Nowadays, cancer has become a pervasive disease in the world. Due to the side effects of chemotherapeutic agents, the use of peptides has been increasingly popular among scientists. The present study aimed to assess the cell toxicity and the change in the expression of Bcl-2, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and Bax genes in HepG2 cancer cell line treated with peptides HL-7 (YLYELAR) and HL-10 (AFPYYGHHLG) using MTT, western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses. The results showed that HL-7 and HL-10 peptides significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited the growth of HepG2 cancer cells; however, they did not cause any marked toxicity on human lymphocyte cells. Also, the treatment of HepG2 cancer cells with HL-7 and HL-10 led to a significant (p < 0.05) increase in the expression of TNF-α and Bax genes, as well as a substantial decrease in the expression of Bcl-2 at both protein and mRNA levels. It seems that the two peptides may contribute to increasing the expression of TNF-α, along with the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2, which may result in activating the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis in HepG2 cancer cells. Thus, these two peptides may be useful therapeutic options for the treatment of hepatocarcinoma in the future.

如今，癌症已成为世界范围内普遍存在的疾病。由于化学治疗剂的副作用，肽的使用在科学家中越来越受欢迎。本研究旨在评估用肽 HL-7 (YLYELAR) 和 HL 处理的 HepG2 癌细胞系中的细胞毒性和 Bcl-2、肿瘤坏死因子-α (TNF-α) 和 Bax 基因的表达变化。 -10 (AFPYYGHHLG) 使用 MTT、蛋白质印迹和实时聚合酶链反应 (PCR) 分析。结果表明HL-7和HL-10肽显着（p  < 0.05）抑制HepG2癌细胞的生长；然而，它们不会对人类淋巴细胞造成任何明显的毒性。此外，用 HL-7 和 HL-10 处理 HepG2 癌细胞导致显着（p < 0.05) TNF-α 和 Bax 基因的表达增加，以及 Bcl-2 在蛋白质和 mRNA 水平上的表达显着降低。似乎这两种肽可能有助于增加 TNF-α 的表达，以及 Bax/Bcl-2 的比率，这可能导致激活 HepG2 癌细胞凋亡的内在途径。因此，这两种肽可能是未来治疗肝癌的有用治疗选择。