Staurosporine-induced apoptosis in Chang liver cells is associated with down-regulation of Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL.

A potent inhibitor of serine/threonine kinases, staurosporine exerts antiproliferative and apoptotic effects in many cancer cells, although the exact mechanism of its action is still unclear. This study examines the effects of staurosporine on Chang liver cells, an immortalized non-tumor cell line, in comparison with those caused in HuH-6 and HepG2 cells, two human hepatoma cell lines. Our results provide evidence that staurosporine promotes apoptosis in Chang liver cells as observed by flow cytometric analysis and acridine orange/ethidium bromide staining. The effect appeared already after 8 h of treatment and increased with treatment time and dose. After 48 h of exposure to 200 nM staurosporine clear apoptotic signs were observed in about 50% of the cells. Western blotting analysis showed that in Chang liver cells staurosporine induced a marked decrease in the levels of the antiapoptotic factors Bcl-2 (-75%) and Bcl-XL (-50%). Staurosporine also caused loss of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, release of cytochrome c from mitochondria and activation of caspase-3. The involvement of caspases in staurosporine-induced cell death was also suggested by the observation that the addition of z-VAD-fmk, a general inhibitor of caspases, suppressed apoptosis. In HuH-6 and HepG2 cells treatment with staurosporine induced the arrest of cells in G2/M phase of cell cycle. This effect was not modified by z-VAD-fmk and was not accompanied by the appearance of biochemical signs of apoptosis. We conclude that staurosporine induced apoptosis in Chang liver cells by a mitochondria-caspase-dependent pathway which was closely correlated with a decrease in Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL levels, while in HuH-6 and HepG2 hepatoma cells the drug caused only an antiproliferative effect.

The effect of 3-aminobenzamide, inhibitor of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, on human osteosarcoma cells.

This study demonstrates that in human osteosarcoma cells treatment with 3-aminobenzamide (3-AB), a potent inhibitor of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), induces morphological and biochemical features of differentiation, the duration of which depends on whether or not the normal RB gene is expressed. In Saos-2 cells expressing a non-functional Rb protein, 3-AB treatment induced the formation of transient, short dendritic-like protrusions. In RB-transfected-Saos-2 cells (a clone previously generated in our laboratory that shows stable expression of wild-type Rb protein), 3-AB induced marked and prolonged changes with the formation of long dendritic-like protrusions and the appearance of stellate (osteocyte-like) cells. In MG-63 cells producing a wild-type Rb protein, 3-AB treatment had more marked effects, with a larger number of cells assuming the stellate appearance of osteocytes, which were connected to each other via junctions resembling small channels. Regardless of cell type, at some point after 3-AB treatment the differentiative attempt failed and the cells died. Death was apoptotic, as demonstrated by chromatin condensation and fragmentation, specific cleavage of PARP and Lamin-B, processing of caspase-3 and the appearance of Bax immunoreactive species. Enzymatic assay and RT-PCR of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) - an enzyme whose levels markedly decrease when osteoblasts undergo terminal differentiation into osteocytes - showed that 3-AB treatment markedly lowered ALP expression. Simultaneously, 3-AB treatment markedly increased the expression of CD44, a transmembrane multifunctional adhesion molecule and sensitive marker of osteocytic differentiation. This study hypothesizes a cross-talk between pRb and PARP and suggests that PARP may be a useful target for anticancer drugs.