Nowadays, cancer has become a pervasive disease in the world. Due to the side effects of chemotherapeutic agents, the use of peptides has been increasingly popular among scientists. The present study aimed to assess the cell toxicity and the change in the expression of Bcl-2, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and Bax genes in HepG2 cancer cell line treated with peptides HL-7 (YLYELAR) and HL-10 (AFPYYGHHLG) using MTT, western blot and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses. The results showed that HL-7 and HL-10 peptides significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited the growth of HepG2 cancer cells; however, they did not cause any marked toxicity on human lymphocyte cells.Also, the treatment of HepG2 cancer cells with HL-7 and HL- 10 led to a significant (p < 0.05) increase in the expression of TNF-α and Bax genes, as well as a substantial decrease in the expression of Bcl-2 at both protein and mRNA levels. It seems that the two peptides may contribute to increasing the expression of TNF-α, along with the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2, which may result in activating the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis in HepG2 cancer cells. Thus, these two peptides may be useful therapeutic options for the treatment of hepatocarcinoma in the future

Keywords