Carcinogenesis, Teratogenesis & Mutagenesis ›› 2009, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (1): 42-045.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-616x.2009.01.010

Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Effect of Benzo[a]pyrene Exposure on Cell Cycle and Related Genes in HELF Cells

WANG Zhi-qin1,2, QI Yi-tao1, YANG Di1, CHEN Qian1, ZHOU Zong-can3, WANG Jie2, LIANG Zhen2, XIAO Xi-long1,   

  1. 1.Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193; 2. National (Shenyang) New Drug Evaluation Center, Chemical and Industrial Research Institute, Shenyang 110021; 3. Department of Toxicology,Health Science Center, Peking University, Beijing 100083
  • Received:2008-08-28 Revised:2008-10-07 Online:2009-01-30 Published:2009-01-30

Abstract: BACKGROUND AND AIM: To examine the pathway and mechanisms of benzo[a]pyrene(BaP) effects on cell cycle. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We administratered BaP to human embryonic lung fibroblasts(HELF) and monitored the changes in cell growth by cell counting, the cell size and cell cycle distribution by FACScan flow cytometer, and the mRNA and protein expression levels of cell cycle genes by RT-PCR and Western blotting. RESULTS: BaP promoted HELF cell growth, enlarged cell size, enhanced the transition of G1 phase to S and G2/M phase. The mRNA and protein expression levels of p53-related genes were detected indicating that BaP up-regulated the p53 mRNA and protein expression, and increased the expressions of cyclin D1, CDK2, CDK4 and p21, while decreasing the expresson of cyclin E. CONCLUSION: BaP affected cell cycle progression via the expressions of cyclin D1, CDK2 and CDK4, escaping from the p53-p21 mediated G1 checkpoint and was cyclinA-p27 independent.

Key words: BaP, cell cycle, cyclin, Cdk, CKIs, HELF