Resveratrol inhibits proliferation, promotes differentiation and melanogenesis in HT-144 melanoma cells through inhibition of MEK/ERK kinase pathway.

The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of resveratrol on the viability of HT-144 melanoma cells and formation of melanin. MTT assay was used for analysis of cell viability and western blot for determination of phospho-Mek 1/2, phospho-Erk 1/2 (Tyr-204), Mitf, PBG-D and p-CREB-1 expression. MTT assay results showed that treatment of HT-144 cells with various doses of resveratrol led to a concentration dependent inhibition of proliferation. The antiproliferative activity was significant at 15 μM concentration of resveratrol after 24 h. Western blot analysis revealed that resveratrol caused significant reduction in the expression of phospho-extracellular signal related kinase (p-ERK) and p-MEK 1/2. Additionally, tyrosinase activity was increased by 1.5-6.8-fold on increasing the concentration of resveratrol from 1 to 15 μM. Resveratrol treatment also enhanced the expression of cAMP-response element-binding proteins (CREB) after 24 h. Furthermore resveratrol treatment up-regulated porphobilinogen deaminase (PBG-D) expression in HT-144 cells. Taken together, the study demonstrates that resveratrol treatment inhibits proliferation and promotes melanogenesis of HT-144 cells through inhibition of MEK/ERK pathway. Therefore, resveratrol has a scope for further evaluation against melanogenesis.