Altered expression of activated induced hepatocellular carcinoma markers (HCCmk) in murine model treated with Portulaca oleracea L.

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a wan prognosis and is highly resistant to cancer therapy, pushing the search for safe drugs as an essential issue. Plant-based bioproducts may reduce the negative side effects of cancer treatment. By the present study, we evaluated the ability of a defatted methanol and hexane extracts from Portulaca oleracea to regulate HCC in an animal model. The anticancer activity of Portulaca oleraceae L. (PO) extract was evaluated against HepG2 cell line where IC50 was 241.79 µg/ml for PO MeOH extract and 122.19 µg/ml for PO Hex extract. Overall, treatment with DEN+ PO Hex 200 mg/kg shows 100% survival rate. Furthermore, it improved the preservation of hepatocyte architecture in animals with small hepatocyte alterations but interspersed with foci of hepatocyte apoptosis as well as liver enzymes ALP (11.77±4.02 IU/L), AST (114.15±11.79 IU/L), ALT (22.11±2.66 IU/L) and TBILR (0.4±0.20 IU/L). The relative expression of serum TNF-α was significantly up-regulated in DEN induced HCC mice to reach (322.44±11.2) compared to normal mice (0.07±0.02). Besides the TNF-α in DEN/ PO groups were significantly down-regulated to be (73.98±2.7), so the relative expression level of tumor markers BCl-2 and AFP. In addition, apoptotic markers BAX and Cas-8 were significantly increased in DEN/ P. oleracea treated mice. Chemical profiling of methanol and hexan extracts using GC–MS and HPLC analysis revealed that 9,12,15 octadecatrienoic acid, (2-phenyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl) methyl ester, mesitylene, 2-Hydroxy-3-[(9E)-9-octadec-enoylox] propyl(9E) octadecenoate, and 2-(phenymethylene) octanal are the major compounds that were identified by GC_MS analysis of PO Hex extract. While, HPLC clarified the presence of pyrogallol, Syringenic acid, Caffeic acid, P-coumaric acid and Cinnamic acid as major phenolic compounds besides Catechin, Luteolin, and rutin as major flavonoid compounds in PO MeOH extract. Taken together, these results provide the first visualization of the action effects of several compounds in PO and represent potential anti HCC therapy.