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Volume 40 Issue 9

Sep. 2024

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Article Navigation > Journal of Clinical Hepatology > 2024 > 40(9): 1840-1847

Mechanism of action of cinobufotalin in inhibiting lung metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by regulating AKT-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition in a nude mouse model

DOI: 10.12449/JCH240919

Yue YANG^1a,
Siyu XU^1a,
Jue WANG^1a,
Shilin DU²,
Chunlei ZHANG^{1b
,
,
,},
Haiyan SONG^{1a
,
,
,}

1a.
Institute of Digestive Diseases，Longhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine，Shanghai 200032，China
1b.
Institute of Digestive Diseases，Longhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine，Shanghai 200032，China
2.
Department of Emergency，Zhongshan Hospital，Fudan University，Shanghai 200032，China

Research funding:

Shanghai Youth Technology Talents Sailing Program (20YF1450000);

Longhua Hospital Technology Innovation Project (CX202205);

Clinical Research Special Project of Shanghai Municipal Health Commission (202040223)

More Information

Corresponding author: ZHANG Chunlei， clzhang213@163.com （ORCID： 0000-0002-3934-7816）; SONG Haiyan， songhy@126.com （ORCID： 0000-0003-2155-8110）
Received Date: 2023-12-20
Accepted Date: 2024-01-23
Published Date: 2024-09-25

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect and mechanism of cinobufotalin in inhibiting hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC） metastasis by regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transition （EMT）. Methods A total of 36 male BALB/c nude mice， aged 6 weeks， were given injection of MHCC97H cells via the caudal vein to establish a model of HCC lung metastasis， and then the mice were randomly divided into high-and low-dose cinobufotalin groups and control group. Since the day of modeling， the mice in the high-and low-dose cinobufotalin groups were given intraperitoneal injection of cinobufotalin at a dose of 120 μL/kg and 60 μL/kg， respectively， and those in the control group were given intraperitoneal injection of normal saline， twice a week. After 8 weeks， HE staining was performed for lung tissue to measure the lung metastasis rate of HCC. MHCC97H cells were treated with high-dose （2.5 μL/mL） or low-dose （5 μL/mL） cinobufotalin for 24 hours， and wound healing assay， RT-PCR， and Western blot were used to measure cell migration ability and the expression of EMT-related molecules. MHCC97H cells were induced in a simulated hypoxic environment with CoCl₂ incubation， with high- and low-dose cinobufotalin added for intervention， and wound healing assay and Western blot were used to investigate the effect of cinobufotalin on cell migration ability and EMT induced by hypoxia. Transcriptome analysis was used to investigate the effect mechanism of cinobufotalin on MHCC97H cells， and Western blot was used to observe the effect of cinobufotalin on the expression levels of protein kinase B （AKT） and phosphorylated AKT （P-AKT） in MHCC97H cells. A one-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of continuous data between multiple groups， and the least significant difference t-test was used for further comparison between two groups； the independent-samples t test was used for comparison of categorical data between two groups. Results Compared with the control group， the cinobufotalin group had a significant reduction in the lung metastasis rate of HCC. Compared with the control group， cinobufotalin intervention reduced the wound healing rate of MHCC97H cells， upregulated the expression of epithelial-type molecules （t=2.860， P<0.05）， and downregulated the expression of EMT transcription factors （EMT-TFs） and mesenchymal molecules （t=3.545， 2.022， 2.852， and 2.341， all P<0.05）. Hypoxia induction upregulated the wound healing rate of MHCC97H cells and the expression levels of mesenchymal molecules and EMT-TFs （P<0.05）， and cinobufotalin intervention reversed EMT change and inhibited wound healing （P<0.05）. The transcriptome analysis of MHCC97H cells showed significant gene differences between the cinobufotalin group and the control group， and cinobufotalin mainly affected the expression of genes associated with tumor， metabolism， immunity， and signal transduction， with the largest number of differentially expressed genes in the AKT signal transduction pathway. Further measurement showed that cinobufotalin intervention downregulated the expression levels of AKT， P-AKT， and P-AKT/AKT in MHCC97H cells （t=2.434， 3.401， and 2.258， all P<0.05）. Conclusion Cinobufotalin can inhibit the metastasis of HCC， especially hypoxia-induced HCC metastasis， and regulation of EMT mediated by the AKT signal transduction pathway in HCC cells might be one of its mechanisms of action.
- Carcinoma， Hepatocellular,
- Neoplasm Metastasis,
- Hua Chan Su,
- Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

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