PMID: 26351561Sep 10, 2015Paper

The correlation between telomerase activity and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in valproic acid-treated MCF-7 breast cancer cell line

Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences
Zahra VafaiyanJahanbakhsh Asadi

Abstract

Valproic acid (VPA), a drug used in the treatment of neurological disorders, has been shown to have cytotoxic effects on cancer cells through different mechanisms. Telomerase, a ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase, is responsible for elongation of the telomere and is activated in cancers. A relation between telomerase activity and resistance to apoptosis has been established. This study focused on probable effects of VPA on MCF-7 cancer cells. In particular, we investigated VPA effects on viability, apoptosis and telomerase activity. Cytotoxicity effects of VPA on MCF-7 cells were determined by neutral red uptake assay. Cells were treated with different concentrations of VPA (0-32 mM) and telomerase activity and Bax and Bcl-2 protein levels were determined using TRAP assay (PCR-ELISA) method and ELISA method, respectively. The cytotoxic effects of different concentration of VPA on MCF-7 cells were observed as a reduction in cell viability and telomerase activity and altered expression of Bcl-2 family protein levels. The results also showed that there is a significant correlation between reduction of telomerase activity and increase in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio (P=0.001). Our study demonstrated that cell viability of MCF-7 cells was d...Continue Reading

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