Cytotoxic Activities of Amentoflavone against Human Breast and Cervical Cancers are Mediated by Increasing of PTEN Expression Levels due to Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Activation

Abstract

Human peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (hPPARγ) has been implicated in numerous pathologies, including obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Previously, we verified that amentoflavone is an activator of hPPARγ and probed the molecular basis of its action. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of action of amentoflavone in cancer cells and demonstrated that amentoflavone showed strong cytotoxicity against MCF-7 and HeLa cancer cell lines. We showed that hPPARγ expression in MCF-7 and HeLa cells is specifically stimulated by amentoflavone, and suggested that amentoflavone-induced cytotoxic activities are mediated by activation of hPPARγ in these two cancer cell lines. Moreover, amentoflavone increased PTEN levels in these two cancer cell lines, indicating that the cytotoxic activities of amentoflavone are mediated by increasing of PTEN expression levels due to hPPARγ activation.