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OBJECTIVE Hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)is the fifth most common malignancy worldwide and the third cause of global cancer mortality.Activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3(STAT3)is commonly observed in tumor cells and is a critical mediator of on cogenic signaling in HCC and controls the expression of several genes involved in proliferation,survival,metastasis and angiogenesis.Current drug-targeted therapies,besides being expensive,are associated with serious side effects and morbidity.Thus,novel agents that can suppress STAT3 activation have potential for both prevention and treatment of HCC.In the present report,we investigated whether the potent HAT/KAT inhibitor,garcinol,(apolyisoprenylatedbenzophenone),could suppress STAT3 activation in HCC cells and in nude mice model.METHODS The effect of garcinol on HCC cell lines wasdetermined by MTT assay,immunoblotting,DNA binding assays,immuno-fluorescenceand immune-histochemical analysis.The effect of garcinolon the inhibition of tumor growth in vivo was also investigated using HCCxenograft tumor modelin athymic nu/nu mice.RESULTS We found that garcinol could inhibit constitutive STAT3 activation in a dose-and time-dependent manner both by inhibiting STAT3 phosphorylation and acetylation in HCC cells.When investigated for molecular mechanism(s),we found that garcinol interferes with the dimer formation of STAT3 thereby inhibits its nuclear localization.Computational modeling showed that garcinol could bind to the SH2 domain of STAT3 and suppresses its dimerization in vitro.To understand the cellular mechanism(s)of inhibition of STAT3 function by garcinol,we observed that upon inhibition of STAT3 dimerization bygarcinol,STAT3 DNA binding ability gets repressed.The inhibition of STAT3 activation by garcinol led to the suppression of various gene products involved in proliferation,survival,and angiogenesis.Finally,when administered i.p.,garcinol inhibited the growth of human HCC xenograft tumors in athymic nu/nu mice.CONCLUSION Results frominvitroand in vivo studies suggest that garcinol exerts its anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects through suppression of STAT3 signaling cascade in HCC by inhibiting its phosphorylation,acetylation and ultimately dimerization.