Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Proliferation inhibition and apoptosis of liver cancer cells treated by blue light irradiation

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Medical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Blue light (BL) irradiation has been a potentially efficient treatment for many kinds of tumors. In this study, a BL irradiation (centered at 453 nm in wavelength) was proposed to treat the common human liver cancer cell lines of SMMC-7721 and HepG2, examined by means of flow cytometry, western blot, fluorescence microscope assay. In comparison to control groups, the apoptosis and proliferation inhibition of both BL-treated cells are expressively enhanced by mitochondrial apoptosis. The mechanism of apoptosis is related to the more production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by BL and the corresponding changes in the expression of apoptosis-related Bcl-2, Bax and Bad proteins. In addition, the migration rate of the cancer cells could be reduced after BL irradiation. These results demonstrate that introducing BL irradiation is helpful to establish an effective and low toxicity strategy for the clinical treatment of liver tumors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Data will be made available on request.

References

  1. Llovet JM, Kelley RK, Villanueva A, Singal AG, Pikarsky E, Roayaie S, Lencioni R, Koike K, Zucman-Rossi J, Finn RS. Hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2021;7:240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Soylu NK. Update on hepatocellular carcinoma: a brief review from pathologist standpoint, journal of gastrointestinal. J Gastrointestinal Cancer. 2020;51:1176–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hartke J, Johnson M, Ghabril M. The diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. Semin Diagn Pathol. 2017;34:153–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Sim HW, Knox J. Hepatocellular carcinoma in the era of immunotherapy. Curr Probl Cancer. 2018;42:40–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Verslype C, Rosmorduc O, Rougier P, Grp EGW. Hepatocellular carcinoma: ESMO-ESDO clinical practice guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. Ann Oncol. 2012;23:41–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Sapisochin G, Bruix J. Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: outcomes and novel surgical approaches. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2017;14:203–17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Ahmed M, Solbiati L, Brace CL, Breen DJ, Callstrom MR, Charboneau JW, Chen M-H, Choi BI, De Baere T, Dodd GD III, Gervais DA, Gianfelice D, Gillams AR, Lee FT Jr, Leen E, Lencioni R, Littrup PJ, Livraghi T, Lu DS, McGahan JP, Meloni MF, Nikolic B, Pereira PL, Liang P, Rhim H, Rose SC, Salem R, Sofocleous CT, Solomon SB, Soulen MC, Tanaka M, Vogl TJ, Wood BJ, Goldberg SN. Working grp image-guided, image-guided tumor ablation: standardization of terminology and reporting criteria-a 10-year update. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2014;25:1691–705.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Benson AB, D’Angelica MI, Abbott DE, Abrams TA, Alberts SR, Saenz DA, Are C, Brown DB, Chang DT, Covey AM, Hawkins W, Iyer R, Jacob R, Karachristos A, Kelley RK, Kim R, Palta M, Park JO, Sahai V, Schefter T, Schmidt C, Sicklick JK, Singh G, Sohal D, Stein S, Tian GG, Vauthey JN, Venook AP, Zhu AX, Hoffmann KG, Darlow S. NCCN guidelines (R) insights hepatobiliary cancers, version 1.2017 featured updates to the NCCN guidelines. J Natl Compr Cancer Netw. 2017;15:563–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Bruix J, Gores GJ, Mazzaferro V. Hepatocellular carcinoma: clinical frontiers and perspectives. Gut. 2014;63:844–55.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Nakano R, Ohira M, Kobayashi T, Ide K, Tahara H, Kuroda S, Shimizu S, Kimura T, Nagata Y, Aikata H, Chayama K, Ohdan H. Hepatectomy versus stereotactic body radiotherapy for primary early hepatocellular carcinoma: a propensity-matched analysis in a single institution. Surgery. 2018;164:219–26.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Yoon SM, Ryoo B-Y, Lee SJ, Kim JH, Shin JH, An JH, Lee HC, Lim Y-S. Efficacy and safety of transarterial chemoembolization plus external beam radiotherapy vs sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma with macroscopic vascular invasion a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Oncol. 2018;4:661–9.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Deng XY, Shao ZW, Zhao YL. Solutions to the drawbacks of photothermal and photodynamic cancer therapy. Adv Sci. 2021;8:2002504.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Li J, Liu R, Zhao Q, Shi Y, Gao G, Zhi J. Nanodiamond-based photosensitizer: enhancing photodynamic therapy and inhibiting tumor metastasis. Carbon. 2021;174:90–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Raza MH, Siraj S, Arshad A, Waheed U, Aldakheel F, Alduraywish S, Arshad M. ROS-modulated therapeutic approaches in cancer treatment. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2017;143:1789–809.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Li X, Kwon N, Guo T, Liu Z, Yoon J. Innovative strategies for hypoxic-tumor photodynamic therapy. Angew Chem Int Ed. 2018;57:11522–31.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Sahoo BM, Banik BK, Borah P, Jain A. Reactive oxygen species (ROS): key components in cancer therapies. Anticancer Agents Med Chem. 2022;22:215–22.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhuang J, Liu J, Liu Y, Li H, Wang D, Teng L. Enhanced proliferation inhibition of HL60 cells treated by synergistic all-trans retinoic acid/blue light/nanodiamonds. RSC Adv. 2017;7:38895–901.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Oh P-S, Hwang H, Jeong H-S, Kwon J, Kim H-S, Kim M, Lim S, Sohn M-H, Jeong H-J. Blue light emitting diode induces apoptosis in lymphoid cells by stimulating autophagy. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2016;70:13–22.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Zhuang J, Liu J, Gao X, Li H. Inhibition of proliferation in U937 cells treated by blue light irradiation and combined blue light irradiation/drug. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;19:1464.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Oh P-S, Na KS, Hwang H, Jeong H-S, Lim S, Sohn M-H, Jeong H-J. Effect of blue light emitting diodes on melanoma cells: Involvement of apoptotic signaling. J Photochem Photobiol B. 2015;142:197–203.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Yan G, Zhang L, Feng C, Gong R, Idiiatullina E, Huang Q, He M, Guo S, Yang F, Li Y, Ding F, Ma W, Pavlov V, Han Z, Wang Z, Xu C, Cai B, Yuan Y, Yang L. Blue light emitting diodes irradiation causes cell death in colorectal cancer by inducing ROS production and DNA damage. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2018;103:81–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Yoshimoto T, Morine Y, Takasu C, Feng R, Ikemoto T, Yoshikawa K, Iwahashi S, Saito Y, Kashihara H, Akutagawa M, Emoto T, Kinouchi Y, Shimada M. Blue light-emitting diodes induce autophagy in colon cancer cells by Opsin 3. Ann Gastroenterol Surg. 2018;2:154–61.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Feng C, Gong R, Zheng Q, Yang G, He M, Lei H, Li X, Zhang L, Xu Z, Liu S, Yu M, Ma T, Gao M, Bamba D, Idiiatullina E, Zagidullin N, Pavlov V, Xu C, Yuan Y, Yang L. Synergistic anti-tumor effects of arsenic trioxide and blue LED irradiation on human osteosarcoma. Int J Biol Sci. 2019;15:386–94.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Hockberger PE, Skimina TA, Centonze VE, Lavin C, Chu S, Dadras S, Reddy JK, White JG. Activation of flavin-containing oxidases underlies light-induced production of H2O2 in mammalian cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1999;96:6255–60.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Roehlecke C, Schaller A, Knels L, Funk RHW. The influence of sublethal blue light exposure on human RPE cells. Mol Vis. 2009;15:1929–38.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Goldberg DJ, Russell BA. Combination blue (415 nm) and red (633 nm) LED phototherapy in the treatment of mild to severe acne vulgaris. J Cosmet Laser Ther. 2006;8:71–5.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Maisels MJ, McDonagh AF. Phototherapy for neonatal jaundice. N Engl J Med. 2008;358:920–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Degos L, Dombret H, Chomienne C, Daniel MT, Miclea JM, Chastang C, Castaigne S, Fenaux P. All-trans-retinoic acid as a differentiating agent in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia. Blood. 1995;85:2643–53.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Slimen IB, Najar T, Ghram A, Dabbebi H, Ben Mrad M, Abdrabbah M. Reactive oxygen species, heat stress and oxidative-induced mitochondrial damage: a review. Int J Hyperther. 2014;30:513–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Xia B, Wang J. Effects of adenosine on apoptosis of ovarian cancer A2780 cells via ROS and caspase pathways. Onco Targets Ther. 2019;12:9473–80.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  31. Jin HJ, Shi YP, Lv YY, Yuan SX, Ramirez CFA, Lieftink C, Wang LQ, Wang SY, Wang C, Dias MH, Jochems F, Yang Y, Bosma A, Hijmans EM, de Groot MHP, Vegna S, Cui D, Zhou YY, Ling J, Wang H, Guo YC, Zheng XL, Isima N, Wu HQ, Sun C, Beijersbergen RL, Akkari L, Zhou WP, Zhai B, Qin WX, Bernards R. EGFR activation limits the response of liver cancer to lenvatinib. Nature. 2021;595:730.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Pisani P, Airoldi M, Allais A, Valletti PA, Battista M, Benazzo M, Briatore R, Cacciola S, Cocuzza S, Colombo A, Conti B, Costanzo A, Della Vecchia L, Denaro N, Fantozzi C, Galizia D, Garzaro M, Genta I, Iasi GA, Krengli M, Landolfo V, Lanza GV, Magnano M, Mancuso M, Maroldi R, Masini L, Merlano MC, Piemonte M, Pisani S, Prina-Mello A, Prioglio L, Rugiu MG, Scasso F, Serra A, Valente G, Zannetti M, Zigliani A. Metastatic disease in head & neck oncology. Acta Otorhinolaryngol Italica. 2020;40:S1–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Smith BN, Bhowmick NA. Role of EMT in metastasis and therapy resistance. J Clin Med. 2016;5:17.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  34. Zhang J, Li LY, Lu Y. Effects of hypoxia, surrounding fibroblasts, and p16 expression on breast cancer cell migration and invasion. J Cancer. 2015;6:430–7.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Yang K, Wang CL, Liu CJ, Ding S, Tian F, Li F. Bioluminescence-initiated photodynamic therapy bridged on high-luminescent carbon dots-conjugated protoporphyrin IX. J Mater Sci. 2019;54:3383–91.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Barathan M, Mariappan V, Shankar EM, Abdullah BJJ, Goh KL, Vadivelu J. Hypericin-photodynamic therapy leads to interleukin-6 secretion by HepG2 cells and their apoptosis via recruitment of BH3 interacting-domain death agonist and caspases. Cell Death Dis. 2013;4:1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Superhard Materials, Jilin University (No. 201604).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab of Superhard Materials, College of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Yun Teng, Junsong Liu & Hongdong Li

  2. School of Life Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, People’s Republic of China

    Zhige Li & Lesheng Teng

Authors
  1. Yun Teng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhige Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Junsong Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lesheng Teng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hongdong Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Junsong Liu, Lesheng Teng or Hongdong Li.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 854 KB)

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Teng, Y., Li, Z., Liu, J. et al. Proliferation inhibition and apoptosis of liver cancer cells treated by blue light irradiation. Med Oncol 40, 227 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-023-02096-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-023-02096-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation