The polymethoxylated flavone hexamethylquercetagetin suppresses NF-κB signaling and inhibits cell survival in cervical carcinoma

Abstract

Nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) contributes to the development and progression of cervical carcinoma. To construct a xenograft model, Ca Ski cells were subcutaneously inoculated into BALB/c nude mice. The relative protein expression of NF-κB p65, p-p65, IκBα, and p-IκBα were detected in hexamethylquercetagetin (HTQC) treated cervical carcinoma cells with or without tumor necrosis factor (TNF)α stimulation, or representative tumors tissues in xenograft mice. HTQC could prohibit NF-κB-derived luciferase activity in Ca Ski and C-33 A cells and inhibit the relative NF-κB p-p65 and p-IκBα expression with or without TNFα stimulation. At the same time, HTQC inhibited in vitro cell survival in a concentration-dependent manner and suppressed the tumor volume and weight in xenograft models. In summary, HTQC functions as an NF-κB inhibitor to prohibit the survival and proliferation of cervical carcinoma, which can be considered as an NF-κB target remedy in future clinical practice.

Keywords:

• Hexamethylquercetagetin
• NF-κB
• cervical carcinoma
• TNFα

Author contributions

Yanan Sun, Nan Li, Yuru Cai, Xingnan Zhao, and Hongyu Yang conceived and designed the experiments; Yanan Sun, Xingnan Zhao, and Hongyu Yang performed the experiments; Yanan Sun and Hongyu Yang analyzed and interpreted the data and contributed reagents, materials, analysis tools, or data; Hongyu Yang wrote the paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).