Cell death in HeLa cells upon imperatorin and cisplatin treatment

There is growing evidence that commonly applied chemotherapy regimens can be improved by introducing new, specific, active and low side-effect drugs, or by combining substances to obtain the required clinical effect. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of imperatorin and cisplatin, applied separately or in combination, on apoptosis, necrosis and autophagy induction in the human cervical carcinoma cell line (HeLa). Imperatorin appeared to be a potent autophagy inducer, rather than a necrotic or apoptotic one. In contrast, cisplatin induced mainly apoptosis and necrosis after 6 h and 24 h, while longer incubation resulted only in necrosis induction. When HeLa cells were incubated with both drugs, autophagy appeared most frequently, although to a smaller extent than that observed after imperatorin administered alone. At the molecular level, autophagy was correlated with the presence of the cleaved form of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain LC3-LC3II. It was also accompanied by the inhibition of heat shock proteins Hsp27 and Hsp72 expression. Our results indicate that imperatorin alone, or in combination with cisplatin, is mainly an autopahgy inducer in HeLa cells. (Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica 2012, Vol. 50, No. 3, 381-391)