ABSTRACT
The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of ABCB1 genetic polymorphisms on the efficacy of phenytoin (PHT) treatment in epilepsy patients. In total, 200 epilepsy patients who were administered PHT were divided into the responsive and pharmaco-resistance groups depending on the clinical data of PHT treatment in epilepsy patients. The serum concentration of PHT was detected by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). ABCB1 polymorphisms were analyzed by the polymerase chain reaction restriction-fragment length polymorphism method. The C1236T, C3435T and G2677T/A haplotypes were reconstructed for the ABCB1 gene using SHEsis programs. One-way analysis of variance was used for data analysis. In ABCB1 C1236T, the rate of the CC genotype in pharmaco-resistance (17.5%) was higher than that of the responsive group (2.1%), while the rate of the TT genotype in pharmaco-resistance (41.6%) was lower than that of the responsive group (55.4%) (P<0.05). In ABCB1 G2677T/A, the rate of the GG genotype in pharmaco-resistance (29.6%) was higher than that of the responsive group (9.7%), while the rate of the TT genotype in pharmaco-resistance (4.6%) was lower than that of the responsive group (30.4%) (P<0.05). The rate of the TTC haploid in pharmaco-resistance (24.1%) was higher than that of the responsive group (8.8%) (P<0.05). The PHT serum concentration had no statistical significance in the patients with different genotypes. In conclusion, there was no association between ABCB1 genetic polymorphism and PHT serum concentration, although the polymorphisms affected the efficacy of PHT treatment in patients with epilepsy.
ABSTRACT
Caffeine is one of the most commonly ingested neuroactive compounds and exhibits anticancer effects through induction of apoptosis and suppression of cell proliferation. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects are currently unknown. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of caffeine-induced apoptosis in U251 cells (human glioma cell line). We analyzed the inhibitory effects of caffeine on cell proliferation by performing WST-8 and colony formation assays; in addition, cell survival was assessed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay and flow cytometric analysis. Western blotting was used to investigate the role played by FoxO1 in the proapoptotic effects of caffeine on glioma cells. Results showed that caffeine inhibited proliferation and survival of human glioma cells, induced apoptosis, and increased the expression of FoxO1 and its proapoptotic target Bim. In addition, we found that FoxO1 enhanced the transcription of its proapoptotic target Bim. In summary, our data indicates that FoxO1-Bim mediates caffeine-induced regression of glioma growth by activating cell apoptosis, thereby providing new mechanistic insight into the possible use of caffeine in treating human cancer.
