Growth inhibitory in vitro effects of glycyrrhizic acid in U251 glioblastoma cell line

Despite dramatic advances in cancer therapy, the overall prognosis of glioblastoma (GBM) remains dismal. Nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) has been previously demonstrated to be constitutively activated in glioblastoma, and it was suggested as a potential therapeutic target. Glycyrrhizic acid (GA) has been proved to have cytotoxic effects in many cancer cell lines. However, its role in glioblastoma has not yet been addressed. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of GA on human glioblastoma U251 cell line. The effects of GA on proliferation of U251 cells were measured by CCK-8 assay and plate colony-forming test. Cellular apoptosis was detected by Hoechst 33258 fluorescent staining and flow cytometry with annexin V-FITC/PI dual staining. The expression of nuclear p65 protein, the active subunit of NF-κB, was determined by Western blot and immunofluorescence. Our results demonstrated that the survival rate and colony formation of U251 cells significantly decreased in a time- and dose-dependent manner after GA addition, and the apoptotic ratio of GA-treated groups was significantly higher than that of control groups. Furthermore, the expression of NF-κB-p65 in the nucleus was remarkably reduced after GA treatment. In conclusion, our findings suggest that GA treatment can confer inhibitory effects on human glioblastoma U251 cell line including inhibiting proliferation and inducing apoptosis, which is possibly related to the NF-κB mediated pathway.