The Effect of Psoralen on Reversing GST-π Mediated Multidrug Resistance

Abstract

Objective: Glutathione S-transferase π (GST-π) plays a very important role in resisting to tumor chemotherapy. This study investigates the role of Psoralen in reversing GST-π mediated multidrug resistance (MDR), and the possible mechanism in MCF-7/ADR cells.Methods: We measured the cell viability by CCK-8 assay to evaluate the cytotoxicity and multidrug resistance (MDR) reversal activity of Psoralen. To examine the alteration in targeted gene, RT-PCR was used to detect the expression of GST-π. Western blot was used to analyze the protein level of GST-π. Immunofluorescence method was applied to observe the activation of NF-κB.Results: The intracellular adriamycin drug concentration increased significantly after Psoralen treatment. Compared with those of the control group, Psoralen reduced the expression of GST-π at the mRNA and protein level in treatment group. The NF-κB inhibitor (SN50) can significantly inhibit the expression of GST-π in breast cancer MCF-7/ADR cells.Conclusions: Therefore, NF-κB signaling pathway may be one of the mechanisms of GST-π mediated multidrug resistance. Our results showed that Psoralen was involved in reversing GST-π mediated MDR. GST-π mediated drug resisting mechanism may be related to the NF-κB signaling pathways, and it may be the key factor of downstream in the NF-κB signaling pathways.