Notch-1 gene silencing promotes phosphorylations of JNK1 and p53 in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells

AIM: To investigate the effect of Notch1 gene silencing on phosphorylations of JNK1 and p53 in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells.METHODS: shRNA-Notch1 eukaryotic expression plasmid was constructed and transfected into MCF-7 cells. The expression of Notch1 and Hes-1 was observed by Western blotting after transfction. Apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane potential were detected by flow cytometry. Western blotting was also used to determine the protein levels of p-JNK1, p-p53, PUMA, NOXA and cleaved caspase-3 after Notch1 silencing was performed in MCF-7 cells.RESULTS: Silencing of Notch1 significantly reduced the expression of Notch1 and Hes-1 in MCF-7 cells (P<0.01). In shNotch1 group, the number of apoptotic cells was much higher (P<0.01) and mitochondrial membrane potential was much lower (P<0.05) than those in shControl group. The protein levels of p-JNK1, p-p53, PUMA, NOXA and cleaved caspase-3 increased obviously after silencing of Notch1 was performed in MCF-7 cells (P<0.05).CONCLUSION: Notch1 silencing induces apoptosis of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells through promoting phosphorylations of JNK1 and p53, and increasing the production of PUMA, NOXA and cleaved caspase-3.