Sonodynamic action of hypocrellin B triggers cell apoptoisis of breast cancer cells involving caspase pathway
Abstract
Objectives The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of sonodynamic action of hypocrellin B on human breast cancer cells and further explore its underlying mechanisms. Methods The cell viability of breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells was examined by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Alterations on cell apoptosis, intracellular reactive oxygen species generation (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential, and DNA fragmentation was analyzed by flow cytometer. The subcellular localization of hypocrellin B was assessed by a confocal laser scanning microscope. Mitochondria damage and nuclear morphological changes were observed under a fluorescence microscope. To further explore whether caspase pathway was involved in cell apoptotic induction of sonodynamic action of hypocrellin B, the pan-caspase inhibitor Z-Val-Ala-DL-Asp (ome)-Fluoromethylketone (z-VAD-fmk) was added to the cells one hour prior to loading the sonosensitizer, and then cell viability and apoptosis were analyzed after hypocrellin B treatment. Results Sonodynamic treatment of hypocrellin B HB significantly suppressed cell viability of MDA-MB-231 cells. Sonodynamic action of hypocrellin B caused excessive ROS accumulation, mitochondrial dysfunction, cell apoptosis, DNA fragmentation and nuclear morphological damage. Moreover, the cytotoxicity and cell apoptosis induced by sonodynamic action of hypocrellin B were remarkably rescued by the caspase spectrum inhibitor z-VAD-fmk. Conclusions These results demonstrated that hypocrellin B had significant sonodynamic killing and apoptotic induction effect on breast cancer cells. And cell apoptosis induced by sonodynamic action of hypocrellin B was partly dependent on caspase pathway.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Drugs confirmed to be sonosensitizers include protoporphyrin IX, 5-aminolevulinic acid, hypocrellin B, chlorin e6, and titanium dioxide.
“Drugs that have been confirmed to be sonosensitizers include protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) [39], 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) [40], hypocrellin B [41], chlorin e6 (Ce6) [42], and titanium dioxide (TiO2) [43] (Table 1).”
From Nanosensitizer-assisted sonodynamic therapy for breast cancer (2025) · cites this paper as [41]
Cites
Apoptosis and necrosis: Detection, discrimination and phagocytosis
Krysko, D. V., Berghe, T. V., D'Herde, K. G. M. A., & Vandenabeele, P. (2008) · Methods · doi:10.1016/j.ymeth.2007.12.001 · Cited by 685 · see citing works
The promise of sonodynamic therapy
Trendowski, M. R. (2013) · Cancer and Metastasis Reviews · doi:10.1007/s10555-013-9461-5 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Autophagy, cell death, and cancer
Lin, L., & Baehrecke, E. H. (2015) · Molecular & Cellular Oncology · doi:10.4161/23723556.2014.985913 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
Functional specificity of actin isoforms
Khaitlina, S. Y. (2001) · International review of cytology · doi:10.1016/s0074-7696(01)02003-4 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Antimicrobial and Antileishmanial Activities of Hypocrellins A and B
Ma, G., Khan, S. I., Jacob, M. R., Tekwani, B. L., Li, Z., Pasco, D. S., Walker, L., & Khan, I. A. (2004) · Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy · doi:10.1128/aac.48.11.4450-4452.2004 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
Wang, P., Li, C., Wang, X., Xiong, W., Feng, X., Liu, Q., Leung, A. W., & Xu, C. (2015) · Ultrasonics Sonochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2014.10.027 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Mitochondrial Death Pathway
Chalah, A., & Khosravi‐Far, R. (2007) · Advances in experimental medicine and biology · doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6554-5_3 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
The mitochondrial gateway to cell death
Smith, D. J., Ng, H., Kluck, R. M., & Nagley, P. (2008) · IUBMB Life · doi:10.1002/iub.44 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
Wang, X., Wang, H., Zhang, S., Wang, P., Zhang, K., & Liu, Q. (2014) · International Journal of Nanomedicine · doi:10.2147/ijn.s59302 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Self-citationStudy of the mechanism of sonodynamic therapy in a rat glioma model
Da-yong, S., Wu, Y., Li, Z., Li, J., Zhao, J., & Zhang, N. (2014) · OncoTargets and Therapy · doi:10.2147/ott.s52426 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Xiong, W., Wang, P., Hu, J., Jia, Y., Wu, L., Chen, X., Liu, Q., & Wang, X. (2015) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep17485 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Self-citationInactivation of Staphylococcus aureus by photodynamic action of hypocrellin B
Jiang, Y., Leung, A. W., Wang, X., Zhang, H., & Xu, C. (2013) · Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.pdpdt.2013.06.004 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Self-citationMiller, G. G., Brown, K. M., Moore, R. B., McPhee, M. S., Diwu, Z. J., Liu, J., Huang, L., Lown, J. W., Begg, D. A., Chlumecky, V., et al. (1995) · Photochemistry and Photobiology · doi:10.1111/j.1751-1097.1995.tb09880.x · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Hypocrellin B Enhances Ultrasound-Induced Cell Death of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Cells
Wang, P., Xu, C., Xu, J., Wang, X., & Leung, A. W. (2009) · Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2009.09.007 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citationHypocrellin B-mediated sonodynamic action induces apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells
Wang, X., Leung, A. W., Jiang, Y., Yu, H., Li, X., & Xu, C. (2011) · Ultrasonics · doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2011.11.007 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citationJiang, Y., Leung, A. W., Wang, X., Zhang, H., & Xu, C. (2014) · International Journal of Radiation Biology · doi:10.3109/09553002.2014.906765 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Self-citationLi, Y., Wang, P., Wang, X., Su, X., & Liu, Q. (2014) · Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2013.11.022 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Self-citationDynamics of circulating tumor cells in early breast cancer under neoadjuvant therapy
Serrano, M. J., Sánchez‐Rovira, P., Martínez-Zubiaurre, I., Delgado‐Rodríguez, M., Fernández, M., & Lorente, J. A. (2012) · Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine · doi:10.3892/etm.2012.540 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Efficacy of hypocrellin pharmacokinetics in phototherapy
Ali‐Seyed, M., & Olivo, M. (2002) · International Journal of Oncology · doi:10.3892/ijo.21.6.1229 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Sonodynamically induced anti-tumor effect with protoporphyrin IX on hepatoma-22 solid tumor
Wang, X., Wang, Y., Wang, P., Cheng, X., & Liu, Q. (2010) · Ultrasonics · doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2010.12.001 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationMaftoum‐Costa, M., Naves, K. T., Oliveira, A. L., Tedesco, A. C., da Silva, N. S., & Soares, C. P. (2008) · Cell Biology International · doi:10.1016/j.cellbi.2008.04.005 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Su, X., Wang, P., Wang, X., Guo, L., Li, S., & Liu, Q. (2013) · International Journal of Radiation Biology · doi:10.3109/09553002.2013.817700 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Self-citationYu, T., Yang, Y., Zhang, J., He, H., & Ren, X. (2015) · European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics · doi:10.1016/j.ejpb.2015.02.003 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Synergistic effect of ultrasound and phthalocyanines on nucleated erythrocytes in vitro
Miłowska, K., & Gabryelak, T. (2005) · Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology · doi:10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2005.07.018 · Cited by 26 · see citing works
Wang, X., Xia, X., Leung, A. W., Xiang, J., Jiang, Y., Wang, P., Xu, J., Yu, H., Bai, D., & Xu, C. (2010) · Ultrasonics · doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2010.07.006 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Self-citationUltrasound as a cancer chemotherapy sensitizer: the gap between laboratory and bedside
Yu, T., Luo, L., & Wang, L. (2015) · Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery · doi:10.1517/17425247.2015.1083008 · Cited by 23 · see citing works
Apoptosis of breast cancer cells induced by hypocrellin B under light-emitting diode irradiation
Jiang, Y., Xia, X., Leung, A. W., Xiang, J., & Xu, C. (2012) · Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.pdpdt.2012.03.009 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Self-citationHypocrellin B in hepatocellular carcinoma cells: Subcellular localization and sonodynamic damage
Wang, X., Luo, J., Leung, A. W., Li, Y., Zhang, H., & Xu, C. (2015) · International Journal of Radiation Biology · doi:10.3109/09553002.2015.1001532 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Recent Advances in Nanomaterial‐Assisted Combinational Sonodynamic Cancer Therapy
Liang, S., Deng, X., Ma, P., Cheng, Z., & Lin, J. (2020) · Advanced Materials · doi:10.1002/adma.202003214 · Cited by 601 · see citing works
Sonodynamic therapy, a treatment developing from photodynamic therapy
Liu, R., Zhang, Q., Lang, Y., Peng, Z., & Li, L. (2017) · Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.pdpdt.2017.06.003 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
Metal–Organic Frameworks (MOF)-Assisted Sonodynamic Therapy in Anticancer Applications
Yang, F., Dong, J., Li, Z., & Wang, Z. (2023) · ACS Nano · doi:10.1021/acsnano.2c10251 · Cited by 220 · see citing works
Yan, P., Liu, L.-H., & Wang, P. (2020) · ACS Applied Bio Materials · doi:10.1021/acsabm.0c00156 · Cited by 179 · see citing works
Self-citationStimuli responsive nanosonosensitizers for sonodynamic therapy
Jiang, Z., Xiao, W., & Fu, Q. (2023) · Journal of Controlled Release · doi:10.1016/j.jconrel.2023.08.003 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
Sonodynamic therapy‐assisted immunotherapy: A novel modality for cancer treatment
Zhang, Q., Bao, C., Cai, X., Jin, L., Sun, L., Lang, Y., & Li, L. (2018) · Cancer Science · doi:10.1111/cas.13578 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
He, Z., Xu, Q., Newland, B., Foley, R., Lara‐Sáez, I., Curtin, J. F., & Wang, W. (2021) · Journal of Materials Chemistry B · doi:10.1039/d1tb00728a · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Roy, A., Manna, K., & Pal, S. (2022) · Materials Chemistry Frontiers · doi:10.1039/d2qm00469k · Cited by 120 · see citing works
Wang, L., Hu, Y., Hao, Y., Li, L., Zheng, C., Zhao, H., Niu, M., Yin, Y., Zhang, Z., & Zhang, Y. (2018) · Journal of Controlled Release · doi:10.1016/j.jconrel.2018.07.028 · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Photodynamic therapy regulates fate of cancer stem cells through reactive oxygen species
Zhang, Z., Wang, K., Mo, J., Xiong, L., & Wen, Y. (2020) · World Journal of Stem Cells · doi:10.4252/wjsc.v12.i7.562 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Sonodynamic therapy: Ultrasound parameters and in vitro experimental configurations
Martins, Y. A., Pavan, T. Z., & Lopez, R. F. V. (2021) · International Journal of Pharmaceutics · doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2021.121243 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Wu, J., Sha, J., Zhang, C., Liu, W., Zheng, X., & Wang, P. (2020) · Open Research (University of Surrey) · doi:10.1002/viw.20200090 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Self-citationLi, Y., An, H., Wang, X., Wang, P., Qu, F., Jiao, Y., Zhang, K., & Liu, Q. (2017) · Nano Research · doi:10.1007/s12274-017-1719-8 · Cited by 56 · see citing works
Self-citationHou, R., Liang, X., Li, X., Zhang, X., Ma, X., & Wang, F. (2020) · Biomaterials Science · doi:10.1039/c9bm02046b · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Sněhota, M., Vachutka, J., ter Haar, G., Doležal, L., & Kolářová, H. (2020) · Ultrasonics · doi:10.1016/j.ultras.2020.106167 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Wu, P., Sun, Y. L., Dong, W., Zhou, H., Guo, S., Zhang, L., Wang, X., Wan, M., & Zong, Y. (2019) · Nanoscale · doi:10.1039/c9nr01691k · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Self-citationRetractedBonosi, L., Marino, S., Benigno, U. E., Musso, S., Buscemi, F., Giardina, K., Gerardi, R. M., Brunasso, L., Costanzo, R., Iacopino, D. G., et al. (2023) · Journal of Neuro-Oncology · doi:10.1007/s11060-023-04333-3 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Nanosensitizer-assisted sonodynamic therapy for breast cancer
Yu, J., Hu, J.-R., Tian, Y., Lei, Y.-M., Hu, H.-M., Lei, B.-S., Zhang, G., Sun, Y., & Ye, H.-R. (2025) · Journal of Nanobiotechnology · doi:10.1186/s12951-025-03311-3 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Xie, X., Cai, X., Zhou, F., Li, Y., Liu, Q., Cai, L., Zhu, W., Wei, J., Jin, C., Liu, Z., et al. (2022) · Pharmacological Research · doi:10.1016/j.phrs.2022.106389 · Cited by 32 · see citing works
Self-citationBoron-Based Nanosheets for Ultrasound-Mediated Synergistic Cancer Therapy
Xiao, X., Zhao, Y., Ma, P., Cheng, Z., & Lin, J. (2022) · Chemical Engineering Journal · doi:10.1016/j.cej.2022.135812 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Zhang, J., Lin, L., Wang, B., Zhang, Y., Wang, Y., Zhang, L., Jiang, Y., Chen, H., & Zhao, M. (2021) · Colloids and Surfaces A Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects · doi:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2021.126974 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Wang, X., Xu, X., Yang, Z., Xu, X., Han, S., & Zhang, H. (2023) · Biomaterials Science · doi:10.1039/d3bm00738c · Cited by 18 · see citing works
Self-citationZhang, X., Wei, Q., Tian, L., Huang, Z., Tang, Y., Wen, Y., Yu, F., Yan, X., Zhao, Y., Wu, Z., et al. (2024) · Fermentation · doi:10.3390/fermentation10110559 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Response mechanism of hypocrellin colorants biosynthesis by Shiraia bambusicola to elicitor PB90
Du, W., Sun, C., Wang, B., Wang, Y., Dong, B., Liu, J., Xia, J., Xie, W., Wang, J., Sun, J., et al. (2019) · AMB Express · doi:10.1186/s13568-019-0867-5 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
A novel hypocrellin-based assembly for sonodynamic therapy against glioblastoma
Zhang, C., Wu, J., Liu, W., Zheng, X., Zhang, W., Lee, C., & Wang, P. (2021) · Journal of Materials Chemistry B · doi:10.1039/d1tb01886h · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Self-citationFurusawa, Y., Kondo, T., Tachibana, K., & Feril, L. B. (2022) · Radiation Research · doi:10.1667/rade-21-00140.1.s1 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Sonodynamic therapy for breast cancer: A literature review
Zhou, H., Chen, Y., Li, P., He, X., Zhong, J., Hu, Z., Liu, L., Chen, Y., Cui, G., Sun, D., et al. (2022) · Open Chemistry · doi:10.1515/chem-2022-0186 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Liu, Y., Cao, Z., & Guo, W. (2023) · Photodiagnosis and Photodynamic Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.pdpdt.2023.103683 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Therapeutic Ultrasound for Multimodal Cancer Treatment: A Spotlight on Breast Cancer
Demir, Z. E. F., & Sheybani, N. (2025) · Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering · doi:10.1146/annurev-bioeng-103023-111151 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Zeng, L., Yuan, S., Shen, J., Wu, M. J., Pan, L., & Kong, X. (2017) · Molecular Medicine Reports · doi:10.3892/mmr.2017.8313 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
A metal–phenolic nanotuner induces cancer pyroptosis for sono-immunotherapy
Wang, G., Wang, D., Tian, H., Xia, L., Shen, D., Wang, Z., & Dai, Y. (2024) · Biomaterials Science · doi:10.1039/d4bm01292e · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Liu, H., Shi, Y., Ji, G., Wang, J., & Gai, B. (2024) · Frontiers in Immunology · doi:10.3389/fimmu.2024.1339380 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
Çalışkan, M., Sağkan, R. I., Bayrak, G., & Çalışkan, S. Ö. (2024) · Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine · doi:10.1002/jum.16575 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Hypocrellin B Exerts Its Antitumor Effect on Colorectal Cancer by Inhibiting the AKT Pathway
Qu, H., Sun, A., Zhou, Y., Ma, C., Ye, Y., Xu, Y., Zhao, H., Zhao, C., Hu, Y., Yang, L., et al. (2025) · Journal of Natural Products · doi:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.4c01431 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Protopovich, E. L., & Tzerkovsky, D. A. (2022) · Russian Journal of Biotherapy · doi:10.17650/1726-9784-2022-21-1-68-75 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Li, E., Sun, Y., Lv, G., Qin, F., Sheng, T., Zhang, Z., Zhang, R., Hu, Z., & Cao, W. (2021) · Free Radical Research · doi:10.1080/10715762.2021.1996571 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Ayyami, Y., Dastgir, M., Yektamanesh, M., Zamani, H., Jazi, S. S., Arjmand, B., Siegel, A. P., Mehrizi, O. A., Manwar, R., Hamishehkar, H., et al. (2026) · Ultrasonics Sonochemistry · doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2026.107750 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Tatiparthi, R., Panda, A., Chaitanya, M., Gashe, F., Hasan, G., & Yarlagadda, R. (2026) · Molecular Imaging and Biology · doi:10.1007/s11307-026-02090-z · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Jia, Y., Wang, X., Liu, Q., Leung, A. W., Wang, P., & Xu, C.
- Affiliations
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Shaanxi Normal University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Pan
- Xu, Chuanshan
- Venue
- Ultrasonics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-01
- Volume
- 73
- Pages
- 154-161
- ISSN
- 0041-624X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2520796832
- Cited by
- 39
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3
- FWCI
- 2.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Ultrasonics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Hong Kong Research Grant Committee (476912)
- Health and Medical Research Fund of Hong Kong (13120442)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81472846, 81571834)
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (GK201502009, GK201602002)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine › Photodynamic Therapy Research Studies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Nanoplatforms for cancer theranostics
- Life Sciences › Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics › Toxicology › Bioactive Compounds and Antitumor Agents
- Keywords
- hypocrellin B, sonodynamic therapy, breast cancer, apoptosis, caspase pathway, reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial dysfunction, MDA-MB-231 cells, z-VAD-fmk, DNA fragmentation, sonosensitizer
- MeSH terms
- Breast Neoplasms, Cell Survival, Female, Flow Cytometry, Humans, Microscopy, Fluorescence, Perylene, Quinones, Ultrasonic Therapy, Apoptosis, Photosensitizing Agents, Reactive Oxygen Species, Microscopy, Confocal, Caspases, Cell Line, Tumor, Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial, DNA Fragmentation
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
