Saururus chinensis Baill induces apoptosis through endoplasmic reticulum stress in HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells

•Saururus chinensis Baill (SC-E) is known as having anticancer effect in many cancers.•SC-E affected HepG2 cells than Chang cells in viability and ATP production.•SC-E induced cancer cell apoptosis specifically through ER stress.

In this study, we examined the mechanism underlying the effect of Saururus chinensis Baill (saururaceae) on hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. HepG2 cells and Chang cells were exposed to various concentrations of S. chinensis Baill extract (SC-E) for 24 h. SC-E affected more significantly HepG2 cells than Chang cells in terms of cell viability and ATP production. Therefore, current study examined detailed mechanism how SC-E affected HepG2 cell survival. We found that SC-E (75 and 150 μg/ml) induced apoptosis via oxidative stress. SC-E also caused CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP) activation by dissociating the binding immunoglobulin protein (BiP) from inositol-requiring 1α (IRE1α) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and induced Bax, cytochrome c release to cytosol, caspase-3 activation, and poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) cleavage, resulting in HepG2 cell apoptosis. Furthermore, SC-E caused ER Ca2+ leakage into the cytosol; ER dilation and mitochondrial membrane damage were observed in transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Taken together, our results demonstrated that SC-E induced cancer cell apoptosis specifically through ER stress.