Effect of Bcl-2 family on apoptosis of salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma cell line ACC-M induced by sulforaphane

Objective To study the effect of sulforaphane(SFN)on expression of Bcl-2family in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma cell line ACC-M,and to evaluate the effect of Bcl-2family on apoptosis of ACC-M cells induced by SFN.Methods After ACC-M cells were treated with 20 or 40μmol/L SFN for desired time,morphology changes of ACC-M cells were observed with inversion phase contrast microscope,Giemsa staining and transmission electron microscope(TEM).Flow cytometry with Annexin-V-FITC/propidium iodide double staining were used to detect the apoptosis rate of ACC-M.After ACC-M cells were treated with 40μmol/L SFN for 4,8,16 and 24hours,the expression of Bax,Bak,Bcl-2and Bcl-xL were detected by Western blot.Results Image data showed that SFN could induce apoptosis of ACC-M cells.Flow cytometry data showed that apoptosis rate was increased with time and concentration of SFN.There were significantly different among each groups(P0.05).Expression of proapoptosis protein Bax and Bak as well as ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 were increased with treating time,whereas that of antiapoptosis protein Bcl-2and Bcl-xL were decreased by treatment with 40μmol/L SFN for 4,8,16 and 24h.There were significantly different among each groups(P0.05).Conclusion SFN could induce apoptosis of ACC-M cells with time-and concentration-dependent manners,and upregulate expressions of Bax and Bak,and down-regulate expressions of Bcl-2and Bcl-xL,which might be the mechanisms for the apoptosis of ACC-M induced by SFN.