Effect of nicotine in vitro on expressions of apoptosis-related genes in human lung adenocarcinoma cells by cDNA microarray

AIM: To investigate effect of nicotine on growth of human lung adenocarnoma cells and expressions of apoptosis-related gene. METHODS: Lung adenocarcinoma cell line, SPC-A-1, was cultured in the presence of various concentrations (1-1 000 μg/L) of nicotine for 48 hours. MTT was applied to evaluate effect of nicotine in vitro on growth of SPC-A-1 cell line. After SPC-A-1 cells were treated with 100 μg/L for 48 hours, cDNA expression profile microarray was used to detect the expressions of 451 apoptosis-related genes in SPC-A-1 cell line. RESULTS: Significant proliferation in SPC-A-1 cells treated with nicotine (1-10 μg/L) was observed, but this effect decreased with increase in concentration of nicotine in culture. Growth inhibition rate of 1, 10, 100, 1 000 μg/L of nicotine was 27%, -40%, -40% and -93%. Microarray detection showed that significantly different expressions appeared in 80 of 451 apoptosis-related genes. 29 apoptosis-promoted genes and 26 apoptosis-inhibited genes were up-regulated significantly (CY3/CY5>2.0), and 25 genes were significantly down-regulated (CY3/CY5<0.5). CONCLUSION: Nicotine may promote growth of human lung adenocarcinoma cell through regulating many apoptosis-related gene expressions.