Time-series transcriptomes resolve metabolic pathways underlying crocin's anti-cancer activity - TPMs and ShinyGO analyses

Natural products like saffron show promise in treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but their mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we used time-series transcriptomics to elucidate crocin's anti-cancer mechanisms in HCC cells. We treated HepG2 cells with 1 and 2 mM crocin for 2, 6, 12, and 24 hours and analyzed transcriptomic profiles at each timepoint. The strongest transcriptional response occurred at 2 hours with 1 mM crocin, with diminishing effects at later timepoints. We observed upregulation of metabolic-, adhesion-, and endocytosis-related genes across all timepoints. Pathway analysis revealed activation of DNA damage checkpoints and senescence while proliferation pathways were suppressed. Notably, 52 genes involved in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease were downregulated at 24 hours (FDR p = 8 × 10⁻⁸), suggesting reversal of carcinogenic pathways. Strikingly, crocin consistently downregulated spliceosomal machinery genes across all timepoints while upregulating senescence and autophagy pathways. This spliceosome targeting represents a clinically relevant mechanism, as aberrant splicing drives oncogenesis in more than 90% of cancers. The transcription factor PAX5 was significantly upregulated while oncogenic ELK1 targets were downregulated. Our findings show that crocin treatment is accompanied by HCC cell senescence induction through coordinated spliceosome disruption and metabolic reprogramming, providing novel therapeutic targets for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), crocin, transcriptomics, spliceosome, senescence, natural anti-cancer compounds