Molecules, Vol. 27, Pages 8504: Metabolite Profiling of Alocasia gigantea Leaf Extract and Its Potential Anticancer Effect through Autophagy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Molecules, Vol. 27, Pages 8504: Metabolite Profiling of Alocasia gigantea Leaf Extract and Its Potential Anticancer Effect through Autophagy in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Molecules doi: 10.3390/molecules27238504 Authors: Hend Okasha Tarek Aboushousha Manuel A. Coimbra Susana M. Cardoso Mosad A. Ghareeb Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a poor-prognosis type of cancer with high resistance to chemotherapy, making the search for safe drugs a mandatory issue. Plant-derived products have potential to reduce negative side effects of cancer treatments. In this work, ability of a defatted methanolic extract of Alocasia gigantea leaves to fight HCC was evaluated in an animal model. Overall, treatment of HCC-induced mice with the methanolic extract at 150 mg/kg body weight for four consecutive weeks caused induction of autophagy through silencing of the relative expression of autophagy suppressor (mTOR) and inducement of autophagy markers (AMPK, Beclin-1, and LC-3). Moreover, it improved preservation of the hepatic histological architecture of the animals, with minor hepatocytic changes but scattered foci of hepatocytic apoptosis. Chemical profiling of the methanolic extract via ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a diode array detector and an electrospray mass spectrometer (UHPLC–DAD–ESI–MS/MS) allowed identification of di-C-glycosyl flavones, mostly represented by 6-C-hexosyl-8-C-pentosyl apigenin isomers, wh...
Source: Molecules - Category: Chemistry Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research