Abstract:

Objective To explore the effects of β-carboline alkaloid on the proliferation， apoptosis and expression levels of phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10（PTEN）／serine-threonine kinase（Akt） in human gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells. Methods SGC-7901 cells were treated with different concentrations of β-carboline alkaloid. Cell viability was measured by CCK-8 at 24 and 48 h after the treatment of β-carboline alkaloid（0， 10， 20， 40 μg／ml）. Apoptosis morphological and biochemical changes were detected by Hoechst 33258 staining and agarose gel electroghoresis at 48 h after the treatment of β-carboline alkaloid， respectively. The mRNA and protein levels of PTEN and Akt were examined by quantitative reverse-transcription PCR and Western blotting at 48 h after the treatment of β-carboline alkaloid（0， 10， 20， 30， 40 μg／ml）. Results β-carboline alkaloid effectively inhibited the proliferation of SGC-7901 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. β-carboline alkaloid could induce the apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells with the characteristic ladder pattern. Compared with 0 μg／ml， there were increased mRNA and protein levels of PTEN but decreased mRNA and protein levels of Akt in other concentrations of β-carboline alkaloid with significant difference（P＜0.05）. Conclusion β-carboline alkaloid inhibited the cell prolifetation and induced cell apoptosis， with the possible mechanism of up-regulation of anti-apoptotic protein PTEN and down-regulation of apoptotic protein Akt.