Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and malignancies in the world, especially in Taiwan. Therefore, the anti-cancer agents that cause minimal damage to cirrhotic liver are considered crucial for successful treatment of HCC.
Chrysophanol (1, 8-dihydroxy-3-methyl-anthraquinone) is one of the anthraquinone derivatives from rhubarb (Da huang) which had been used a traditional Chinese medicine since long ago. There is no available information to address the effect of chrysophanol on human liver cancer SK-HEP-1 and J5 cells.
In this study, we demonstrated that chrysophanol induced cytotoxicity in examined both cell lines. Flow cytometric analysis did not show apoptosis (sub-G1 group). However, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and intracellular Ca2+ were increased, but the level of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) is decrease in examined both hepatoma cell lines. ATP levels were decreased in both examined cells after exposed to chrysophanol. Western blotting and RT-PCR were used to detect the associated protein and gene levels. We also used general caspase inhibitor (z-VAD-fmk), ROS inhibitor (NAC), necrosis inhibitor (IM-54) and Ca2+ chelator (BAPTA) to confirm our results. Based on those findings indicated that chrysophanol induced necrosis in both examined human liver cancer cells.
