The Relative Quantification of Hedgehog Signalling Components of Hepatocellular Carcinoma (Hepg-2) Cells Treated With Sorghum bicolor Leaf Stalk Ethanolic Extract

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent type of primary liver cancer. Patients with advanced HCC have a dismal prognosis due to the limited therapy choices available. Hence, this present study evaluates the cytotoxic potential of the ethanolic crude extract of Sorghum bicolor leaf stalk (SBELSE) against human hepatocellular carcinoma (HEPG2) cell line, and its effect in the expression of its Hh signaling component-GLI1 and PTCH. The leaf stalk of Sorghum bicolor (SB) was pulverized and extracted with 70% ethanol. HEPG2 cells were treated with different concentration of ethanol extract of SBELSE which was subjected to 2-fold serial dilution to achieve a graded concentration (9.77-5000 µg/ml). Cell viability was performed using CCK-8 assay. The cells were treated with 8 µg/mL and 23 µg/mL concentration of SBELSE for 48 hour, after which RNA was isolated for downstream gene expression studies using RT-qPCR. The expression level of GLI1 and PTCH genes in cell line was examined relative to the untreated group. SBELSE exerted a cytotoxic effect on HEPG-2 cells with an inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of 150 µg/mL. After 48 hours of treatment and evaluation, Expression of GLI1 and PTCH genes was seen in all cell group but was increased in groups treated with 8µg/mL concentration of S. bicolor extract than in the control group.  The findings of this study suggest the possibility of the extract to contain agonistic component that might support cancer cell proliferation.