Journal
TOXICOLOGY LETTERS
Volume 222, Issue 2, Pages 91-101Publisher
ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2013.07.024
Keywords
Brucine; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Metastasis; Hypoxia inducible factor 1
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Funding
- Natural Science Foundation of Wuhan City [2013070104010029]
- Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province [2012FFB07406]
- Planning of Deeply Participating into the Enterprises for Young Teachers [XD2012062]
- Natural Science Foundation of China [MZY09003]
- National Project of 12th Five-Year Planning for Science & Technology Support [2012BAI27B06]
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Brucine is an alkaloid derived from the seeds of Strychnos nux-vomica Linn. which have long been used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in China. HCC prognosis can be greatly influenced by metastasis. There has thus far been little research into brucine as a source of anti-metastasis activity against HCC. In this study, we revealed that brucine dramatically repressed HepG2 and SMMC-7721 HCC cell migration with few cytotoxic effects. Hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a key transcription factor mediating cell migration and invasion. Brucine suppressed HIF-1-dependent luciferase activity in HepG2 cells. The transcriptions of four known HIF-1 target genes involved in HCC metastasis, i.e., fibronectin, matrix metallopeptidase 2, lysyl oxidase, and cathepsin D, were also attenuated after brucine treatment. Experiments in vivo showed that an intraperitoneal injection of 5 and 15 mg/kg of brucine resulted in dose-dependent decreases in the lung metastasis of H22 ascitic hepatoma cells. Moreover, a dosage of brucine at 15 mg/kg exhibited very low toxic effects to tumor-bearing mice. Consistently, brucine downregulated expression levels of HIF-1 responsive genes in vivo. Our current study demonstrated the capacity of brucine in suppressing HCC cell migration in vitro and lung metastasis in vivo. The inhibition of the HIF-1 pathway is implicated in the anti-metastasis activity of brucine. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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