Pentagamavunone-1 suppresses MYCN-positive HuH-7 Cancer Cell Growth via Mitotic Arrest in vitro

High expression of MYCN is usually found in progressive liver cancer. The present study investigated the potential effects of Pentagamavunone-1 (PGV-1) against the MYCN-positive human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell line in vitro based on the cellular physiology. The MYCN-positive cell line, HuH-7, was employed as a cell model in this study. The cytotoxic effect of PGV-1 was observed using the trypan blue exclusion method while its alterations to the cell cycle and level of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were determined through flow cytometry. Further, the cellular morphology of the cells was presented with Hoechst and X-gal staining whilst the expression of MYCN was detected by Western blot. The results demonstrated that PGV-1 was cytotoxic to HuH-7 cells with GI50 of 0.36 μM, much lower than sorafenib and peretinoin which had GI50 of 2.07 and 45.6 μM, respectively. PGV-1 inhibited the growth of HuH-7 cells in a dose-dependent manner, even after removal of the drug. Flow cytometry analysis confirmed that the cycle of HuH-7 cells appeared to arrest in the G2/M phase and intracellular ROS levels were increased. Moreover, the Hoechst staining showed chromosomal condensation in the mitotic phase, particularly in prometaphase. The X-gal staining confirmed that the PGV-1-treated cells undergo senescence. PGV-1 also decreased MYCN expression in HuH-7 cells. All these findings imply that PGV-1 is a potential agent to inhibit MYCN-positive liver cancer cells via mitotic arrest.