<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Background: Vitamin E is a potent growth inhibitor of various cancer cell types in vitro and in vivo. The cell death mechanism is believed to be via cell cycle blockage, differentiation, and apoptosis.Objectives: To determine the possible involvement of protein expression of MEK-2 and ERK-2 in the cell death mechanism induced by palm oil γ-tocotrienol and α-tocopherol in human cervical cancer cell line, CaSki cells.Methods: In this study, we tested the effect of γ-tocotrienol and α-tocopherol on the proliferation and apoptosis in CaSki cells. Western blot analysis was used to determine the involvement of MEK-2 and ERK-2 in regulating the cell death mechanism.Results: Gamma-tocotrienol and α-tocopherol efficiently inhibited the proliferation of CaSki cells by 85.2% to 90.8% (p&lt;0.01, n=4) and 10.2% to 39.1% (p&lt;0.01, n=4) beginning at 100 μM and 50 μM, respectively. The possible cell death mechanism induced by both compounds may be due to apoptosis as confirmed by the presence of cellular DNA fragments separated by electrophoresis and enhancement of apoptotic activity. Treatment with γ-tocotrienol at 150 μM markedly decreased the protein expression of MEK-2 and ERK-2 at 12 hours and 18 hours. In contrast, treatment with α-tocopherol at 300μM has no effect on both protein expressions.Conclusion: The transient decreases in the protein expression of MEK-2 and ERK-2 suggested that the anti proliferative effect of γ-tocotrienol might involve alteration of the proliferative signaling cascade.</abstract>

Background: Vitamin E is a potent growth inhibitor of various cancer cell types in vitro and in vivo. The cell death mechanism is believed to be via cell cycle blockage, differentiation, and apoptosis.Objectives: To determine the possible involvement of protein expression of MEK-2 and ERK-2 in the cell death mechanism induced by palm oil γ-tocotrienol and α-tocopherol in human cervical cancer cell line, CaSki cells.Methods: In this study, we tested the effect of γ-tocotrienol and α-tocopherol on the proliferation and apoptosis in CaSki cells. Western blot analysis was used to determine the involvement of MEK-2 and ERK-2 in regulating the cell death mechanism.Results: Gamma-tocotrienol and α-tocopherol efficiently inhibited the proliferation of CaSki cells by 85.2% to 90.8% (p<0.01, n=4) and 10.2% to 39.1% (p<0.01, n=4) beginning at 100 μM and 50 μM, respectively. The possible cell death mechanism induced by both compounds may be due to apoptosis as confirmed by the presence of cellular DNA fragments separated by electrophoresis and enhancement of apoptotic activity. Treatment with γ-tocotrienol at 150 μM markedly decreased the protein expression of MEK-2 and ERK-2 at 12 hours and 18 hours. In contrast, treatment with α-tocopherol at 300μM has no effect on both protein expressions.Conclusion: The transient decreases in the protein expression of MEK-2 and ERK-2 suggested that the anti proliferative effect of γ-tocotrienol might involve alteration of the proliferative signaling cascade.

The anti proliferative effect of palm oil γ-tocotrienol involves alterations in MEK-2 and ERK-2 protein expressions in CaSki cells

Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi Mara, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor,

School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Monash University Malaysia Campus, 46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor,

Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 Kuala Lumpur,

Asian Biomedicine

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Background: Vitamin E is a potent growth inhibitor of various cancer cell types in vitro and in vivo. The cell death mechanism is believed to be via cell cycle...

The anti proliferative effect of palm oil γ-tocotrienol involves alterations in MEK-2 and ERK-2 protein expressions in CaSki cells

Article Category: Original article

Published Online: Feb 04, 2017

Page range: 601 - 609

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0505.080

Keywords
Alpha-tocopherol, anti-proliferation, cervical cancer cell line, MEK-2 and ERK-2 protein expressions, γ-tocotrienol

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The anti proliferative effect of palm oil γ-tocotrienol involves alterations in MEK-2 and ERK-2 protein expressions in CaSki cells

Article Category: Original article

Published Online: Feb 04, 2017

Page range: 601 - 609

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0505.080

KeywordsAlpha-tocopherol, anti-proliferation, cervical cancer cell line, MEK-2 and ERK-2 protein expressions, γ-tocotrienol

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
Alpha-tocopherol, anti-proliferation, cervical cancer cell line, MEK-2 and ERK-2 protein expressions, γ-tocotrienol