ABSTRACT
Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), a potent carcinogen, has been shown to induce apoptosis via activation of caspase-3. However, the upstream of caspase-3 and other apoptosis signaling remain to be elusive. Herein, we demonstrated that treatment of Hepa1c1c7 cells with BaP increased the transcriptional expression of aryl hydrocarbon nuclear transporter and cytochrome p450 1A1 in a time and dose-dependent manner but did not aromatic hydrocarbon receptor. Also, the catalytic activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9 was induced whereas that of caspase-3 and caspase-9 was not by the addition of BaP. BaP also induced the mitochondrial dysfunction, including transition of mitochondria membrane potential and cytosolic release of cytochrome c. Furthermore, a decrease in the expression of Bcl-2 to Bax ratio and phosphorylation of p53(Ser 15) were observed in BaP-treated cells. Taken together, these results demonstrated that BaP-induced apoptosis of Hepa1c1c7 cells via activation of intrinsic caspase pathway including caspase-3, caspase-9, with mitochondrial dysfunction and p53 activation.
Subject(s)
Apoptosis/drug effects , Benzo(a)pyrene/toxicity , Carcinogens/toxicity , Caspases/metabolism , Mitochondria/drug effects , Animals , Carcinoma, Hepatocellular , Cell Line, Tumor , Enzyme Activation/drug effects , Hepatocytes/drug effects , Hepatocytes/pathology , Membrane Potentials/drug effects , Membrane Potentials/physiology , Mice , Mitochondria/metabolism , Phosphorylation/drug effects , Proto-Oncogene Proteins/metabolism , Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2/metabolism , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/drug effects , Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/metabolism , bcl-2-Associated X ProteinABSTRACT
Mistletoe lectin-II, a major component of Korean mistletoe (Viscum album var. coloratum) induces apoptotic death in cancer cells. In this study, we demonstrated that lectin-II induced the generation of pro-oxidants and thus resulted in the apoptotic death of human myeloleukemic U937 cells. We observed that lectin-II-induced apoptotic death was inhibited by antioxidants including reduced glutathione (GSH), N-acetylcysteine (NAC), ebselen, mnTBP, catalase and pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC). GSH and NAC also abolished the apoptotic DNA ladder pattern fragmentation of U937 cells after lectin-II stimulation. Obviously, lectin-II treatment of cells resulted in a remarkable generation of intracellular hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as an early event, which was monitored fluorimetrically using scopoletin-horse radish peroxidase (HRP) assay and peroxide-sensitive fluorescent probe, DCF-DA. In addition, antioxidants inhibited the activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) as well as cytosolic release of cytochrome c by mistletoe lectin-II. Moreover, lectin-II-induced activation of caspase-9 and 3-like protease and cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) were inhibited by pretreatment of cells with thiol antioxidants, GSH and NAC. Taken together, these results suggest that Korean mistletoe lectin-II is a strong inducer of pro-oxidant generation such as H2O2, which mediates the JNK/SAPK activation, cytochrome c release, activation of caspase-9 and caspase 3-like protease, and PARP cleavage in human myeloleukemic U937 cells.
