The intermediate conductance calcium-activated potassium channel KCa3.1 plays an important role in regulating cell proliferation and migration. However, the role of KCa3.1 channel in human hepatocellular carcinoma remained unknown. This study was therefore performed to investigate the effects of KCa3.1 potassium channel blocker on the proliferation, apoptosis and migration of human hepatocellul...

The pregnane X receptor (PXR) was previously known as a xenobiotic receptor. Several recent studies suggested that PXR also played an important role in lipid homeostasis but the underlying mechanism remains to be clearly defined. In this study, we found that rifampicin, an agonist of human PXR, induced lipid accumulation in HepG2 cells. Lipid analysis showed the total cholesterol level increase...

Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) plays an important role in regulating tumor growth and migration. However, little is known about its role in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. This study explored the effect of GRP on the growth of HCC HepG2 cells and the underlying mechanisms. Expression of GRP and its cognate receptor (GRPR) were detected by immunocytochemisty, reverse transcription-P...

Introduction Cancer is a disease with a global burden and is a major and increasing threat to public health. The demand for new modalities to treat and prevent cancer is high. Given the toxic side effects of standard treatments, such as chemotherapy, there is greater research interest in naturally derived compounds due to their selective toxicity to cancer cells. This study aimed to test the an...

The HepG2-type glucose transporter (HepG2-GT) is expressed in 3T3-L1 fibroblasts and adipocytes. In contrast, the acutely insulin-regulatable glucose transporter (IRGT) is expressed only in the adipocytes. In the present study, the expression of the IRGT was shown to increase in parallel with the acquisition of acutely insulin-stimulated glucose uptake during differentiation of these cells, whe...

SREBP1c (sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c) is a metabolic-syndrome-associated transcription factor that controls fatty acid biosynthesis under glucose/insulin stimulation. Oxidative stress increases lipid accumulation, which promotes the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, we know little about the role of oxidative stress in fatty acid biosynthesis. To clarify the ...

The relatively recent discovery of microRNAs has added a completely new dimension to the study of the regulation of tumor cells, but how they control cell behavior remains largely elusive. HepG2 cells were assigned to the miR-1301 group and the control group. RT-PCR, Western blotting, wound healing, the Transwell chamber migration and MTT assays, ...

BACKGROUND [corrected] Cantharidin, and its derivatives can not only inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells, but can also induce tumor cell apoptosis. It shows cantharidin exhibits a wide range of reactivity in anticancer. The objective of this paper was to study the inhibitory effect of sodium cantharidinate on human hepatoma HepG2 cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS MTT assay was used to detect ...

Pregnane X receptor (PXR) mRNA was detected in HepG2 cells by RT-PCR, but not in human fetal liver (HFL) cells. CYP3A4 was induced by rifampicin (RIF), mifepristone (RU486), clotrimazole (CTZ), and dexamethasone (DEX) in HepG2 cells, while these PXR ligands with the exception of DEX did not induce CYP3A4 mRNA expression in HFL cells. Ad-PXR infection increased mRNA levels of PXR and CYP3A4 in b...

Hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) is a serious environmental pollutant and human toxicant. Mammalian cells are very sensitive to chromate as they lack efficient chromate detoxifying strategy, e.g., chromate-reducing genes that are widely present in prokaryotes. To test whether introduction of prokaryotic chromate-reducing gene into mammalian cells could render higher chromate resistance, an Escheric...