Effect of zinc(II) ions on the expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic factors in high-grade prostate carcinoma cells

Several typical characteristics of prostate tissue have been identified including the ability to accumulate zinc(II). However, this feature of prostate cells is lost during carcinogenesis and, thus, prostate cells are unable to accumulate zinc(II) ions in high levels. Therefore, we can expect that zinc(II) ions can significantly contribute to the progression of tumour disease and to the ability of prostate cell lines to metastasize. In this study, we aimed our attention on determining the expression of Bcl-2, c-Fos, c-Jun, Ki-67, NF-kappa B and p53 genes in two prostate cell lines, as the 22Rv1 cell line, a model of aggressive partially androgen-sensitive prostate cancer and the PNT1A cell line, a normal prostate cell line model. Moreover, we were interested in the mechanisms through which exposure of these cell lines to zinc(II) ions could influence expression of the above-mentioned genes. We found that zinc(II) ions caused elevated expression of Ki-67, a marker of proliferation, extremely low expression of p53, high expression of Bcl-2 and no changes in the expression of p53. Our experimental data show different effect of zinc(II) ions on expression of the above-mentioned regulatory genes, which may give us more information on their impact on cancer development and progression with possible using for cancer therapy.