RETRACTED ARTICLE: Inhibition of human liver cancer cell growth by evodiamine involves apoptosis and deactivation of PI3K/AKT pathway

Evodiamine is an active alkaloid member found in Traditional Chinese Herb (TCH) Evodia rutaecarpa. It has been reported to exhibit remarkable biological and medicinal activities including anticancer and anti-inflammatory. This study was designed to investigate the anticancer effects of evodiamine against human liver cancer and evaluate its effects on cell migration, cell invasion, cellular apoptosis and PI3K/AKT pathway. The results showed that evodiamine exhibits potent antiproliferative effects against two human liver cancer cell lines (HepG2 and PLHC-1) with an IC50 of 20 µM. Nonetheless, the cytotoxic effects of evodiamine were comparatively low against the normal cells as evident from the IC50 of 100 μM. The growth inhibitory effects of evodiamine were found to be due to the induction of apoptosis as revealed by the DAPI, AO/EB and annexin V/PI staining assays. The induction of apoptosis was also associated with upregulation of Bax and downregulation of Bcl-2 expression in a concentration dependent manner. The wound healing and transwell assay revealed that evodiamine caused a significant decline in the migration and invasion of the HepG2 and PLHC-1 cells. Investigation of the effects of evodiamine on the PI3K/AKT signalling revealed that evodiamine inhibited the phosphorylation of PI3K and AKT proteins. Taken together, the results showed that evodiamine inhibits the growth of human liver cancer via induction of apoptosis and deactivation of PI3K/AKT pathway. The results point towards the therapeutic potential of evodiamine in the treatment of liver cancer.