Phenolic acids modulating epigenetic mechanisms in HepG2 human hepatoma cells

Abstract

Phenolic compounds derived from plants exhibit an epigenetic modulatory impact in various cancer types by reversing DNA methylation patterns and chromatin modulation. In this study, caffeic acid (CA), ferulic acid (FA), and o-coumaric acid (OCA) mediated epigenetic alterations in hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) cells were investigated. For this purpose, changes DNMT enzyme activity and protein and mRNA levels of proteins involved in DNA methylation and histone acetylation were determined. The CA, FA, and OCA had cytotoxic activity at 48 h, with an EC50 value of 1.02, 3.1, and 5 mM in HepG2 cells, respectively. All compounds reduces the expression levels of histone acetyl transferases (HATs), histone deacetylases (HDACs) and DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs). All these results showed that phenolic acids may be used in cancer therapy as a potential epigenetic modifier.