Regulation of Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 Expression in Dalton's Lymphoma Ascites Cells by AbrinV. Ramnath,1 P. S. Rekha,1 G. Kuttan,2 and R. Kuttan31Department of Physiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Kerala Agricultural University, Mannuthy, Thrissur, 680 651, Kerala, 2Department of Immunology and 3Amala Cancer Research Centre, Amala Nagar, Thrissur, 680 553, Kerala, IndiaFor reprints and all correspondence: Department of Physiology, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Kerala Agricultural University, Mannuthy, Thrissur, 680 651, Kerala
Abstract The role of abrin, a toxic lectin isolated from seeds of Abrus precatorius Linn in inducing apoptosis in murine Dalton's Lymphoma Ascites (DLA) cells was evaluated. Abrin when incubated at the concentration of 10 ng per million DLA cells could bring about cell death as typical morphological changes with apoptosis. However, necrotic cell death dominated when a higher dose of abrin was used. DNA samples, isolated from DLA cells treated with abrin showed fragmentation. Abrin brought about induction of apoptosis by stimulating the expression of pro-apoptotic Caspase-3, at the same time blocking the expression of Bcl-2, which is an anti apoptotic gene. However, the expression of tumor suppressor gene p53 has not been observed in control and abrin-treated DLA cells. Results suggested that abrin effectively induced apoptotic changes in the tumor cells that led to cellular death.
Source: eCAM 2009;6(2)233–238 doi:10.1093/ecam/nem099 LINK TO FULL ARTICLENOTE Abrin from seeds is one of the most toxic plant poisons known.