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Abstract
Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most lethal malignancies and there is no effective
preventive measure in this highly malignant disease to date. In the present study,
we investigated the chemopreventive potential of capsaicin (8-methyl-N- vanillyl-6-nonenamide),
the principal pungent ingredient found in hot red pepper, in SK-Hep-1 hepatocellular
carcinoma cells. Treatment of capsaicin inhibited growth of SK-Hep-1 cells in a concentration-dependent
manner while 4-methoxy capsaicin (Met-capsaicin) was less potent. This inhibitory
effect of capsaicin on SK-Hep-1 cell growth was mainly due to the induction of apoptosis
as evidenced by DNA fragmentation and nuclear condensation. Furthermore, capsaicin
prominently reduced the ratio of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 to pro-apoptotic Bax and consequently
increased caspase-3 activity. These results demonstrate that capsaicin efficiently
induced apoptosis in SK-Hep-1 cells through a caspase-3-dependent mechanism, which
may contribute to its chemopreventive function.