[Effects of E2F-1 overexpression on apoptosis of gastric cancer cells and expressions of apoptosis-related genes].

Background and objective: E2F transcription factor 1 (E2F-1) is an important transcription factor in cell cycle. This study was to investigate the effects of E2F-1 overexpression on apoptosis of gastric cancer MGC-803 cells and expressions of the downstream genes.

Methods: The apoptotic rates were measured by flow cytometry in MGC-803/E2F-1 cells, MGC-803/EV cells or untransfected MGC-803 cells. The total RNA was extracted from MGC-803/E2F-1 cells or MGC-803 cells, and cDNA was obtained by RT-PCR. Fluorescent (fluorescence exchange clip) probes marked by Cy5 and Cy3 were hybridized with gene chips containing 21522 human genes. Subsequently, the two signal images were scanned by Lux Scan 10K/A dual pathways laser scanner and analyzed by LuxScan3.0 image analysis software. RT-PCR was used to verify the target genes.

Results: The apoptotic rate of MGC-803/E2F-1 cells [(8.40+/-0.91)%] was higher than that of MGC-803/EV [(4.53+/-0.61)%] and MGC-803 cells [(4.97+/-0.47)%]. Fifteen differentially expressed apoptosis-related genes were detected, 4 of which were up-expressed and 11 were down-expressed genes, and the same results were verified by RT-PCR.

Conclusion: Overexpression of E2F-1 accelerates apoptosis of gastric carcinoma MGC-803 cells, which may be related to the 15 differentially expressed genes.