8-Bromo-7-methoxychrysin-induced apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells involves ROS and JNK.

Aim: To investigate whether the apoptotic activities of 8-bromo-7-methoxychrysin (BrMC) involve reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HCC).

Methods: HepG2, Bel-7402 and L-02 cell lines were cultured in vitro and the apoptotic effects of BrMC were evaluated by flow cytometry (FCM) after propidium iodide (PI) staining, caspase-3 activity using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and DNA agarose gel electrophoresis. ROS production was evaluated by FCM after dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCHF-DA) probe labeling. The phosphorylation level of JNK and c-Jun protein was analyzed by Western blotting.

Results: FCM after PI staining showed a dose-dependent increase in the percentage of the sub-G1 cell population (P < 0.05), reaching 39.0% +/- 2.8% of HepG2 cells after 48 h of treatment with BrMC at 10 micromol/L. The potency of BrMC to HepG2 and Bel-7402 (32.1% +/- 2.6%) cells was found to be more effective than the lead compound, chrysin (16.2% +/- 1.6% for HepG2 cells and 11.0% +/- 1.3% for Bel-7402 cell) at 40 micromol/L and similar to 5-fluorouracil (33.0% +/- 2.1% for HepG2 cells and 29.3% +/- 2.3% for Bel-7402 cells) at 10 micromol/L. BrMC had little effect on human embryo liver L-02 cells, with the percentage of sub-G1 cell population 5.4% +/- 1.8%. Treatment of HepG2 cells with BrMC for 48 h also increased the levels of active caspase-3, in a concentration-dependent manner. z-DEVD-fmk, a caspase-3-specific inhibitor, prevented the activation of caspase-3. Treatment with BrMC at 10 micromol/L for 48 h resulted in the formation of a DNA ladder. Treatment of cells with BrMC (10 micromol/L) increased mean fluorescence intensity of DCHF-DA in HepG2 cells from 7.2 +/- 1.12 at 0 h to 79.8 +/- 3.9 at 3 h and 89.7 +/- 4.7 at 6 h. BrMC did not affect ROS generation in L-02 cells. BrMC treatment failed to induce cell death and caspase-3 activation in HepG2 cells pretreated with N-acetylcysteine (10 mmol/L). In addition, in HepG2 cells treated with BrMC (2.5, 5.0, 10.0 micromol/L) for 12 h, JNK activation was observed. Peak JNK activation occurred at 12 h post-treatment and this activation persisted for up to 24 h. The expression of phosphorylated JNK and c-Jun protein after 12 h with BrMC-treated cells was inhibited by N-acetylcysteine and SP600125 pre-treatment, but GW9662 had no effect. SP600125 substantially reduced BrMC-induced cell death and caspase-3 activation of HepG2 cells. N-acetylcysteine and GW9662 also attenuated induction of cell death and caspase-3 activation in HepG2 cells treated with BrMC.

Conclusion: BrMC induces apoptosis of HCC cells by ROS generation and sustained JNK activation.