Study on the effect of Ursolic acid on liver cancer cells using z-vad-fmk and ROS inhibitors

Objective: To investigate the effect of Ursolic acid (UA) on liver cancer cells through cell experiments, in order to inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis. Method: By adding z-vad-fmk apoptosis inhibitor and ROS inhibitor NAC, CCK8, cell apoptosis, Western blot experiments, mitochondrial membrane potential detection, and ROS flow cytometry were conducted. Compared with the positive drug sorafenib, the inhibitory effect of UA on liver cancer cells and its promotion of apoptosis were studied. The results of CCK8 confirmed that when UA was at its optimal concentration, its inhibitory effect on liver cancer cell viability was greater than that of sorafenib; Through cell apoptosis experiments, it can be observed that under fluorescence microscopy, the fluorescence intensity in the UA+HepG2 group is significantly stronger than that in the sorafenib+HepG2 group; Western blot experiments showed that the relative expression levels of proteins in HepG2 were almost equal between the HepG2+UA and sorafenib+HepG2 groups; through ROS experiments, it was found that when the reactive oxygen species in the HepG2+UA group were lower than those in the sorafenib+HepG2 group, it indicated that the former had a stronger effect of UA on HepG2. Conclusion: UA has a significant inhibitory effect on proliferation and promotes apoptosis in liver cancer cells.