Fuzheng Huayu Serum Suppresses Hepatic Carcinoma Cell Growth And Survival By Targeting TGF-?1/Smad Signaling

Background:Primary liver cancer is a common and frequently occurring disease with a high degree of malignancy and an unfavorable prognosis.Its pathogenesis is very complex,mainly including hepatic damage caused by poison and inflammation,oncogene or tumor suppressor gene mutations,and theories of liver stem cells and liver cancer stem cells.Traditional Chinese medicine can reduce clinical symptoms,prolong survival and improve quality of life in patients through multiple targets and pathways,providing new ideas for the clinical treatment of liver cancer.At present,it has been found that the TGF-?1/smad signaling pathway is involved in many aspects of damage,and plays an important role in fibrogenesis,cell growth,inhibition and apoptosis,and the development and invasion of liver cancer.Also,considerable clinical studies have shown that Fuzheng Huayu(FZHY)decoction not only has a significant effect on fibrogenesis,but also has a certain effect on precancerous lesions of liver.In this study,the effects of FZHY-serum on hepatocellular carcinoma cell(HCC)lines QGY-7701 and BEL-7402 were investigated through in vitro experiments,to explore its antitumor effect and potential mechanisms.Purpose:The inhibitory effect of the FZHY-serum on the 2 HCC lines and its intervening effect on the TGF-?1/smad signaling pathway were studied,and its antitumor effect in vitro and potential mechanisms were explored,in order to provide new ideas and scientifically experimental basis for the prevention and treatment of liver cancer using traditional Chinese medicine.Methods:With HCC lines QGY-7701 and BEL-7402 cells as subjects,the intervening effects of the FZHY-serum on HCC proliferation,colony-forming ability,apoptosis and the TGF-?1/smad signaling pathway were observed by MTT assay,plate clone formation assay,flow cytometry(FCM)and Western Blot,respectively.Results:(1)The FZHY-serum with a concentration of 0.5%-20%significantly inhibited the proliferation of HCC lines QGY-7701 and BEL-7402,showing concentration dependence.(2)The FZHY-serum with a concentration of 0.5%-20%obviously inhibited the colony-forming ability of human HCC lines.FCM revealed that after treatment,the apoptosis of HCC lines QGY-7701 and BEL-7402 presented a concentration-dependent increase.The FZHY-serum up-regulated the expression of related proteins in the TGF-?1/smad signaling pathway in QGY-7701 and BEL-7402,and down-regulated the expression of tumor-promoting factor PAI-1 in the downstream of this signaling pathway.Conclusion:The FZHY-serum can inhibit the proliferation and colony-forming ability of QGY-7701 and BEL-7402,promote the apoptosis of QGY-7701 and BEL-7402,up-regulate the expression of pro-apoptotic protein Capase8,and interfere with the expression of related proteins in the TGF-?1/smad signaling pathway.The mechanism of its anti-hepatocarcinoma effect may be mediated by the intervention of the TGF-?1/smad signaling pathway.