Emodin induces apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepaRG cells via the mitochondrial caspase-dependent pathway

Dong, Xiaoxv; Ni, Boran; Fu, Jing; Yin, Xingbin; You, Longtai; Leng, Xin; Liang, Xiao; Ni, Jian

Emodin (1,3,8-trihydroxy-6-methylanthraquinone) (Fig. 1) is a naturally occurring anthraquinone derivative, which is found in a variety of tradition Chinese herbs including Rheum palmatum (9) , Polygonum cuspidatum (10) , Polygonum multiflorum (11) and Cassia occidentalis (12) . Modern pharmacological studies have revealed that emodin possesses anti-proliferative effects on various cancer cells, such as pancreatic cancer (13) , breast cancer (14) , hepatocellular carcinoma (15) , lung carcinoma (16) , gastric carcinoma (17) and prostate cancer (18) . Furthermore, this drug has also been reported to exhibit antiviral (19) , antibacterial (20) , anti-allergic (21) , anti-osteoporotic (22) , anti-diabetic (23) , immunosuppressive (24) and neuroprotective (25) activities. Nevertheless, an increasing number of recently published studies have reported the deleterious effects of emodin in in vivo and in vitro investigations (26, 27) . Panigrahi et al reported that emodin isolated from the methanol extracts of Cassia occidentalis might be one of its main hepatotoxic ingredients (28) . Furthermore, an in vivo study demonstrated that emodin may be one of the primary chemical components in Rheum palmatum L. that causes hepatic and renal toxicity (29) .