Apoptosis of HeLa cell lines incubated with retinol

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the study was to evaluate a soluble form of APO-1/Fas antigen in supernatants from HeLa cell line culture after 24 and 72 h of incubation with selected retinoic acid concentrations. Materials and methods: HPV18-positive cell lines were cultivated with All- trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) at concentrations of 1 × 10 −6 and 1 × 10 −9 M. The cultures were incubated for 24 and 72 h. A control culture with 3 μl of DMSO was incubated under identical conditions. The concentrations of soluble APO-1/Fas antigen in cell culture supernatants were estimated using an ELISA method. Results: The culture with 72-h incubation with retinoic acid proved to be toxic to cells and was excluded from the analysis. The results obtained showed a significantly lower concentrations of soluble APO-1/Fas antigen in supernatants from cell lines incubated with retinol for 24 h than in the controls. Conclusions: The higher concentrations of soluble APO-1/Fas antigen in supernatants from the HeLa cell line without retinol may constitute a protective mechanism of the cells infected with the virus before undergoing Fas/FasL-dependent apoptosis. Lower concentrations of sAPO-1/Fas antigen in the supernatant from HeLa cell culture incubated with retinol may suggest that mechanisms protecting infected cells against Fas/FasL-mediated apoptosis become defective under the influence of retinol. Our studies confirm that Vitamin A and its analogues inhibit the proliferation of cells associated with HPV infection and suggest promising effects of retinoid therapy in inhibiting the progression of early cervical lesions to cancer.