A new way to look at liver cancer

Suppression of human hepatocellular cancer cell proliferation by Brucea javanica oil-loaded liposomes via induction of apoptosis

INTRODUCTION

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a type of malignancy with high incidence and poor prognosis. Brucea javanica is extracted from Simaroubaceae plants. It is found to have low toxicity but high anti-cancer efficiency. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of Brucea javanica oil-loaded liposomes (BJOL) on human hepatocellular cancer cell line HepG2. The related molecular mechanisms were determined.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Morphologic changes of HepG2 cells were observed by transmission electron microscope after treatment with BJOL in vitro. Cell proliferation was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay after cell treatment with different doses of BJOL. Flow cytometry was performed. Nude mice were divided into 4 groups randomly and treated with different doses of BJOL. The apoptosis hepatocellular carcinoma was detected by TUNEL.

RESULTS

Proliferation of HepG2 was inhibited significantly by BJOL in a dose-dependent manner (2.5 mg/l or 5 mg/l). Compared with the animal models treated with the negative control, the animal models in the BJOL group had higher weight and lower metastasis rates (p < 0.01). The rate of apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma tissue of the BJOL groups was increased when compared with the control group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Brucea javanica oil-loaded liposomes inhibits proliferation of HepG2. The effect appears to be dose-dependent, possibly by inducing apoptosis of cancer cells.

Laminin-integrin α6 interaction affects phenotypes of hepatocellular carcinoma cells during the process of adherence

AIM: To investigate the effect of laminin (LN)-integrin α6 interaction on the phenotype changes after adherent junctions between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line BEL-7402 and extracellular matrix.

METHODS: BEL-7402 cells were routinely cultured on LN or bovine serum albumin (BSA) matrix. The effect of anti-integrin α6 monoclonal antibody on cell phenotypes after adherent junctions was examined. The expression of integrin α6 was detected by immunocytochemistry. Acid phosphatase analysis was used to examine the adhesion rate. Cell proliferation was examined by BrdU kit. Galatin zymography was use to measure the matrix metalloproteinases secreted by BEL-7402 cells, and Boyden Chambers to cell invasive ability.

RESULTS: Cultured BEL-7402 cells had positive staining of anti-integrin α6 monoclonal antibody. The adhesion rate of BEL-7402 cells was increased markedly, but was significantly decreased after treatment with anti-integrin α6 antibody (104.4% vs 187.2%, P < 0.05); meanwhile, the invasive ability of BEL-7402 cells was obviously lowered (transmembrane cell number: 88.7 ± 9.9 vs 103.2 ± 16.5, P < 0.01). Galatin zymography found that the types and amount of the secreted matrix metalloproteinases were remarkably increased after adherent junctions, but were notably decreased after anti-integrin α6 antibody was added.

CONCLUSION: Interaction between LN and integrin α6 may regulate human HCC cell phenotypes of proliferation and invasion, which may lower the metastatic potency of tumor cells.

Hepatocellular carcinoma: therapy and prevention

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors worldwide. The major etiologies and risk factors for the development of HCC are well defined and some of the multiple steps involved in hepatocarcinogenesis have been elucidated in recent years. Despite these scientific advances and the implementation of measures for the early detection of HCC in patients at risk, patient survival has not improved during the last three decades. This is due to the advanced stage of the disease at the time of clinical presentation and limited therapeutic options. The therapeutic options fall into five main categories: surgical interventions including tumor resection and liver transplantation, percutaneous interventions including ethanol injection and radiofrequency thermal ablation, transarterial interventions including embolization and chemoembolization, radiation therapy and drugs as well as gene and immune therapies. These therapeutic strategies have been evaluated in part in randomized controlled clinical trials that are the basis for therapeutic recommendations. Though surgery, percutaneous and transarterial interventions are effective in patients with limited disease (1-3 lesions, <5 cm in diameter) and compensated underlying liver disease (cirrhosis Child A), at the time of diagnosis more than 80% patients present with multicentric HCC and advanced liver disease or comorbidities that restrict the therapeutic measures to best supportive care. In order to reduce the morbidity and mortality of HCC, early diagnosis and the development of novel systemic therapies for advanced disease, including drugs, gene and immune therapies as well as primary HCC prevention are of paramount importance. Furthermore, secondary HCC prevention after successful therapeutic interventions needs to be improved in order to make an impact on the survival of patients with HCC. New technologies, including gene expression profiling and proteomic analyses, should allow to further elucidate the molecular events underlying HCC development and to identify novel diagnostic markers as well as therapeutic and preventive targets.

Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignant tumours worldwide. The major etiologies and risk factors for HCC development are well defined and some of the multiple steps involved in hepatocarcinogenesis have been elucidated in recent years. Despite these scientific advances and the implementation of measures for early HCC detection in patients at risk, patient survival has not improved during the last three decades. This is due in part to the advanced stage of the disease at the time of clinical presentation, in part due to the limited therapeutic options. These fall into four main categories: (1) surgical interventions, including tumour resection and liver transplantation, (2) percutaneous interventions, including ethanol injection and radiofrequency thermal ablation, (3) transarterial interventions, including embolisation and chemoembolisation and (4) drugs as well as gene and immune therapies. These therapeutic strategies have been evaluated in part in randomised controlled clinical trials that are the basis for therapeutic recommendations. While surgery and percutaneous as well as transarterial interventions are effective in patients with limited disease (1-3 lesions, < 5 cm in diameter) and compensated underlying liver disease (cirrhosis Child A), at the time of diagnosis more than 80% patients present with multicentric HCC and advanced liver disease or comorbidities that restrict the therapeutic measures to best supportive care. In order to reduce morbidity and mortality from HCC, therefore, early diagnosis and the development of novel systemic therapies for advanced disease, including drugs, gene and immune therapies as well as primary HCC prevention are of paramount importance. Further, secondary HCC prevention after successful therapeutic interventions needs to be improved in order to make an impact on the survival of patients with HCC. New technologies, including gene expression profiling and proteomic analyses, should further elucidate the molecular events underlying HCC development and identify novel diagnostic markers as well as therapeutic and preventive targets.