Maackia amurensis agglutinin induces apoptosis in cultured drug resistant human non-small cell lung cancer cells

In this study, the effect of MAA on drug resistant NSCLC cells was investigated. Two Paclitaxel-resistant NSCLC sub-lines (A549/PTX100 and NCI-H460/PTX100) were developed from A549& NCI-H460 cell lines respectively. The generation of drug resistance phenotype was confirmed by the expression of cell surface MDR-1. Both the drug resistant sub-lines showed distinct morphological alterations. MAA interacted with the cell-surface protein(s) of apparent Mr ~66  kDa and induced apoptosis in both the sub-lines through intrinsic/mitochondrial pathway, involving reduction in mitochondrial trans-membrane potential, up-regulation of Bax, unaltered/decreased expression of Bcl-XL, release of mitochondrial cytochrome c into the cytosol and activation of pro-caspases ( −9&-3). Our findings highlighted the potential of this plant agglutinin to serve as an apoptosis inducing agent in drug resistant NSCLC cells.
Source: Glycoconjugate Journal - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research