Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Expressions of B7-H4 and B7-H3 proteins and effect of sorafenib on their expressions in different human hepatoma cell lines

Ya-Ping Shen¹, Shuai Zhang², Li-Zhou Wang³, Xi-Yuan Yang¹, Wei-Xin Lin¹, Ji-Fu Long¹, Shi Zhou³, Kun Li¹

¹Department of Interventional Radiology, Baiyun Hospital of Guiyang Medical College, Guiyang 550014; ²Department of Interventional Radiology, Gui Zhou Tumour Hospital, Guiyang 550000; ³Department of Interventional Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Medical College, Guiyang 550000, PR China.

For correspondence:- Kun Li Email: kun163li@163.com

Received: 15 May 2015 Accepted: 6 September 2015 Published: 31 October 2015

Citation: Shen Y, Zhang S, Wang L, Yang X, Lin W, Long J, et al. Expressions of B7-H4 and B7-H3 proteins and effect of sorafenib on their expressions in different human hepatoma cell lines. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(10):1797-1802 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i10.9

© 2015 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To study whether B7-H3 and B7-H4 proteins can be candidate drug targets for preventing and treating hepatoma.

Methods: Western blot assay was used to study the expressions of B7-H3 and B7-H4 proteins and the effect of sorafenib on their expressions in different human hepatoma cell lines (HepG2, Hep3B, BEL-7402, BEL-7404, BEL-7405, QGY-7701, QGY-7703, SMMC-7721, MHCC97H, MHCC97L, HCCLM3 and HCCLM6). 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to study the cytotoxicity of sorafenib against different human hepatoma cell lines.

Results: The expressions of B7-H3 (0.26 - 0.84 μM) and B7-H4 (0.18 - 0.78 μM) proteins in different human hepatoma cell lines were significantly (p < 0.01) up-regulated, compared with that of the normal human liver cell line (HL-7702) (0.09 and 0.08 μM). Sorafenib was cytotoxic on Hep3B, BEL-7404, MHCC97H, HCCLM3 and HCCLM6 cells with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 14.56, 9.14, 9.46, 17.21 and 9.29 μM, respectively. After treatment with sorafenib at concentrations of 5, 10 and 20 μM, the expressions of B7-H3 protein in MHCC97H, HCCLM3 and HCCLM6 cells and the expressions of B7-H4 protein in Hep3B, BEL-7404 and MHCC97H cells were significantly (p < 0.01) down-regulated, compared with that of the control.

Conclusion: Over-expression of B7-H3 and B7-H4 proteins is common in different human hepatoma cell lines and thus, B7-H3 and B7-H4 proteins may be regarded as candidate drug targets for preventing and treating hepatoma.

Keywords: Hepatoma, B7-H3, B7-H4, Sorafenib, Over-expression, Cytotoxic activity, Down-regulation