TY - JOUR AB - The present study investigated the inhibitory effects of apatinib on the proliferation of the SMMC-7721 hepatocellular carcinoma cell line to explore the possible mechanism. The MTT assay was used to detect the inhibitory effects of the different concentrations of apatinib on the proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells. Annexin V/PI double staining was performed to investigate the effects of apatinib on the apoptosis of SMMC‑7721 cells. Expression of the apoptosis-related genes Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-9 after apatinib treatment was detected by reverse transcription‑quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blot analysis. Expression of the PI3K, p-PI3K, Akt and p-Akt proteins after apatinib treatment was detected using western blot analysis. The MTT results showed that apatinib inhibited the in vitro proliferation of SMMC-7721 cells. Annexin V/PI double staining showed that apatinib induced the apoptosis of SMMC‑7721 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Results of RT-qPCR and western blot analysis showed that apatinib was able to induce the expression of pro-apoptotic genes Bax and caspase-9 and inhibited the expression of anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2. In addition, the western blot analysis revealed that p-PI3K and p-Akt was significantly decreased following apatinib treatment, while no significant differences were found in the total protein levels of PI3K and Akt. The results of the present show that apatinib is capable of promoting the apoptosis of SMMC-7721 cells by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt signal transduction pathway, upregulating the expression of pro-apoptotic genes Bax and caspase-9, and downregulating the expression level of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2. AD - Department of Interventional Radiology, Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze, Shandong 274000, P.R. China Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze, Shandong 274000, P.R. China Department of Oncology, Heze Municipal Hospital, Heze, Shandong 274000, P.R. China Department of Pediatrics, Heze Medical College, Heze, Shandong 274000, P.R. China AU - Zhang,Hua AU - Cao,Yumei AU - Chen,Yuru AU - Li,Guangxi AU - Yu,Hanshu DA - 2018/04/01 DO - 10.3892/ol.2018.8031 EP - 5743 IS - 4 JO - Oncol Lett KW - apatinib hepatocellular carcinoma cell line SMMC‑7721 apoptosis PI3K/Akt PY - 2018 SN - 1792-1074 1792-1082 SP - 5739 ST - Apatinib promotes apoptosis of the SMMC-7721 hepatocellular carcinoma cell line via the PI3K/Akt pathway T2 - Oncology Letters TI - Apatinib promotes apoptosis of the SMMC-7721 hepatocellular carcinoma cell line via the PI3K/Akt pathway UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2018.8031 VL - 15 ER -