Augmentation of tumor necrosis factor family-induced apoptosis by E3330 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines via inhibition of NFκB

AIM: To investigate the reduction of cell viability in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines induced by inhibition of nuclear factor kappa B (NF kappa B). METHODS: HLE, SKHep1, and HepG2 were incubated and E3330 was used to compare the stimulation of some chemotherapeutic drugs with that of TNF family, Fas ligand, TNF alpha and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) at the point of the reduction of cell viability by inhibiting NF kappa B. RESULTS: E3330 decreased NF kappa B levels in HLE cells stimulated by TNF and TRAIL. The cytotoxicity of the combination of TRAIL, TNF alpha, Fas ligand, and E3330 increased synergistically in a dose-dependent manner compared to either E3330 alone in all HCC cell lines by MTT assay. However, the combination of some chemotherapeutic drugs and E3330 did not decrease the cell viability. CONCLUSION: Inhibition of NF kappa B sensitizes human HCC cell lines to TNF-mediated apoptosis including TRAIL, and TRAIL-based tumor therapy might be a powerful potential therapeutic tool in the treatment of human HCC. (C) 2005 The WJG Press and Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.