Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
3rd Eurasia Biochemical Approaches & Technologies (EBAT), Antalya, Türkiye, 4 - 07 Kasım 2021, ss.64
Primary liver cancer is placed the sixth in terms of incidence and the third in terms of cancer death
worldwide in 2020. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary malignant tumor in
liver cancer.1 Today, most anti-cancer drugs or compounds are derived from natural products including
plants.2 Recent studies have shown that lichens may also be one of these natural resources.3,4
Diffractaic acid, one of the secondary metabolites of lichens, has antioxidant, immunostimulatory, and
anticarcinogenic effects against various types of cancer.
5 However, there is no study in the literature
about its usability for the treatment of HCC. The aim of this study is to investigate whether diffractaic
acid has an anti-cancer effect on HCC.
Here, the effects of diffractaic acid on the viability of HepG2 cells were investigated by using cell
proliferation (XTT) assay in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The results showed that the best IC50
value was determined as 78.07±1.60 μg/mL at 48 hours. Annexin V-FITC assay and wound healing assay
demonstrated that diffractaic acid induced apoptotic cell death and inhibited the migration of HepG2
cells. Considering apoptosis in detail, according to the Real-Time PCR results, it was observed that while
diffractaic acid only upregulated the quantitative gene expression of P53 in HepG2 cells (p<0.0001), it
did not significantly change the BAX/BCL2 ratio (p>0.05).
Taken together, our findings suggest that diffractaic acid may be a new chemotherapeutic agent in the
treatment of HCC. But, these data still need to be investigation in detail with further study.