Open AccessApigenin inhibits HeLa sphere-forming cells through inactivation of casein kinase 2α
Author(s) -
Jie Liu,
Xiaocheng Cao,
Qiao Xiao,
Meifang Quan
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
molecular medicine reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.727
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1791-3004
pISSN - 1791-2997
DOI - 10.3892/mmr.2014.2720
Subject(s) - hela , apigenin , casein kinase 2 , oncogene , cell cycle , kinase , chemistry , apoptosis , microbiology and biotechnology , cell , cancer research , biology , biochemistry , flavonoid , cyclin dependent kinase 2 , antioxidant
The protein kinase casein kinase 2 (CK2) has been implicated in stem cell maintenance and its aberrant activation has been demonstrated in several types of cancer, including cervical cancer. In the present study, it was demonstrated that the sphere-forming cells (SFCs) of HeLa cell lines exhibited self-renewal capacity, indicating that they possessed the properties of cervical cancer stem-like cells. HeLa-derived SFCs exhibited a higher level of CK2α protein, compared with the parental cells. Apigenin, a dietary flavonoid, led to a dose-dependent inhibition of the self-renewal capacity and the protein expression of CK2α in HeLa-derived SFCs. Furthermore, forced overexpression of CK2α resulted in a decrease in the inhibition of CK2α expression and the self-renewal capacity induced by apigenin in HeLa-derived SFCs. These results suggested that apigenin inhibits the self-renewal capacity of HeLa-derived SFCs through downregulation of CK2α expression.