Expression and significance of nrf2 and its target genes in pulmonary adenocarcinoma a549 cells resistant to Cisplatin.

Abstract

Nuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a key transcription factor in oxidation-reduction reaction. It has been proved that Nrf2 is relevant to cisplatin-resistance in ovarian cancer cells. Up to now, little is know whether Nrf2 and it's signal patheways play an important role in cisplatin-resistance in pulmonary adenocarcinoma cells or not. The aim of this study is to explore the expression levels of transcription factor Nrf2 and its target genes in A549 cells which are resistance to cisplatin and reveal the mechanism behind it. A549/DDP and A549 were cultured in vitro. MTT was used to detect the drug resistance index of A549/DDP cells. Real-time PCR was used to evaluate the expression of transcription factor Nrf2 and its target genes mRNA. The drug resistance index of A549/DDP was 12.12, and its Keap1, Nrf2, NQO1, GSTP1, GCL, HO-1, MRP4 mRNA expressions were all significantly increased compared with A549 (P<0.01). On the other hand, MRP1, MRP2, MRP3 showd the crosscurrent (P<0.01). It proves that the transcription factor Nrf2 and it's signal pathways are closely related with drug resistance of tumors. Moreover, this provides a new direction to reverse drug resistance and have significance to avoid and overcome drug resistance of tumor.