Abstract: To study the effect of purple sweet potato anthocyanins on human hepatocellular carcinoma cell SNU-387 cultured in vitro and its possible mechanism.The proliferation of human hepatoma carcinoma cell SNU-387 treated by different concentrations of purple sweet potato anthocyanins was measured with MTT and Hoechst 33258 staining.The effect of exogenous apoptotic pathway mediated by death receptor TNFR1 was investigated through measuring the cellular TNF-? content and to examine the function of NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathway by measuring the change of expression of Caspase-8 in cells.The results suggested that in the experiment of apoptosis,under different final concentrations of purple sweet potato anthocyanins,the activity of SNU-387 in human HCC cells decreased and nuclear pyknosis and other apoptotic characteristics occurred,and the contents of TNF-α and Caspase-8 in the cells increased;Under the influence of blocking agent PDTC,there was no difference in the expression of Caspase-8,and the expression of Caspase-8 decreased under the action of blocking agent SB203580.In summary,anthocyanins from purple sweet potato can participate in the process of apoptosis mediated by SNU-387 through an exogenous apoptotic pathway mediated by death receptor TNFR1 and MAPK signaling pathway.

Key words: purple sweet potato anthocyanin, SNU-387 cells, apoptosis