Apaf-1 gene transfer and its effects on apoptosis of AGS cell line / 中华消化杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective Apaf-1 is a key factor involved in activating the Caspase system in apoptosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of Apaf-1 on the apoptosis process induced by chemotherapeutic agent. Methods We established Apaf-1 hyper- and hypo- expression system by transferred sense and anti-sense Apaf-1 cDNA into cultured AGS cell line. And meanwhile human cyt-c, Apaf-1, caspase-3, bax, and bcl-2 gene expressions were measured by RT-PCR method. Results Cyt-c, caspase-3, and bax gene expressions increased significantly after sense Apaf-1 transfection. On the contrary, anti-sense Apaf-1 transfer has minus effects on cyt-c, caspase-3, and bax gene expressions. No significant changes have been found on bcl-2 gene expression after transfection process.Conclusions Cyt-c pathway may play an important role in the apoptosis induced by chemotherapeutic drugs. The early expression of cyt-c and Apaf-1 may be the key procedure of cyt-c release from mitochondria and of caspases activation.