Abstract
Liver cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death worldwide. A very high incidence of new liver cancer cases is diagnosed every year, and metastasis has been found to correlate to poor prognoses in humans. Better treatments for liver cancer are thus clearly needed. Sinigrin is one of the major ingredients present in Brassica nigra, which has been used in combination with other herbs for treatment of various diseases. The anti-proliferative activities of sinigrin were studied in a model of carcinogen-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Rats were orally administered with sinigrin on a daily basis for three months before sacrifice. Sinigrin was found to significantly inhibit the proliferation of liver tumor cells; the number of surface tumors in the rat liver was dramatically reduced. Sinigrin induced apoptosis of liver cancer cells through up-regulation of p53 and down-regulation of Bcl-2 family members and caspases. Our findings indicated that the liver functions were gradually restored after treatment with sinigrin and that the agent did not cause liver toxicity. Cell cycle analysis indicated that sinigrin caused cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase. The results suggest that sinigrin exerts important anti-proliferative activities in carcinogen-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in rats, and highlight the potential of sinigrin as an anti-cancer agent for liver cancer.
Highlights
Sinigrin is a glucosinolate present in the seeds of Brassica nigra and other Brassicaceae family including broccoli and Brussels sprouts
An in vitro study on liver cancer cells revealed that sinigrin could induce apoptosis
The results showed that the liver weight of the positive control group was significantly increased whereas that of the treated group was reduced after treatment with sinigrin
Summary
Sinigrin is a glucosinolate present in the seeds of Brassica nigra and other Brassicaceae family including broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Sinigrin has been reported to exhibit anti-tumor activity [1]. The metabolic activation of sinigrin leads to the formation of isothiocyanates which are believed to contribute to the anti-tumor activity [2,3,4]. The therapeutic benefits of brassica vegetables and the anti-cancer activity of sinigrin in cancer cell lines are well established [5,6,7]. An in vivo study reported the effects of the glucosinolates on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in the rat model [1,8]. Sinigrin may cause an increase in the activity of quinone reductase and glutathione-S-transferase in rats [10]. The precise details of the pharmacological activity of sinigrin in rats are not currently available
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