Sodium butyrate restores ASC expression and induces apoptosis in LS174T             cells.
Sodium butyrate (NaBu) is a short-chain fatty acid (SCFA), which has been             proposed as a potential anticancer agent. Apoptosis-associated speck-like protein             (ASC) is a pro-apoptotic signaling factor that is subjected to epigenetic silencing             in human cancers. Modulation by the aberrant methylation of CpG islands of ASC             is a well-characterized epigenetic mechanism, and the methylation-induced silencing             of ASC has been observed in several types of tumors. NaBu induces cell cycle arrest,             markers of cell differentiation and apoptosis in colon cancer. NaBu promotes transcriptional             activation by relaxing the DNA conformation and displays anti-proliferative and             differentiating activity in a wide variety of cancers. Thus, we used NaBu to investigate             the relationship between the status of cell proliferation and the re-expression             of ASC in colon carcinoma LS174T cells. Our experiments determined ASC re-expression             at the protein level using western blotting. In addition, we used reverse transcription-polymerase             chain reaction to detect the expression levels of ASC mRNA and an MTT assay to             detect the inhibitory rate of cell growth. The apoptosis rate was also detected             for further validation of the re-expression of ASC. The results showed that ASC             re-expression was significantly increased in the LS174 cells following NaBu treatment             in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The expression of ASC also induced the apoptosis             of LS174T cells. These results suggest that NaBu plays a role in the reactivation             of ASC expression and that the latter promotes the apoptosis of LS174T cells.
Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Dalian Medical University,                     Dalian 116044, P.R. China.
Shuai
S
Zhang
Jingqiao
J
Bai
Shuangyi
S
Ren
Ran
R
Wang
Li
L
Zhang
Yunfei
Y
Zuo
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D020148:Butyric Acid / Q000494:pharmacology*; D053468:CARD Signaling Adaptor Proteins; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000187:drug effects; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015854:Up-Regulation
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D053468:CARD Signaling Adaptor Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; C402202:PYCARD protein, human; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D020148:Butyric Acid