Influence of dexamethasone and doxorubicin on inhibition of hypoxia- -induced metastatic potential in HepG2 cell line

One of the commonly applied methods in the case of median to advance stages of liver cancer is the transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) procedure. It involves the administration of relatively high doses of cytostatics to the tumour-supplying artery followed by the embolization of the vessel. It limits the drug action almost only to the tumour mass. However, this also reduces the availability of oxygen, which stimulates cell migration. Therefore, the study aimed to assess how the introduction of an additional drug — dexamethasone and its combination with doxorubicin will impact the viability and migration of HepG2 cells under hypoxia-mimic conditions. To assess the basic response of the cells to the drugs and evaluate the interaction between them MTT assay and apoptosis assay were used. To analyse the migratory potential transwell migration assay was applied. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers and apoptosis-related proteins were studied using Western blot assay. Hypoxia-mimic conditions were induced using pretreatment with cobalt chloride. The obtained results suggest that the developed doxorubicin: dexamethasone combination limits hypoxia-induced increase in the migratory potential of HCC cells, which is connected with the inhibition of the EMT process and directing cells to death on the cellular level.