Resveratrol enhances cisplatin-induced apoptosis in human hepatoma cells via glutamine metabolism inhibition

Cisplatin is one of the most effective chemotherapeutic drugs used in the treatment of HCC, but many patients will ultimately relapse with cisplatin-resistant disease. Used in combination with cisplatin, resveratrol has synergistic effect of increasing chemosensitivity of cisplatin in various cancer cells. However, the mechanisms of resveratrol enhancing cisplatin-induced toxicity have not been well characterized. Our study showed that resveratrol enhances cisplatin toxicity in human hepatoma cells via an apoptosis-dependent mechanism. Further studies reveal that resveratrol decreases the absorption of glutamine and glutathione content by reducing the expression of glutamine transporter ASCT2. Flow cytometric analyses demonstrate that resveratrol and cisplatin combined treatment leads to a significant increase in ROS production compared to resveratrol or cisplatin treated hepatoma cells alone. Phosphorylated H2AX (gamma H2AX) foci assay demonstrate that both resveratrol and cisplatin treatment result in a significant increase of gamma H2AX foci in hepatoma cells, and the resveratrol and cisplatin combined treatment results in much more gamma H2AX foci formation than either resveratrol or cisplatin treatment alone. Furthermore, our studies show that over-expression of ASCT2 can attenuate cisplatin-induced ROS production, gamma H2AX foci formation and apoptosis in human hepatoma cells. Collectively, our studies suggest resveratrol may sensitize human hepatoma cells to cisplatin chemotherapy via glutamine metabolism inhibition.