Involvement of apoptosis and autophagy in reducing mouse hepatoma ML-1 cell growth in inbred BALB/c mice by bacterial fermented soybean products

Abstract Followed by the results of our previous in vitro report (Food Chem. Toxicol., 2007), the efficacy of the soybean fermentation products containing live bacteria (SCB) was demonstrated using a syngeneic animal model. Murine HBV-related hepatoma ML-1 cells, derived from inbred animals and tumorigenic in BALB/c mice, were implanted subcutaneously to the flank of BALB/c mice on day 0. Three days after implantation, SCB (1.0 or 1.3 ml/mouse/day) or vehicle (water) was orally administrated daily until day 60. The results indicate that SCB significantly reduced ( P  In vitro study using autophagy inhibitor indicated that the induction of autophagy promoted apoptosis. These data imply that the suppression in tumor volumes and tumor weights by oral administration of SCB was due to the induction of apoptotic and autophagic cell death, which suggests therapeutic potential of SCB on HBV-related HCC.