Hyperoside suppresses BMP-7-dependent PI3K/AKT pathway in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Background: New therapeutics for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are urgently needed and searching for new anti-cancer compounds in plant medicines may represent a promising approach. The present study was conducted to clarify the role of hyperoside (HP) and its underlying molecular mechanism in a cancer cell.

Methods: Bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP-7) protein expression was measure in Human HCC tissue. In in vitro experiments, HP effects on cell proliferation and the mechanism were investigated deeply.

Results: The result showed a higher expression of BMP-7 in human HCC compared to adjacent noncancerous counterparts, and that silencing of BMP-7 suppressed HepG2 cell proliferation, suggesting BMP-7 plays an anti-cancer role in HCC. Furthermore, we found that HP could induce cell cycle arrest in proliferating HepG2 cells at the G1 phase by decreasing BMP-7 expression and that the phosphorylation of AKT and expression of PI3K were significantly down-regulated upon treatment of HP or BMP-7 knockdown. In addition, silencing of BMP-7 abrogated the difference of AKT phosphorylation between cells with and without HP treatment.

Conclusions: Our results indicated that HP suppressed cell proliferation by inhibiting the BMP-7-dependent PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in HepG2 HCC cells, and either HP supplement or targeting BMP-7 might be a promising treatment against HCC.