Chloroquine inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma cell growth in vitro and in vivo

Hu,Tao; Li,Pei; Luo,Zhongguang; Chen,Xiaoyu; Zhang,Jingyang; Wang,Chunyao; Chen,Ping; Dong,Ziming

doi:10.3892/or.2015.4380

Chloroquine inhibits hepatocellular carcinoma cell growth in vitro and in vivo

Authors:
- Tao Hu
- Pei Li
- Zhongguang Luo
- Xiaoyu Chen
- Jingyang Zhang
- Chunyao Wang
- Ping Chen
- Ziming Dong
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Affiliations: College of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University; Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Province for Cancer Chemoprevention, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, P.R. China, Department of Digestive Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, P.R. China, Laboratory Animal Center, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, P.R. China
Published online on: November 2, 2015 https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2015.4380
Pages: 43-49
Copyright: © Hu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Recently, chloroquine (CQ) has been widely used to improve the efficacy of different chemotherapy drugs to treat tumors. However, the effects of single treatment of CQ on liver cancer have not been investigated. In the present study, we examined the effects of CQ on the growth and viability of liver cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, and revealed that CQ treatment triggered G0/G1 cell cycle arrest, induced DNA damage and apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner in liver cancer cells. Moreover, administration of CQ to tumor-bearing mice suppressed the tumor growth in an orthotopic xenograft model of liver cancer. These findings extend our understanding and suggest that CQ could be repositioned as a treatment option for liver cancer as a single treatment or in combination.

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