The novel NF-κB inhibitor DHMEQ synergizes with celecoxib to exert antitumor effects on human liver cancer cells by a ROS-dependent mechanism

In a previous work of ours dehydroxymethyl-epoxyquinomicin (DHMEQ), an inhibitor of NF-κB, was shown to induce apoptosis through Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production in hepatoma cells. The present study demonstrated that DHMEQ cooperates with Celecoxib (CLX) to decrease NF-κB DNA binding and to inhibit cell growth and proliferation more effectively than treatment with these single agents alone in the hepatoma cell lines HA22T/VGH and Huh-6. ROS production induced by the DHMEQ–CLX combination in turn generated the expression of genes involved in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and silencing TRB3 mRNA significantly decreased DHMEQ–CLX-induced cell growth inhibition. Moreover, the DHMEQ–CLX combination was associated with induction of PARP cleavage and down-regulation of the anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2, Mcl-1 and survivin, as well as activated Akt. CD95 and CD95 ligand expression increased synergistically in the combination treatment, which was reversed in the presence of NAC. Knockdown of CD95 mRNA expression significantly decreased DHMEQ–CLX-induced cell growth inhibition in both cell lines. These data suggest that the DHMEQ–CLX combination kills hepatoma cells via ROS production, ER stress response and the activation of intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways.