Tareq H. Jorob, Abdelbary M. Prince, Saad M. EL-gendy, Motawa E. EL Houseini

Abstract

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for the fifth most prevalent cancer and the second leading cause of global cancer mortality. The immunotherapy to enhance systemic, long-lived tumor-specific immunity makes it one of the most promising therapeutic modalities with inspiring clinical outcomes for HCC patients. The tumoricidal influences of interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-12 (IL-12), and taurine in human hepatocellular carcinoma (Hep-G2) cells were investigated in the present study. Results: Hep-G2 cells treated either with IL-2 alone, IL-2 plus IL-12, or IL-2, IL-12 and taurine revealed a significant reduction in the cell viability, a significant enhancement in cell cytotoxicity, a non-significant elevation in INF-γ levels and a significant reduction in VEGF, FOXP3, and relative mRNA levels of FOXP3. However, the best results were obtained from the combination of the three agents. Meanwhile, IL-12 or taurine treatments revealed only a significant reduction in FOXP3 and relative mRNA levels of FOXP3. Conclusion: Our results suggested that IL-2, IL-12, and taurine combined treatment elicited powerful anti-proliferative, cytotoxic, and anticancer impacts on Hep-G2 cells. Therefore, the previously mentioned combination could be a promising therapy in the treatment of patients suffering from HCC after further investigation‎.