Open Access

ARTICLE

Magnesium Demethylcantharidate induces apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells via ER stress

XINTING ZHU^1,2,#, MENG YE^2,3,#, KELAN FANG¹, FANG LIU^1,2, JING HUI^1,2, MEICHEN LIU², XIAOFEI LI^1,2, RONG YAN^1,2,*, Yun Liu^1,2,4,*

1 Guizhou Provincial College-Based Key Lab for Tumor Prevention and Treatment with Distinctive Medicines, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, 563000, China
2 College of Basic Medicine, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, 563000, China
3 Scientific Research Center, The First People’s Hospital of Zunyi (The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University), Zunyi, 563000, China
4 School of Forensic Medicine, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, 563000, China

* Corresponding Authors: RONG YAN. Email: ; Yun Liu. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Herbal Active Ingredients: Potential for the Prevention and Treatment of Cancer)

BIOCELL 2022, 46(12), 2595-2600. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2022.025468

Received 14 May 2022; Accepted 22 July 2022; Issue published 10 August 2022

Abstract

Cantharidin (CTD) is a bioactive ingredient isolated from Cantharis vesicatoria (blister beetles), which has potential therapeutic value as an anticancer agent. Magnesium Demethylcantharidate (MDC) is a recently developed derivative of Cantharidin (CTD), and previous studies have illustrated its excellent anticancer activity on HCC cells. However, the effect and mechanism of MDC remains unclear and need to be further studied. In particular, whether MDC can cause ER stress in HCC is still unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS)-related proteins were changed in SMMC-7721 and Bel-7402 cells after being exposed to MDC. Moreover, we found that MDC could significantly inhibit the growth of xenograft tumor in nude mice. In summary, we confirmed that MDC could induce ERS in HCC cells and thus induce apoptosis.

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Keywords

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