Ethanol Extract of Stellera chamaejasme L. Inhibits Hepatoma Cell Proliferation Through Down-regulation of Smad4-mediated TGF-β Signaling Pathway

摘要

Background and Objective: Stellera chamaejasme L., was found to have anti-tumor effects. This study aimed to investigate the anti-proliferative effects of the ethanol extract of S. chamaejasme L. (EES), on human Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HC) cell line and explore the mechanism of EES inhibit HC cell proliferation. Methodology: In this study 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiazol (-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenyltetrazoliumbromide (MTT) assay was used to assess the viability of tumor cells submitted to EES. Application of luciferase report gene and Western Blotting (WB) were employed to investigate transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), Smad4 and p-Akt expression. Results: The EES significantly decreased hepatoma cell (HepG2, BEL-7402, SMMC-7721) proliferation in a dose-dependent manner with an IC50 37.75, 28.60 and 29.22 μg mL–1 in vitro (p<0.05). The EES could strongly inhibit TGF-β and down-regulated its downstream factors, such as TβR-I, Smad4, p-Akt in protein level. Conclusion: The EES decreased hepatoma cell proliferation via down-regulation Smad4-mediated TGF-β signaling pathway.