TY - JOUR AB - Honokiol (HK), a novel plant-derived natural product, is a physiologically activated compound with polyphenolic structure, and has been identified to function as an anticancer agent. It has been widely used in several diseases as a traditional medicine for a long time. We investigated whether HK could show anticancer effects on two oral squamous cell lines (OSCCs), HN-22 and HSC-4. We demonstrated that HK-treated cells showed dramatic reduction in cell growth and apoptotic cell morphologies. Intriguingly, the transcription factor specificity protein 1 (Sp1) was significantly inhibited by HK in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we checked changes in cell cycle regulatory proteins and anti-apoptotic proteins at the molecular level, which are known as Sp1 target genes. The important key regulators in the cell cycle such as p27 and p21 were up-regulated by HK-mediated down-regulation of Sp1, whereas anti-apoptotic proteins including Mcl-1 and survivin were decreased, resulting in caspase-dependent apoptosis. Taken together, results from this study suggest that HK could modulate Sp1 transactivation and induce apoptotic cell death through the regulation of cell cycle and suppression of anti‑apoptotic proteins. In addition, HK may be used in cancer prevention and therapies to improve the clinical outcome as an anticancer drug. AD - Department of Oral Pharmacology, School of Dentistry and Institute of Dental Bioscience, BK21 project, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea Graduate School and Department of Analytical Science and Technology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea Department of Animal Science, College of Agricultural and Life Science, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea Department of Oral Pathology, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea College of Pharmacy, Mokpo National University, Jeonnam, Republic of Korea Department of Pharmacy, Keimyung University, Daegu, Republic of Korea Pohang Center for Evaluation of Biomaterials, Pohang, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea Department of Animal Science and Technology, Sunchon National University, Suncheon, Republic of Korea Medical Proteomics Research Center, KRIBB, Daejeon, Republic of Korea AU - Kim,Dong-Wook AU - Ko,Seon ,Mi AU - Jeon,Young-Joo AU - Noh,Young-Woock AU - Choi,Nag-Jin AU - Cho,Sung-Dae AU - Moon,Hong,Seop AU - Cho,Young ,Sik AU - Shin,Jae-Chen AU - Park,Seon-Min AU - Seo,Kang ,Seok AU - Choi,Ji-Young AU - Chae,Jung-Il AU - Shim,Jung-Hyun DA - 2013/10/01 DO - 10.3892/ijo.2013.2028 EP - 1110 IS - 4 JO - Int J Oncol KW - honokiol oral squamous cancer cell specificity protein 1 apoptosis PY - 2013 SN - 1019-6439 1791-2423 SP - 1103 ST - Anti-proliferative effect of honokiol in oral squamous cancer through the regulation of specificity protein 1 T2 - International Journal of Oncology TI - Anti-proliferative effect of honokiol in oral squamous cancer through the regulation of specificity protein 1 UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2013.2028 VL - 43 ER -