Effect of cytostatic agents on expression levels of human beta-defensins-1-4 in A431 and MCF-7 cell lines

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze an effect of cytostatic agents of different mechanism of action on expression levels of human beta-defensins-1-4 (hBD-1-4) in cultured human cancer cell lines. Materials and Methods: Expression levels of hBD-1-4 mRNA were assessed using qPCR in human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells and human breast adenocarcinoma MCF7 cells treated with cisplatin, methotrexate, doxorubicin or vincristine at the IC20 concentrations. Results: The cytostatic agents with different mechanisms of action affected differently expression of hBDs, dependent on the cell line. Mostly, cytostatic agents suppressed significantly expression of hBDs. In contrast, vincristine caused significant up-regulation of hBD-1 (12 fold, p < 0.05) and hBD-4 (2 fold, p < 0.05) in MCF7, and doxorubicin significantly enhanced expression of hBD-3 (2 fold, p < 0.05) and hBD-4 (> 10 fold, p < 0.05) in A431 cells. Conclusion: The results of this pilot study show that expression levels of hBD-1-4 may be altered upon treatment with cytostatic agents depending on nature of cells.