| Abstract: PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of cisplatin plus norcantharidin on transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1/Smads signaling pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.
METHODS: Hepatocellular carcinoma cells (Hep3B) were divided into four groups: control group, cisplatin 2.0 μg/ml group, norcantharidin 10 μg/ml group, and cisplatin 2.0 μg/ml plus norcantharidin 10 μg/ml group. All cells were incubated for 24 hours. Cells proliferation was assessed using cell counting kit-8. Relative mRNA expression of TGF-β1, Smad4 and Smad7 were assessed by quantitative RT-PCR. Protein expression of TGF-β1 and Smad4 were investigated by western blotting.
RESULTS: Cisplatin, norcantharidin and cisplatin plus norcantharidin significantly inhibited the proliferation of cells, significantly attenuated both the mRNA and protein expression of TGF-β1 and Smad7, and significantly up-regulated the mRNA and protein expression of Smad4 in Hep3B (all p < 0.05), and cisplatin plus norcantharidin exhibited powerful effects than cisplatin and norcantharidin. CONCLUSIONS: Cisplatin, norcantharidin and cisplatin plus norcantharidin can significantly alter the expression of TGF-β1/Smads signaling pathway and inhibit the proliferation of Hep3B cells. Cisplatin plus norcantharidin exhibited powerful effects than cisplatin and norcantharidin (Fig. 4, Ref. 23).
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Bratislava Medical Journal 
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