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

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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 IC50 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.

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Abbreviations

DMSO:

Dimethyl sulfoxide

FBS:

Fetal bovine serum

FITC:

Fluorescein isothiocyanate

HCC:

Hepatocellular carcinoma

HepG2:

Human hepatocellular liver carcinoma cell line

IC50 :

Inhibiting cell growth by 50%

MTT:

3-(4,5-Dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide

PBMC:

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells

PBS:

Phosphate buffered saline

PI:

Propidium iodide

SPSS:

Statistical package for the social sciences

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Acknowledgements

This project was financially supported by a Grant (20/414) from the Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences. The authors thank the Molecular Medicine Research Center (MMRC) from Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences (RUMS) of Iran for providing the necessary equipment of this work. The support of vice chancellor to research of RUMS is acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran

    Farzaneh Sadat Hosseini, Mohammad Reza Hajizadeh, Alireza Khoshdel & Mehdi Mahmoodi

  2. Pistachio Safety Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran

    Soudeh Khanamani Falahati-pour & Alireza Khoshdel

  3. Molecular Medicine Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Hajizadeh, Mohammad Reza Mirzaei, Hadis Ahmadirad & Mehdi Mahmoodi

  4. Department of Industrial and Environmental Biotechnology, National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Tehran, Iran

    Reza Behroozi

  5. Department of Plant Biotechnology, Bualisina University, Hamadan, Iran

    Nesa Jafari

Authors
  1. Farzaneh Sadat Hosseini
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  2. Soudeh Khanamani Falahati-pour
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  3. Mohammad Reza Hajizadeh
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  9. Mehdi Mahmoodi
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Correspondence to Mehdi Mahmoodi.

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Hosseini, F.S., Falahati-pour, S.K., Hajizadeh, M.R. et al. Persian shallot, Allium hirtifolium Boiss, induced apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Cytotechnology 69, 551–563 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-017-0093-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-017-0093-4

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