Cytotoxic effects of peanut phenolic compounds possessing histone deacetylase inhibitory activity on human colon cancer cell lines

Phenolic compounds present in our diet play an important role in colon cancer chemoprevention. Previous results demonstrated that peanut testa extract inhibited both histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity and the growth of colon cancer cells. In this study, four identified phenolic compounds in peanut testae (resveratrol, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and sinapinic acid) were investigated for their HDAC inhibitory and anticancer activities against colon cancer cell lines. In vitro study revealed that resveratrol exhibited the greatest HDAC inhibitory activity. Molecular docking studies demonstrated that all four compounds could bind both HDAC1 and HDAC2. Resveratrol exhibited the most effective antiproliferative activity against both human colon adenocarcinoma (HT29) and human colorectal carcinoma (HCT116) cells. Apoptosis induction by ferulic acid and resveratrol appeared to be associated with p53 activation in HCT116 cells. However, resveratrol, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and sinapinic acid induced apoptosis of HT29 cells in a p53-independent manner. Low-concentration treatments of p-coumaric and ferulic acids resulted in cell cycle arrest of HCT116 cells. In contrast, high-concentration treatments of p-coumaric and ferulic acids showed cell death activation as evidenced by increased sub-G1 fractions. The induction of p21 by p-coumaric acid and resveratrol correlated well with the decreased CDK4 levels and cell cycle arrest. Resveratrol, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and sinapinic acid caused activation of pERK1/2 in HCT116 cells, whereas ferulic and sinapinic acids caused downregulation of pERK1/2 in HT29 cells. These results suggest that these peanut phenolics may be potential antineoplastic agents for colon cancer chemoprevention/chemotherapy.