Strongylocentrotus nudus lipid composition is known but its biological effects are largely unknown. The anti-cancer effect of sea urchin lipids (SUL) and the underlying mechanism in a human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells were studied. The cell viability, apoptosis, mitochondrial transmembrane potential and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were studied. The protein levels of caspase-3, Bcl-2 and the mRNA levels of antioxidants including superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were also measured. The results showed that SUL treatment significantly inhibited the viability of HepG2 cells with reduced proliferation and elevated apoptosis as evidenced by the decreased Bcl-2 level and increased caspase-3 level. SUL treatment reduced mitochondrial membrane potential and induced ROS production in HepG2 cells. Finally, SUL up-regulated the gene expression levels of CuSOD and MnSOD in a dose-dependent manner but down-regulated the expression level of CAT, which may cause the accumulation of H₂O₂ in the HepG2 cells. These results suggested that the anti-cancer effect of SUL is mediated through the differential regulation of antioxidants, which contributes to the elevated ROS production, thereby, inducing apoptosis in the HepG2 cells.

圆角螺脂质成分是已知的，但是其生物学作用基本上是未知的。研究了海胆脂质（SUL）在人肝细胞癌HepG2细胞中的抗癌作用及其潜在机制。研究了细胞活力，凋亡，线粒体跨膜电位和活性氧（ROS）的产生。还测量了caspase-3，Bcl-2的蛋白质水平以及包括超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）和过氧化氢酶（CAT）等抗氧化剂的mRNA水平。结果表明，SUL处理显着抑制了HepG2细胞的活力，使其增殖减少，凋亡增加，这由Bcl-2水平降低和caspase-3水平升高所证明。SUL处理降低了HepG2细胞的线粒体膜电位并诱导了ROS的产生。最后，HepG2细胞中的₂ O ₂。这些结果表明，SUL的抗癌作用是通过抗氧化剂的差异调节来介导的，这有助于增加ROS的产生，从而诱导HepG2细胞凋亡。