Hyperoside suppresses BMP-7-dependent PI3K/AKT pathway in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells
Shuang Wei, Yun Sun, Li Wang, Tianfang Zhang, Wendi Hu, Wangxiao Bao, Lin Mao, Jinxiu Chen, Haijun Li, Yankai Wen, Zuobing Chen
Abstract
BACKGROUND: New therapeutics for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are urgently needed and searching for new anti-cancer compounds in plant medicines may represent a promising approach. The present study was conducted to clarify the role of hyperoside (HP) and its underlying molecular mechanism in a cancer cell. METHODS: experiments, HP effects on cell proliferation and the mechanism were investigated deeply. RESULTS: The result showed a higher expression of BMP-7 in human HCC compared to adjacent noncancerous counterparts, and that silencing of BMP-7 suppressed HepG2 cell proliferation, suggesting BMP-7 plays an anti-cancer role in HCC. Furthermore, we found that HP could induce cell cycle arrest in proliferating HepG2 cells at the G1 phase by decreasing BMP-7 expression and that the phosphorylation of AKT and expression of PI3K were significantly down-regulated upon treatment of HP or BMP-7 knockdown. In addition, silencing of BMP-7 abrogated the difference of AKT phosphorylation between cells with and without HP treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that HP suppressed cell proliferation by inhibiting the BMP-7-dependent PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in HepG2 HCC cells, and either HP supplement or targeting BMP-7 might be a promising treatment against HCC.