TY  - EJOU
AU  - Elkady, Ayman I. 
AU  - Abu-Zinadah, Osama A. 
AU  - Hussein, Rania Abd El Hamid 

TI  - Crude Flavonoid Extract of Medicinal Herb <i>Zingibar officinale</i> Inhibits Proliferation and Induces Apoptosis  in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells
T2  - Oncology Research

PY  - 2017
VL  - 25
IS  - 6
SN  - 1555-3906

AB  - There is an urgent need to improve the clinical management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the 
most common causes of global cancer-related deaths. <i>Zingibar officinale</i> is a medicinal herb used throughout 
history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It has antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, and free radical scavenging properties. Previously, we proved that the crude flavonoid extract of <i>Z. officinale</i> (CFEZO) inhibited 
growth and induced apoptosis in several cancer cell lines. However, the effect of the CFEZO on an HCC 
cell line has not yet been evaluated. In this study, we explored the anticancer activity of CFEZO against an 
HCC cell line, HepG2. CFEZO significantly inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells. 
Typical apoptotic morphological and biochemical changes, including cell shrinkage and detachment, nuclear 
condensation and fragmentation, DNA degradation, and comet tail formation, were observed after treatments 
with CFEZO. The apoptogenic activity of CFEZO involved induction of ROS, depletion of GSH, disruption 
of the mitochondrial membrane potential, activation of caspase 3/9, and an increase in the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. 
CFEZO treatments induced upregulation of p53 and p21 expression and downregulation of cyclin D1 and 
cyclin-dependent kinase-4 expression, which were accompanied by G2/M phase arrest. These findings suggest 
that CFEZO provides a useful foundation for studying and developing novel chemotherapeutic agents for the 
treatment of HCC.
KW  - Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); Apoptosis; Reactive oxygen species (ROS);  Glutathione (GSH); Mitochondrial potential

DO  - 10.3727/096504016X14816352324532