title: Expression of Fas and Bcl-2 proteins and induction of apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.
abstract: Because the induction of apoptosis in cancer cells is very important in clinical management, it is useful to examine the association with the Fas-Fas ligand pathway and Bcl-2 protein family in apoptosis. We morphologically examined the expression of Fas and Bcl-2 proteins and induction of apoptosis by anti-Fas in four human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines, PLC/PRF/5, Huh-6, and Huh-7, as well as OCUH-16, which was originally established in our university. Fas protein was expressed in 96% of OCUH-16 cells in cytoplasm, 24% of PLC/PRF/5 cells, 20% of Huh-6 cells, and no Huh-7 cells. Bcl-2 protein was expressed in 43%-72% of cells in cytoplasm and nuclei of the four lines examined. Administration of anti-Fas induced apoptosis in about 40% of OCUH-16 cells, but did not induce apoptosis in the other three cell lines. In conclusion, an original cell line, OCUH-16 cells, expressed Fas and Bcl-2 proteins and underwent apoptosis following treatment with anti-Fas, but the other three cell lines examined did not undergo apoptosis. OCUH-16 cells are thus very useful for the study of apoptosis and molecules related to apoptosis at the levels of cell-surface receptors and intracytoplasmic regulation of apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Third Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka City University Medical School, 1-4-3 Asahimachi, Abenoku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: S.
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seki
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitada
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakaguchi
authors.forename: Norifumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawada
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iwai
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kadoya
authors.forename: Kazuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakatani