Abstract:Objective:To investigate the effect of mitofusin-2 gene (mfn2) on apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cell strain HepG2 and its possible mechanism.
Methods :Plasmid pEGFPmfn2 was transfected into hepatocellular carcinoma cell strain HepG2 by Lipofectamine 2000 in vitro. The mRNA of Mfn2 expression was detected by RT-PCR and protein expression by Western-blot. The cell proliferation of HepG2 was measured by MTT assay and cell apoptosis was observed in Annexin-V/PI by flow cytometry. The ultramicrostructure of cell was observed by electron microscope. The expression of apoptosis related genes was observed by RT-PCR.
Results:Mitofusin-2 gene was expressed in transfected HepG2/mfn2 stably and it could obviously inhibit cell proliferation by MTT assay. Exogenous mfn2 gene significantly induced cell apoptosis and induced the break down, disappearance and groundsubstance rarefaction of chondrosome cristae. Expression of Bcl-2 and survivin genes were reduced in HepG2/mfn2.
Conclusions:Exogenous mfn2 could inhibit proliferation of HepG2 and induce its apoptosis. The downregulation of apoptosis related genes may be the mechanism for inducing apoptosis.