Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Despite the development and use of several targeting drugs for lung cancer therapy, the five-year survival rate has remained as low as 15% for the past three decades. Cisplatin-based chemotherapy is considered the first-line therapeutic strategy for lung cancer. However, developments of chemoresistance is a major obstacle for the successful treatment. Therefore, the development of novel therapy against cisplatin-resistance lung cancer is imperative. Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which is a non-invasive combinatorial therapeutic modality using light, photosensitizer (PS) and oxygen, may provide an unprecedented tool to develop more effective treatments. To provide experimental basis for its application in cisplatin-resistance lung cancer, we will discuss the biological effects of MPPa-photodynamic therapy in human cisplatin-resistance lung cancer cells in this article. Human cisplatin-resistance lung cancer cells A549/DDP were co-cultured with MPPa (0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 μmol/L) and exposed to light (0, 0.6, 1.2, 2.4, 3.6, 4.8 J/cm2), and cell viability was determined with CCK-8 assay. Flow cytometry was used to detect apoptosis, DCFH-DA staining was employed to observe reactive oxygen species (ROS), and Western blot was used to detect the expressions of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) protein and Bcl-2 associated X protein (Bax). The proliferation of A549/DDP cells was suppressed by PDT. The apop-totic rate in the PDT group was significantly higher than that in the control, MPPa or light group (P < 0.05). The level of ROS was increased. The expression of Bax was increased, and that of Bcl-2 was decreased. MPPa-photodynamic therapy can significantly suppress cell viability, and induce apoptosis in human cisplatin-resistance lung cancer cells.
ObjectiveTo explore the effects and molecular mechanisms of histone methylase G9a inhibitor BIX-01294 on apoptosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).MethodsMTT assay and Colony-forming Units were adopted to determine the effects of BIX-01294 on the growth and proliferation of ESCC cell lines EC109 and KYSE150. Flow cytometry was used to analyze the apoptosis status of ESCC cells after the treatment of BIX-01294. The effects of BIX-01294 treatment on the expressions of G9a catalytic product H3K9me2, DNA double-strand break (DSB) markers, and apoptosis-related proteins were detected by Western blotting.ResultsBIX-01294 inhibited the growth of EC109 and KYSE150 cells in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05), and BIX-01294 with the inhibitory concentration 50% (IC50) significantly inhibited the formation of colony (P<0.05). After 24 hours treatment of BIX-01294 (IC50), the apoptosis rate of EC109 cells increased from 11.5%±2.1% to 42.5%±5.4%, and KYSE150 cells from 7.5%±0.9% to 49.2%±5.2% (P<0.05). The expression level of the G9a catalytic product, H3K9me2, significantly decreased (P<0.05); while the expression of the DSB marker γH2AX was dramatically enhanced (P<0.05). We also found that the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway was activated and the expression levels of cleaved caspase3 and cleaved PARP were significantly elevated (P<0.05).ConclusionBIX-01294, the inhibitor of methyltransferase G9a, prompted apoptosis in ESCC cells by inducing DSB damage and activating mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.