Quercetin is a potent
cancer therapeutic agent and dietary
antioxidant present in fruit and vegetables.
Quercetin prevents
tumor proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest and is a well known
cancer therapeutic agent and autophagy mediator. Recent studies showed that
drug delivery by nanoparticles have enhanced efficacy with reduced side effects. In this regard,
gold-
quercetin into
poly(DL-lactide-co-glycolide) nanoparticles was examined. In this study, we explored the role and possible underlying mechanisms of
quercetin nanoparticle in regulation of antitumor activity in
liver cancer cells. Treatment with
quercetin nanoparticle effectively inhibited the
liver cancer cell proliferation, cell migration and colony formation, thus suppressing
liver cancer progression.
Quercetin nanoparticle also upregulated apoptosis markedly. Further study suggested that
quercetin nanoparticle accelerated the cleavage of
caspase-9,
caspase-3, and induced the up-releasing of
cytochrome c (Cyto-c), contributing to apoptosis in
liver cancer cells.
Quercetin nanoparticles also promoted
telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) inhibition through reducing AP-2β expression and decreasing its binding to hTERT promoter. In addition,
quercetin nanoparticle had an inhibitory role in
cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) via suppressing the NF-κB nuclear translocation and its binding to COX-2 promoter.
Quercetin nanoparticle also inactivated Akt and ERK1/2 signaling pathway. Taken together, our results suggested that
quercetin nanoparticle had an antitumor effect by inactivating
caspase/Cyto-c pathway, suppressing AP-2β/hTERT, inhibiting NF-κB/COX-2 and impeding Akt/ERK1/2 signaling pathways. Our results provided new mechanistic basis for further investigation of
quercetin nanoparticles to find potential therapeutic strategies and possible targets for
liver cancer inhibition.