Compound shougong powder inhibits the malignant phenotype of hepatocellular carcinoma cells by targeting the DNA damage repair pathway.

Objectives: Compound Shougong Powder (SGS), a traditional Chinese medicine formulation, has been used to treat cancer for many years with remarkable efficacy. However, the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effect of SGS in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are not completely clear.

Methods: The survival and metastasis of HCC cells were examined by CCK-8 assay, EdU assay, Wound-healing and Transwell assay. The anti-tumour effect of SGS was studied using hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry. RNA sequencing was applied to detect the underlying mechanism. Comet DNA, qRT-PCR and WB experiments were performed for validation. In addition, HCC nude mouse model was constructed to detect SGS effect in vivo.

Key Findings: SGS inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of HCC cells and induced apoptosis in vitro. In addition, SGS also suppressed tumour growth in a nude mouse model of HCC in a dose-dependent manner. RNA sequencing of the suitably treated HCC cells revealed significant changes in the expression levels of genes involved in the DNA damage repair pathway. The sequencing results were verified by Comet DNA, qRT-PCR, WB assays and molecular docking.

Conclusions: Taken together, SGS inhibits the malignant phenotype of HCC cells by down-regulating DNA repair genes and consequently inducing DNA damage.