Effects of imatinib on the expression of SHIP gene and apoptosis of K562 cells / 肿瘤

ABSTRACT

Objective: To observe the changes of SHIP, caspase-1, caspase-3, caspase-9 and bcl-2 gene expression levels in K562 cells after mesylate imatinib (MI) treatment and explore the possible mechanism for apoptosis-inducing effects of imatinib. Methods: K562 cells were cultured with MI at different concentrations. The cells were collected at different time points. Real-time quantitative PCR was used to detect the expression level of SHIP gene. Semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR was used to detect the mRNA transcription of anti-apoptotic gene bcl-2 and pro-apoptotic genes caspase-1, caspase-3 and caspase-9. The cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay. The cell apoptosis was analyzed by Annexin V/PI double staining flow cytometry. Results: MI significantly increased the expression of SHIP gene in a time-and dose-dependent manner. Caspase-9 gene was also up-regulated after MI treatment and had linear correlation with SHIP gene expression. The expression levels of caspase-1, caspase-3 and bcl-2 had no significant changes. MI down-regulated the proliferation and induced the apoptosis of K562 cells. The morphological changes of typical of apoptosis were observed. Conclusion: MI significantly increases the expressions of SHIP gene and caspase-9 gene and induces apoptosis of K562 cells. The mechanism for the apoptosis-inducing effects of imatinib may be associated with the up-regulation of SHIP and caspase-9 gene.