Differential gene expression profiles in paclitaxel-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells.
OBJECTIVE
To elucidate the molecular mechanism of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of MCF-7 cells induced by paclitaxel.


METHODS
Flow cytometry was used to determine the cell cycle changes of MCF-7 cells upon paclitaxel treatment. Gene expression profiles of MCF-7 cells induced by paclitaxel were obtained by using cDNA microarrays containing 9984 genes and expressed sequence tags (ESTs).


RESULTS
Cell cycle analysis showed that 77.8% of cells arrested at G2/M phase and 1.3% of cells underwent apoptosis upon 100 nmol x L(-1) paclitaxel treatment for 24 hours; cDNA microarray results revealed that 27 and 77 genes were differentially expressed upon 12.5 nmol x L(-1) (IC50) and 100 nmol x L(-1) paclitaxel treatment, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Paclitaxel stabilized microtubules and caused G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death in a concentration-dependent manner, which is associated with the regulation of selected genes related to microtubule assembly and cytoskeleton, cell cycle regulation, and DNA repair and apoptosis.
Applied Research Center for Genomics Technology, Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Jin
J
Wang
Fang-ting
FT
He
Chi-hung
CH
Tzang
Wang-fan
WF
Fong
Pei-gen
PG
Xiao
Rui
R
Han
Meng-su
MS
Yang
D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D017239:Paclitaxel