Ethanol extract of Ardisiae Japonicae Herba inhibits hepatoma carcinoma cell proliferation in vitro through regulating lipid metabolism

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to discover the possible working mechanisms of Ardisiae Japonicae Herba (AJH) on hepatoma carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: In this study, ethanol extract of AJH was prepared and used to treat HCC cell in vitro. Furthermore, a genomic wide RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed to screen deregulated genes in HCC cells after the treatment of AJH extract. The gene and protein expression related to lipid metabolism in HCC cells were also investigated to validate the results obtained from RNA-seq. RESULTS: AJH extract could inhibit HCC cell proliferation in vitro. RNA-seq analysis has identified 1,601 differentially expressed genes (DEGs, fold change ≥ 2.0 or fold change ≤ 0.5, P < 0.05) in HCC after AJH extract treatment, which included 225 up-regulated genes and 1,376 down-regulated genes. KEGG pathway analysis of DEGs demonstrated that lipid metabolism was a potential pathway related to AJH treatment. In agreement with the RNA-seq data, qPCR and Western-blot analysis indicated that expression of genes and proteins related to lipid metabolism (SREBP1, ACC, ACLY and FASN) were significantly down-regulated in AJH treatment group as compared with the control group. Furthermore, AJH extract could also decrease lipid contents and cellular free fatty acid levels in HCC cells. CONCLUSION: Ethanol extract of AJH could inhibit HCC cell proliferation in vitro, the possible mechanism may be related to the inhibition of lipid metabolism.