It is acknowledged that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cause the most cancer-associated mortality all around the world and the traditional Chinese medicine has been widely used in HCC treatment. Physalin B (PB) is the most important chemical compounds of a Chinese traditional herb, Physalis alkekengi var. franchetii. In this research, it is the first time in the world that we illustrated PB exhibits obvious apoptotic activity in SMMC-7721 and HepG2 human HCC cell lines in the does-dependent way. Moreover, decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was found and the cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was obviously upregulated in PB-treated cell lines. Furthermore, the expression of apoptosis-associated proteins and ROS were increased after the treatment of PB, which were reversed by the inhibitor of TGF-β, NF-κB or PI3K/AKT signaling pathways. Therefore, PB illustrates potent anticancer activity, which might be studied as a potentiation therapeutic medicine for HCC.
