Retraction: Role and potential targeting of hepatic apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease-1 and cyclin-dependent kinase-4 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease/redox element 1 (APE1/Ref-1) is a pervasive multifunctional protein required in the DNA base extraction repair (BER) pathway and a noteworthy reducing-oxidizing (redox) factor that upgrades the authoritative of various transcription components to DNA. Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) assume a key part in directing the movement of the cell-cycle. The present study evaluates the synergistic efficacy of using licochalcone B (LCB) and fullerene C60 (FnC60) nanoparticles against diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced hepatocarcinoma (HCC) in rats. The results indicated that LCB alone and in combination with FnC60 significantly decreased the percent of DNA fragmentation, oxidative DNA damage byproduct (8-OH-2dG) and the mRNA expression of APE1/Ref-1, CDK-4, retinoblastoma (Rb), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), B-cell lymphoma-xL (Bcl-xL), and β-arrestin-2 along with decreased protein expression of APE1/Ref-1 and CDK-4; whereas these treatments significantly increased the expression of prot...