The regulation of succinyl-CoA:acetoacetyI-CoA transferase (CoA transferase) has been studied in 8 rat hepatoma cell lines. Compared with normal rat hepatocytes, which have almost nondetectable activity of the enzyme, the hepatoma cell lines have a wide range of expression of CoA transferase activity, from as low as 45 nmol/min/mg to as high as 960 nmol/min/mg. \Yestern blotting showed that the...

BACKGROUND Our previous study revealed that the combination of Saikosaponin-d ( SSd) and radiation is more effective in the treatment of liver cancer than the application of either of these monotherapeutic methods. However, the molecular mechanisms of the radiosensitizing effect of SSd on liver cancer remained ill defined. METHODS Cells were treated with different interventions; afterward, ce...

To investigate the expression and role of PAR-2 in the proliferation of the human hepatoma cell line HepG2, PAR-2 protein and mRNA expression were evaluated by immuno-histochemistry, immunofluorescence and RT-PCR analysis. The signaling pathways downstream of PAR-2 activation that lead to hepatoma cell proliferation were analyzed. The results showed that PAR-2 is expressed in human hepatoma cel...

ASPP2 can bind to p53 and enhance the apoptotic capabilities of p53 by guiding it to the promoters of pro-apoptotic genes. Here, ASPP2 overexpression for 24 hours transiently induced apoptosis in hepatoma cells by enhancing the transactivation of p53 on pro-apoptotic gene promoters. However, long-term ASPP2 overexpression (more than 48 hours) failed to induce apoptosis because p53 was released ...

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) has been shown to induce the differentiation of primary hepatocytes in vitro. When actively dividing poorly differentiated human hepatoma-derived (Huh7) cells were cultured in the presence of 1% DMSO, cells became cytologically differentiated and transitioned into a nondividing state, characterized by the induction of hepatocyte-specific genes. Moreover, these cells we...

PURPOSE Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) displays particular resistance to conventional cytostatic agents. Alternative treatment strategies focus on novel substances exhibiting antineoplastic and/or immunomodulatory activity enhancing for example natural killer (NK) cell antitumor reactivity. However, tumor-associated ligands engaging activating NK cell receptors are largely unknown. Exceptions a...

Acyclic retinoid (ACR), a novel synthetic retinoid, can prevent the recurrence of human hepatoma after surgical resection of primary tumors, but the molecular mechanisms by which ACR exerts antitumor effects are not known. In this study, we found that ACR inhibited the growth of three human hepatoma cell lines. In HepG2 cells, this inhibition was associated with an arrest of the cell cycle in G...

Acyclic retinoid (ACR), a novel synthetic retinoid, can prevent the recurrence of human hepatoma after surgical resection of primary tumors, but the molecular mechanisms by which ACR exerts antitumor effects are not known. In this study, we found that ACR inhibited the growth of three human hepatoma cell lines. In HepG2 cells, this inhibition was associated with an arrest of the cell cycle in G...

We detected a strong upregulation of the mutated transketolase transcript (TKTL1) in human hepatoma cell line HepG2, whereas transketolase (TKT) and transketolase-like-2 (TKTL2) transcripts were not upregulated. We inhibited the expression of TKTL1 by RNAi in HepG2 cells. It was found that total transketolase activity was dramatically downregulated and the proliferation of cancer cells was sign...