Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Effect of ganoderic acid on diethylnitrosamine-induced liver cancer in mice

Zhongwen Sun^1,2, Libo Sun³, Wenwen Li⁴

¹Department of Pharmacy, Taishan Hospital of Shandong Province, Taian 271000; ²College of Chinese Medicine, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355; ³Department of Pharmacy, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University; ⁴Department of Hematology, Qingdao Commercial Staff Hospital, Qingdao 266555, China.

For correspondence:- Wenwen Li Email: liwenwen2020@163.com

Accepted: 14 November 2020 Published: 31 December 2020

Citation: Sun Z, Sun L, Li W. Effect of ganoderic acid on diethylnitrosamine-induced liver cancer in mice. Trop J Pharm Res 2020; 19(12):2639-2644 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v19i12.23

© 2020 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the hepatoprotective role of ganoderic acid A (GAA) on liver cancer induced by diethylnitrosamine (DEN) via Nrf-2/HO-1/NF-κB signal pathway in mice.

Methods: Sixty male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into 4 groups: (1) control group, (2) DEN (25 mg/kg) group, (3) GAA (20 mg/kg) + DEN group, (4) GAA (40 mg/kg) + DEN group. The protective effect of GAA on liver was evaluated by determining malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), inflammatory cytokines including interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), nuclear factor erythroid- 2-related factor-2 (Nrf-2), IκBα, p-IκBα, p65, p-p65, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) in serum.

Results: The results demonstrate that GAA treatment significantly suppressed the generation of MDA, proinflammatory cytokines, and restored the activity of SOD in the serum of DEN-induced liver cancer in mice. Western blots analysis revealed that GAA significantly restored Nrf-2/HO-1/NF-κB signal pathway-related protein levels in DEN-induced mice liver cancer model.

Conclusion: This research reveals the anticancer activity of GAA in liver tissue, and suggests that GAA counters DEN-induced liver cancer through Nrf-2/HO-1/NF-κB signal pathway.

Keywords: Ganoderic acid A, Nrf-2/HO-1/NF-?B pathway, Liver cancer, MDA, GAPDH, SOD