepG2 cell proliferation.• LSL can inhibit the proliferation of cells, and it is possible to induce Apoptosis in HepG2 cells through the Caspase-3 pathway.• The mechanism of LSL action on HepG2 cell proliferation was firstly also discussed, which provides a certain experimental reference for the clinical treatment of liver Cancer.

Keywords

Apoptosis mechanism; HepG2 cells; Lactonic sophorolipids; Liver cancer.

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