Puerarin inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma invasion and metastasis through miR-21-mediated PTEN/AKT signaling to suppress the epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

In this study, CCK-8, EdU immunofluorescence, colony formation, wound healing, and migration assays were used to detect the effects of puerarin on HCC cells. We further analyzed the relationship between puerarin and miR-21/PTEN/EMT markers in HCC cell lines. Our results showed that HCC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, tumor formation, and metastasis were reduced by puerarin in vitro and in vivo. Additionally, puerarin inhibited the EMT process of HCC by affecting the expression of Slug and Snail. Moreover, oncogenic miR-21 was inhibited by puerarin, coupled with an increase in the tumor suppressor gene PTEN. Increasing miR-21 expression or decreasing PTEN expression reversed the inhibition effects of puerarin in HCC. These data confirmed that puerarin affects HCC through the miR-21/PTEN/EMT regulatory axis. Overall, puerarin may represent a chemopreventive and/or chemotherapeutic agent for HCC treatment. PMID: 32294699 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research - Category: Research Tags: Braz J Med Biol Res Source Type: research