BACKGROUND
Liver cancer is a common
cancer with high morbidity and mortality. Due to the large toxic side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs and the overexpression of multidrug resistance genes in
liver cancer, no effective chemotherapeutic drug has yet been found. Therefore, the search for a highly effective, low-toxic, and safe natural anticancer
therapy is a hot issue. MATERIAL AND METHODS SMMC-7721 cells (a
hepatocellular carcinoma cell line) were treated with different concentrations of
oleanolic acid (OA) plus autophagy inhibitor
3-methyladenine (3-MA) (3-MA+OA) or
chloroquine (CQ) plus OA (CQ+OA). We used MTT and
Hoechst 33258 staining methods to determine the proliferation and apoptotic effect of OA on cells. Flow cytometry was used to detect apoptosis. Mitochondrial function was assessed by measuring mitochondrial membrane potential and
adenosine triphosphate (
ATP) concentration. To evaluate the ability of OA on apoptosis and autophagy mechanisms on SMMC 7721 cells, the related
protein expression for apoptosis, autophagy, and the autophagic pathway were detected and analyzed by western blot. RESULTS OA can inhibit and induce apoptosis of SMMC-7721 in a dose-dependent manner. Compared with the control group, OA significantly reduced the intracellular mitochondrial membrane potential, and the intracellular
ATP concentration was also significantly reduced. Moreover, OA reduced the expression of p-Akt and p-mTOR. The expression of p62 was decreased, and LC3-II and
Beclin-1 protein expression levels increased. After inhibiting autophagy with 3-MA or CQ, compared with OA alone, cell mitochondrial membrane potential and
ATP concentration were significantly reduced, cell p62 expression was reduced, and LC3-II expression was increased, apoptosis-related
protein Bax protein was increased, and Bcl-2
protein was decreased, which suggested that 3-MA or CQ treatment increased OA-induced apoptosis of SMMC-7721 cells. This suggested that OA activated autophagy of SMMC-7721 cells in a protective autophagic manner. CONCLUSIONS The study findings suggest that OA combined with autophagy inhibitor 3-MA can better exert its anticancer effect.