[Effects of 2-methoxyestradiol on the expression of caspase-3 and survivin in chronic myelocytic leukemia K562 cells].

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 2-methoxyestradiol (2-ME) on expressions of caspase-3 and survivin in chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) K562 cells. The experiment was divided into 3 groups: control group, in which K562 cells were cultured in medium without 2-ME; the experimental group, in which K562 cells were cultured in medium containing different concentrations of 2-ME (1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 micromol/L) for 36 hours; the negative control group, in which K562 cells were replaced by distilled water without RNase in medium. The apoptosis rate, the protein and its mRNA expressions of caspase-3 and survivin of K562 cells was detected by TUNEL, flow cytometry (FCM), half-quantitative RT-PCR respectively. The results showed that the apoptosis rate of K562 cells in experimental group was significantly higher than that in control group (p < 0.05). The apoptosis rate of K562 cells detected by FCM was almost the same as that detected by TUNEL method (p < 0.01). The result detected by TUNEL methods was positively correlated with that detected by FCM (gamma = 0.845, p = 0.034). The expression of caspase-3 protein increased in a concentration-dependent manner, and also this expression level in the experimental group was higher than that in the control group (p < 0.05); the expression of survivin protein decreased along with the increasing of 2-ME concentration. and the difference between the experimental group and the control group was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The expression of caspase-3 mRNA was higher in the experimental group than that in the control group (p < 0.01), and the expression of survivin mRNA was lower in the experimental group than that in the control group (p < 0.01). The expression level of caspase-3 mRNA was negatively correlated with that of survivin (gamma = -0.966, p = 0.001). It is concluded that the 2-ME can induce apoptosis of K562 cells in a concentration-dependent manner and indicate its promising potential in the treatment of CML patients.