Molecular Mechanisms behind Safranal's Toxicity to HepG2 Cells from Dual Omics.

ABSTRACT: The spice saffron (Crocus sativus) has anticancer activity in several human tissues, but the molecular mechanisms underlying its potential therapeutic effects are poorly understood. We investigated the impact of safranal, a small molecule secondary metabolite from saffron, on the HCC cell line HepG2 using untargeted metabolomics (HPLC-MS) and transcriptomics (RNAseq). Increases in glutathione disulfide and other biomarkers for oxidative damage contrasted with lower levels of the antioxidants biliverdin IX (139-fold decrease, p = 5.3 × 10⁵), the ubiquinol precursor 3-4-dihydroxy-5-all-trans-decaprenylbenzoate (3-fold decrease, p = 1.9 × 10^-5), and resolvin E1 (-3282-fold decrease, p = 4⁵), which indicates sensitization to reactive

SUBMITTER: Nelson DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9219844 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature