SC-III3, a novel scopoletin derivative, induces cytotoxicity in hepatocellular cancer cells through oxidative DNA damage and ataxia telangiectasia-mutated nuclear protein kinase activation

BACKGROUND: Natural products from plants have been proven to be important resources of antitumor agents. In this study, we exploited the antitumor activity of (E)-3-(4-chlorophenyl)-N-(7-hydroxy-6-methoxy-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl) acrylamide (SC-III3), a newly synthesized derivative of scopoletin, by in vitro and in vivo experiments. METHODS: Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2 cells and xenograft of HepG2 cells in BALB/c nude mice were used to investigate the effects of SC-III3 on hepatocellular cancers. Cell cycle arrest and apoptosis were analyzed by flow cytometry. Cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and ATM-Chk pathway-related proteins were characterized by western blot. RESULTS: SC-III3 selectively inhibited the viability of HepG2 cells without significant cytotoxicity against human normal liver cells LO2. In mouse xenograft model of HepG2 cells, SC-III3 showed a marked inhibition of tumor growth in a dose-dependent manner. Cell cycle analysis revealed that SC-III3 induced cells to accumulate in S phase, which was accompanied by a marked decrease of the expressions of cyclin A, cyclin B, cyclin E and Cdk2 proteins, the crucial regulators of S phase cell cycle. SC-III3 treatment resulted in DNA breaks in HepG2 cells, which might contribute to its S phase arrest. The S arrest and the activation of ATM-Chk1/Chk2-Cdc25A-Cdk2 pathways induced by SC-III3 in HepG2 cells could be efficiently abrogated by pretreatments of either Ku55933 (an inhibitor of ATM) or UCN-01 (an inhibitor of Chk1/Chk2). The activation of p53-p21 pathway by SC-III3 was also reversed by Ku55933 treatment. SC-III3 led to significant accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), a breaker of DNA strand, in HepG2 cells but not LO2 cells. Pretreatment with N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC), a ROS scavenger, could reverse SC-III3-caused ROS accumulation, DNA damage, activation of signal pathways relevant to DNA damage, S phase arrest and cell viability decrease in HepG2 cells. CONCLUSION: SC-III3 is able to efficiently inhibit the growth of hepatocellular carcinoma through inducing the generation of intracellular ROS, DNA damage and consequent S phase arrest, but lack of significant cytotoxicity against normal liver cells. This compound deserves further studies as a candidate of anticancer drugs.