Effects of deoxynivalenol on apoptosis of human gastric carcinoma cell line SGC-7901, BGC-823 in vitro

Objective: To explore the putative effects and possible mechanisms of deoxynivalenol (DON) on the apoptosis of human gastric carcinoma cell line SGC-7901, BGC-823 in vitro.

Methods: SGC-7901 and BGC-823 cells were treated with DON (50, 100, 1000 microg/L) for 72 hours, and then cells were harvested for the studies of apoptosis and the expression of Bax and Bcl-2 with flow cytometry (FCM), immunocytochemical staining and Western blot.

Results: FCM results showed that the apoptosis rates of SGC-7901 and BGC-823 cells in DON treatment groups were higher than that in control, and positive dose-effect correlations could be found in both cell lines (SGC-7901: r = 0.660, P < 0.05, n=4, BGC-823: r = 0.750, P < 0.01, n=4). FCM, immunocytochemical staining and Western blot results showed that the expression of Bax was increased while that of Bcl-2 was decreased in DON treatment groups of SGC-7901 and BGC-823.

Conclusions: The results suggested that DON could induce apoptosis of SGC-7901, BGC-823 cells in vitro in a dose-dependent manner, and possible mechanisms may be increased formation of Bax-Bax homology dimer and decreased formationof Bax-Bcl-2 dimer by up-regulation of the expression of Bax and down-regulation of that Bcl-2.