ABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: The aim of this study is to investigate whether IL-6, IL-10 and TGF-ß are able to confer resistance to apoptosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells by upregulating the expression of survivin. METHODS: The human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cell line TW01 (WHO NPC Type I) was cultured in DMEM-F12 Ham medium containing 10% FBS in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO(2) and 37°C and treated with different concentrations of IL-6, IL-10 and TGF-ß. Survivin mRNA expression was measured by real-time quantitative PCR and Western blot. Apoptosis was determined based on the assay for caspase-3 activity. RESULTS: Of all the cytokines tested, only TGF-ß (10 pg/mL) induced the over-expression of survivin at a significant level and this correlated with resistance to apoptosis (p ≤ 0.05). To confirm if survivin is responsible for resistance to apoptosis, YM155 which is a survivin inhibitor was used and the results showed that YM155 abrogated the protective effect of TGF-ß. Interestingly, IL-10 did not significantly alter the expression of survivin. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that TGF-ß up-regulates the expression of survivin leading to the resistance to apoptosis in NPC TW01 cells.