Effect of hepatocyte growth factor on proliferation and apoptosis of hepatoma cell line HepG2 in vitro

    LUO Zhongª²Hua, SUN Liª²Jun, HE Hongª²De, LI Jingª²Bang, ZHANG Xueª²Xin, LIU Jian

    Department of Radiology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military University, Xi¬ðan 710033, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To evaluate the effect of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) on the proliferation and apoptosis in HepG2 cells. METHODS: HepG2 cells were cultured for 2, 4, 6 d in the presence of HGF at different concentrations of 0, 1, 10, 50 ¦Ìg/L. The effects of HGF on the proliferation of HepG2 cells was evaluated by MTT assay. The flow cytometry (FCM) was used to detect phase distribution of the cycles and apoptosis rate. Expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) was detected with immunocytochemical technique. RESULTS: HGF inhibited the cell proliferation and induced the apoptosis in HepG2 in a timeª² and concentrationª²dependent manner. FCM also showed a subª²G1 cell apoptotic peak and a significant increace of apoptosis rate induced by HGF(P<0.05). At the concentration of 50 ¦Ìg/L, HGF treatments for 4 and 6 d depressed the proliferation of HepG2 cells by (30.7¡À10.2)% and (49.8 ¡À11.1)% , while at 1 ¦Ìg/L, HGF decreased the proliferation by (10.7¡À11.2)% and (4.2¡À9.4)%. Differences between the 2 groups were statistically significant (P<0.05, P<0.01). DNA ploidy analysis showed that S phase cells were significantly decreased and quiescent G0/G1 phase cells were accumulated by raising HGF concentration. Percentages of S phase cells in 10 and 50 ¦Ìg/L groups were (7.5¡À4.4)%, (7.8¡À1.6)%, significantly lower than the control(16.6 ¡À2.8) %; percentages of G0/G1 phase cells were (80.5¡À3.2)% and (73.1¡À3.9)%, significantly higher than the control (59.6¡À6.2)% (P<0.05, P<0.01). Levels of PCNA were obviously downª²regulated in HGF group compared with control group. CONCLUSION: HGF significantly inhibits the proliferation and induces the apoptosis in HepG2, which may be involved in G0/G1 phase arrest. ......