A naturally occurring polyphenolic compound for liver cancer treatment.
11 affiliations
- 1Division of General and Digestive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
- 2Department of Medical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
- 3Center of Teaching and Research, Kaohsiung Municipal Siaogang Hospital, Kaohsiung 812, Taiwan.
- 4Graduate Institute of Animal Vaccine Technology, College of Veterinary Medicine, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 912, Taiwan.
- 5Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
- 6Center for Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease Research, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
- 7Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
- 8School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
- 9Division of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
- 10Department of Neurosurgery, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan.
- 11Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore 119077, Singapore.
Abstract
As a polyphenolic compound naturally found in nature, piceatannol is an analogue of resveratrol. These compounds share a common structural motif but have various substituents. Resveratrol shows anti-inflammation and anti-tumor properties, but such biological activities of the active resveratrol metabolite - piceatannol are unclear. In this study, the anti-tumor properties of piceatannol were investigated through cell viability, colony formation, migration assay, detection of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) change, reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and Western blotting in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. Piceatannol decreased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. These concentrations required to inhibit 50% of activity (IC₅₀) for Huh7, HepG2, and Hep3B cells were 76.1-99.7, 17.0-19.6, and 57.0-83.7 μM after 24-72 hour treatment, respectively. Piceatannol inhibited the abilities of colony-forming and migration of HCC cells. Piceatannol may contribute to cell death in hepatocellular carcinoma cells, accompanied by altered MMP, reduced expression of HSPD1 and increased DNA double strand breaks. Our results show that piceatannol, the metabolite of resveratrol, supports an anti-cancerogenic effect by inhibiting proliferation and promoting cell death. Moreover, piceatannol may be a more potent anticancer agent than resveratrol. Hence, piceatannol could be a candidate for anti-cancer compound for the management of liver cancer.
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BibTeX
@article{yang2026naturally,
title = {{A naturally occurring polyphenolic compound for liver cancer treatment.}},
author = {Ming-Hui Yang and Yu-Chang Tyan and Hsin-Rou Liang and Chia-Yen Dai and Yung-Jen Chuang and Cheng-Hui Yuan and Shih-Chang Chuang},
journal = {International journal of medical sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.7150/ijms.127785},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42910117},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A naturally occurring polyphenolic compound for liver cancer treatment.
AU - Ming-Hui Yang
AU - Yu-Chang Tyan
AU - Hsin-Rou Liang
AU - Chia-Yen Dai
AU - Yung-Jen Chuang
AU - Cheng-Hui Yuan
AU - Shih-Chang Chuang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/02
JO - International journal of medical sciences
DO - 10.7150/ijms.127785
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42910117
AB - As a polyphenolic compound naturally found in nature, piceatannol is an analogue of resveratrol. These compounds share a common structural motif but have various substituents. Resveratrol shows anti-inflammation and anti-tumor properties, but such biological activities of the active resveratrol metabolite - piceatannol are unclear. In this study, the anti-tumor properties of piceatannol were investigated through cell viability, colony formation, migration assay, detection of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) change, reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and Western blotting in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines. Piceatannol decreased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. These concentrations required to inhibit 50% of activity (IC₅₀) for Huh7, HepG2, and Hep3B cells were 76.1-99.7, 17.0-19.6, and 57.0-83.7 μM after 24-72 hour treatment, respectively. Piceatannol inhibited the abilities of colony-forming and migration of HCC cells. Piceatannol may contribute to cell death in hepatocellular carcinoma cells, accompanied by altered MMP, reduced expression of HSPD1 and increased DNA double strand breaks. Our results show that piceatannol, the metabolite of resveratrol, supports an anti-cancerogenic effect by inhibiting proliferation and promoting cell death. Moreover, piceatannol may be a more potent anticancer agent than resveratrol. Hence, piceatannol could be a candidate for anti-cancer compound for the management of liver cancer.
SN - 1449-1907
ER -