Shikimic Acid Inducing Apoptosis on Hepatocellular Carcinoma HepG-2 Cells Through Decreasing the Ratio of Bcl-2/Bax

Abstract:

Objective: To investigate the effects of shikimic acid on inducing hepatocellular carcinoma HepG-2 cells apoptosis in vitro. Method: The MTT assay was used, and the hepatocellular carcinoma HepG-2 cells in logarithmic phase of growth were randomly divided into control group and treatment group treated with the concentration of 0.125, 0.5, 1 g·L^-1 shikimic acid in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG-2 cells. The cell cycle distribution was analyzed by flow cytometry. The protein expression of B cell lymphoma/leukemia-2(Bcl-2) and Bcl-2 associated x protein(Bax) was analyzed by immunocytochemical method. Result: Shikimic acid inhibited the growth of cells significantly(P<0.05). The suppression was both in a time-and dose-dependent manner. The flow cytometry showed that shikimic acid can inhibit the proliferation by preventing cells turning into S phase from G₁ phase in cell cycle, at the same time, shikimic acid down-regulated the Bcl-2 expression and up-regulated the Bax expression, the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax was evident decrease. Conclusion: Shikimic acid can inhibit proliferation hepatocellular carcinoma HepG-2 cells and induce a G₁ cell cycle arrest and reduce the cell population in S phase, it may induce apoptosis through decreasing the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax.