Apoptosis of the mitochondria protein p32 (gc1qbp) in human ovarian cancer cells / 대한산부인과학회지

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to examine a possible physiological function of p32-mediated apoptosis signaling in ovarian cancer cells. METHODS: SK-OV-3 cells were transfected with respective plasmid DNAs, and cell viability was measured. By immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence staining analysis, we confirmed that p32 interacts with Harakiri in ovarian cancer cells. RESULTS: In SK-OV-3 cells, p32 interacted with Harakiri and both p32 and Harakiri were colocalized in the mitochondria. In addition, overexpression of p32 induced apoptosis of ovarian cancer cells and augmented Harakiri-mediated apoptosis. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated p32 as an apoptosis inducer and helped to provide the better understanding of the function of p32 in ovarian cancer cells and a possibility of p32 in the application of cancer therapeutics.

DNA methylation of Bcl-2 family genes in cancer cells / 대한산부인과학회지

OBJECTIVE: Promoter methylation of Bcl-2 family genes in cancer cells were studied to verify possible correlation between DNA methylation pattern of Bcl-2 family members and cancer. METHODS: The genomic DNAs were extracted from different cancer cell lines, HeLa, CaSki and K562, and ovarian cancer tissue from patients. The cytosine residues were converted to uracil by sodium bisulfite treatment. MSP (methylation specific PCR) was performed to determine the methylation status of Bcl-2, Mcl-1, Noxa, and Harakiri promoters. Using primers that distinguish methylated DNA from unmethylated DNA after bisulfite modification of DNA, MSP was conducted to observe the methylation pattern of Bcl-2 family genes in different cancer cells. RESULTS: The promoter regions of Bcl-2 family genes including Mcl-1, Bcl-2, and Noxa were not methylated in cancer cells, whereas the proapoptotic Bcl-2 family gene Harakiri was detected as methylated in the cancer cell lines and hypomethylated in the ovarian cancer tissue. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated the differential methylation profiles of Bcl-2 family genes in cancerous cells, which suggests a possible connection between the methylation pattern of some of Bcl-2 family genes and ovarian cancer.