Wharton jelly stem cells inhibits AGS gastric cancer cells through induction of apoptosis and modification of MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways

•We investigated anticancer effects of Wharton Jelly stem cells against of Gastric cancer cells.•Wharton Jelly stem cells decreased viability, migration, and invasion of Gastric cancer cells.•Wharton Jelly stem cells induced apoptosis through regulation of apoptosis involved genes.•Wharton Jelly stem cells modified NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways to cancer cells death. Gastric cancer) GC) is one of the most common cancer with high mortality worldwide. The human Wharton's jelly stem cells (hWJSCs) can inhibit several cancer cells through several molecular pathways. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate anticancer effects of hWJSCs conditioned medium (hWJSC-CM) and cell-free lysate (hWJSC-CL) against of GC cell line AGS and underlying signaling pathways. In this study, we evaluated the effects of hWJSC-CM and hWJSC-CL on viability, proliferation, migration, invasion, apoptosis, and MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways in AGS cells. Moreover, mRNA expression of genes involved in apoptosis (BAX, BCL2, SMAC, and SURVIVIN), as well as expression of proteins involved in NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways were evaluated. The obtained results showed that the hWJSC-CM and hWJSC-CL decreased viability, migration, and invasion of GC cell line AGS in a concentration and time dependent manner. We observed that the hWJSC-CM and hWJSC-CL induced apoptosis pathway through regulation of apoptosis involved genes mRNA expression. In addition, the hWJSC-CM and hWJSC-CL suppressed NF-κB signaling pathways as well as promoted MAPK signaling pathways. In general, our study suggested that the hWJSC-CM and hWJSC-CL inhibits proliferation and viability of GC cell line AGS through induction of apoptosis, as well as modification of NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways.