Conclusion
TF promoted apoptosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells, the mechanism was unexpectedly involved in inducing autophagy.
Methods
CNE2 cells were used to study the anticancer effect of TF. This study used Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) assay on proliferation and used flow cytometry to detect apoptosis. The protein expression of Bcl-2, Bax, caspase 3, and caspase 9 was detected by Western blot, and autophagy-related proteins were also detected.
Results
TF inhibited proliferation of CNE2 cells, promoted apoptosis, and up-regulated the expression of caspase 3, caspase 9, and Bax, and decreased the level of Bcl-2. Unexpectedly, TF induced autophagy rather than inhibiting autophagy through up-regulating the levels of the autophagy marker light chain 3 (LC3) and Lysosomal-associated membrane protein 1 (LAMP1) and reducing levels of the autophagosome cargo protein p62, and the effect was via the mTOR pathway. Besides, autophagy inhibitor Chloroquine (CQ) suppressed the effect of TF on Bax, Bcl-2 and activation of caspase 3 and caspase 9.