Angiotensin Ⅱ induces apoptosis of HEK293T cells by up-regulating Cyr61 expression

Abstract

To investigate the role of Cyr61 in angiotensin Ⅱ (AngⅡ)-induced functional changes in HEK293 cells and explore the mechanism. Cyr61 knockdown in cultured HEK293T cells was achieved by transfection of the cells with CRISPR/Cas9 KO plasmid. The changes in apoptosis and expression levels of Cyr61 and Bcl-2 in the cells with or without Cyr61 knockdown in response to treatment with 10-7 mol/L AngⅡ for 48 h were analyzed using flow cytometry, qRT-PCR and Western blotting. The cells with Cyr61 knockdown showed significantly decreased expression of Cyr61 protein as compared with the control cells (P < 0.05). AngⅡ treatment for 48 h significantly increased the expression of Cyr61 and lowers the expression of Bcl-2 at both the protein and mRNA levels in HEK293T cells. In HEK293T cells with Cyr61 knockdown, AngⅡ treatment resulted in significantly increased expression of Bcl-2 in HEK293T cells as compared with that of the control group (P < 0.05). AngⅡ treatment caused significantly increased apoptotic rate in HEK293T cells as compared with the cells with Cyr61 knockdown [(26.94 ± 3.73)% vs (3.87 ± 0.83)%, P < 0.05), and the apoptosis rate was significantly lowered to (15.76 ± 1.31)% in HEK293T cells with Cyr61 knockdown following AngⅡ treatment (P < 0.05). The up-regulation of Cyr61 expression is related with AngⅡ-induced injury in HEK293T cells, and down-regulating Cyr61 expression can effectively protect HEK293T cells against AngⅡ-induced injury.