Apoptosis induced by troglitazone is both peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ- and ERK-dependent in human non-small lung cancer cells

The role of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR gamma) in cell differentiation, cell-cycle arrest, and apoptosis has attracted increasing attention. We have recently demonstrated that PPAR gamma ligands-troglitazone (TGZ) induced apoptosis in lung cancer cells. In this report, we further studied the role of ERK1/2 in lung cancer cells treated by TGZ. The result demonstrated that TGZ induced PPAR gamma and ERK1/2 accumulation in the nucleus, in which the co-localization of both proteins was found. The activation of ERK1/2 resulted in apoptosis via a mitochondrial pathway. Both PPAR gamma siRNA and U0126, a specific inhibitor of ERK1/2, were able to block these effects of TGZ, suggesting that apoptosis induced by TGZ was PPAR gamma and ERK1/2 dependent. Inhibition of ERK1/2 by U0126 also led to a significant decrease in the level of PPAR gamma, indicating a positive cross-talk between PPAR gamma and ERK1/2 or an auto-regulatory feedback mechanism to amplify the effect of ERK1/2 on cell growth arrest and apoptosis. In addition to ERK1/2, TGZ also activated Akt. Interestingly, inhibition of ERK1/2 prevented the activation of Akt whereas the suppression of Akt had no effect on ERK1/2, suggesting that Akt was not necessary for TGZ-PPAR gamma-ERK pathway. However, the inhibition of Akt promoted the release of cytochrome c, suggesting the activation of Akt may have a negative effect on apoptosis induced by TGZ. In conclusion, our study has demonstrated that TGZ, a synthetic PPAR gamma ligand, induced apoptosis in NCI-H23 lung cancer cells via a mitochondrial pathway and this pathway was PPAR gamma and ERK1/2 dependent.