Determination of Anticancer Mechanism of Ascorbic Acid in Huh7 Cell Line

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the fifth most common cancer and third major cause of death worldwide. Vitamin C is known to have tumor preventive and anti-tumor effect but its anti-cancer mechanism still needs to be determined. In the present study anti-tumor effect of Vitamin C through inflammatory pathway has been evaluated. Expression of inflammatory genes was determined through qPCR after 24 hour exposure to Vitamin C. EC50 of Vitamin C for Huh-7 was also determined using MTT cell viability assay, which was 2.17 mM. Expression profiling showed that expression of TNFα, a cytokine involved in apoptotic as well as proliferative and inflammatory pathway, was increased whereas the expression of NF-κB, a transcription factor involved in shifting TNF-α from apoptotic to inflammatory pathway, and Cox-2, an inflammatory and cancer biomarker, was decreased. The study showed that Vitamin C induced TNFα mediated apoptosis in Huh7 cells by shifting TNFα from inflammatory to apoptotic pathway. This study can prove to be helpful in determining new highly effective anti-cancer therapy with lesser side effects.