The potential inhibition effect of ellagic acid on liver cells in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is the most common kind of liver cancer, which has a relatively high fatality rate. The main cause of this type of cancer is liver inflammation, which leads to disorder in the tumor microenvironment. There are some current treatments, including liver transplants, radiofrequency, microwave ablation, and transarterial chemoembolization. However, the treatments still have limited disadvantages, which cannot be ignored. Recently, a traditional Chinese medicine - Chebulae Fructus, has been proven to have an inhibition ability on HCC cells. One of the main constituents, ellipticine, is found to have therapeutic targets that can treat HCC: PTGS2, CYP1A2, CCNB1, and RASGRF1. Moreover, the essay also mentioned that another type of constituent ellagic acid could also have an inhibition effect on tumor progression by binding to Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 6 (CDK6). This study will further investigate the HCC inhibition effect of ellagic acid by providing an overview of the predicted results of the experiment. It will also provide the possible research direction of ellagic acid HCC treatment.