The Effects of Lentinan on the Expression Patterns of β-Catenin, Bcl-2, and Bax in Murine Bone Marrow Cells Are Associated with Enhancing Dectin-1.

Abstract

This study was focused on investigating the effect of lentinan (LNT) on the expression patterns of β-catenin, Bcl-2, and Bax in murine bone marrow cells (BMCs). Adult BALB/L mice were divided into four groups (n = 10 for each group) that consisted of normal control adult BALB/L mice (control group) and adult BALB/L mice with intraperitoneal injection of low, medium, and high doses of LNT (LLen, MLen, and HLen, respectively). Cells of bone marrow from adult BALB/L mice were cultured in DMEM medium with or without laminarin (inhibitor of dectin-1) to investigate the role of dectin-1 in the effect of lentinan on the expression profile of β-catenin, Bcl-2, and Bax using western blotting and RT-PCR methods. The ELISA results indicated that the expression profiles of dectin-1 were significantly elevated in BMCs from groups of LLen, MLen, and HLen compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The protein and gene expression profiles of β-catenin and Bax increased significantly in murine BMCs from groups of MLen and HLen compared with the control group or the LLen group (P < 0.05). In contrast, the protein and gene expression levels of Bcl-2 decreased significantly in BMCs from the LLen, MLen, and HLen groups compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the expression profiles of β-catenin, Bcl-2, and Bax reversed with the administration of laminarin (P < 0.05). Taken together, our results identified that the changing expression profiles of β-catenin, Bcl-2, and Bax in murine BMCs are associated with enhancing dectin-1.