Journal
MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOCHEMISTRY
Volume 318, Issue 1-2, Pages 23-31Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s11010-008-9853-y
Keywords
GSH; BSO; Oxidative stress; Nrf2; Chemosensitizer
Categories
Funding
- Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF)
- Korea government [R01-2007-000-10890-0]
- National Research Foundation of Korea [핵C6B3407, R01-2007-000-10890-0] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Pharmacological depletion of L-gamma-glutamyl-L-cysteinyl-glycine (GSH) has been implicated in the sensitization of cancer cells to alkylating agents and apoptosis. However, some types of cells do not induce apoptotic response following chemical depletion of GSH. In the present study, we report that murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) can survive in the presence of GSH inhibitor L-buthionine(S,R)-sulfoximine (BSO), even though most intracellular GSH was depleted. As a cellular adaptive mechanism, BSO treatment effectively activated the NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathway, which led to up-regulation of antioxidant enzymes in these cells through the extracellular signal-regulated kinase cascade. While nrf2-deficient MEFs lost the inducibility of antioxidant genes, which resulted in higher levels of reactive oxygen species accumulation, caspase-3 activation, and cell death than wild-type cells. Finally, nrf2-deficient cells can be more sensitized to doxorubicin-induced cell death by BSO pre-incubation, while wild-type cells were not. In addition, BSO-mediated cell death was facilitated by administering Nrf2 siRNA to chemoresistant human ovarian cancer cells. These results indicate that Nrf2 is the primary factor inducing the cell survival system under GSH depletion and that the effect of BSO as a chemosensitizer might be enhanced by inhibition of Nrf2.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available