RESUMO
Objective To investigate the effects of caveolin-1 overexpressing on the growth of cervical squamous cell cancer Hela cell line. Methods Eukaryotic expression vector of human caveolin-1 gene was introduced into Hela cells by Lipofectamine. The clones stably overexpressed caveolin-1 were identiffed by RT-PCR, immunofluorescence cell staining techniques and Westernblotting. Cells proliferation viabihty was tested by MTT assay, and flow cytometry was used to assay the cell cycle and apoptosis, and the relative phosphorylation level of extracellular regulated protein kinases (Erk1/2) were detected by Westernblotting. Results The clones stably overexpressed caveolin-1 were obtained. Compared with the parental Hela cells, the tranfected cells exhibited a slower rate of growth. FAGS analysis results revealed that overexpression of caveolin-1 resulted in the cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 [ ( 68. 04 ± 2. 57 ) % vs ( 53.41 ±1.01)%] phase and increased the apoptotic cell fraction[ (19. 18 ±2.20)% vs (5.63 ±0.55)%, P <0. 05 ]. Western blotting results showed that overexpression of caveolin-1 reduced the phosphorylation of Erk1/2(0.28 ±0.05 vs 0.81 ±0.07, P <0.05). Conclusions Overexpression of caveolin-1 suppressed the growth of Hela cells and induced apoptosis, down-regulation of Erk1/2 phosphorylation might be involved in its mechanism.