[Apoptosis of human hepatoma HepG2 cells induced by emodin in vitro].

Background & Objective: Emodin (3-methyl-1,6,8-trihydro- xyanthrax-quinone) is the main effective composition of some Chinese herbs. Previous studies showed that emodin could inhibit the proliferation of some kind of tumor cells, such as breast cancer and lung cancer, while the mechanism(s) by which emodin suppresses tumor growth remains unknown. The study was designed to investigate the inhibitory effects and mechanisms of emodin-induced cell death in human hepatoma cell HepG2.