Arsenic trioxide induces apoptosis of HPV16 DNA-immortalized human cervical epithelial cells and selectively inhibits viral gene expression
✍ Scribed by Jie Zheng; You-Ping Deng; Chen Lin; Ming Fu; Pei-Gen Xiao; Min Wu
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- French
- Weight
- 236 KB
- Volume
- 82
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0020-7136
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✦ Synopsis
Arsenic trioxide (As 2 O 3 ), a major ingredient of arsenic compounds in traditional Chinese medicine, exhibits antiacute promyelocytic leukemic activity. Considering that over 80% of human malignant tumors derive from epithelial cells, we studied the effect of As 2 O 3 on HPV 16 DNA-immortalized human cervical epithelial cells (HCE16/3 cells) in vitro. As 2 O 3 reduced HCE16/3 cell survival, induced apoptosis at a low concentration and selectively inhibited expression of viral early genes. This effect was evidenced by a reduction of cell viability in the MTT assay, G 1 arrest and significant apoptosis upon flow-cytometric analysis, presence of apoptotic bodies, formation of DNA ladders upon gel electrophoresis and inhibition of viral early gene expression by RT-PCR and Western blot. There was a good correlation between cell apoptosis and viral early gene inhibition after As 2 O 3 treatment, suggesting that induction of apoptosis of HCE16/3 cells by As 2 O 3 treatment might be associated with down-regulation of viral oncogene expression. In conclusion, our findings indicate that As 2 O 3 induces apoptosis of HCE16/3 cells, which may provide a new approach for treating HPV-associated tumors.