Apoptosis Induced by Hyperthermia in MCF-7 Cell

Objective To study the apoptosis induced by hyperthermia in human breast cancer cell line MCF-7.Methods MCF-7 cells were heated at different temperatures(41,42,and 43 ℃)respectively for 1 hour,and untreated MCF-7 cells served as the control.The effect of different heat-induced cell apoptosis of MCF-7 was observed with Hoechst-PI dye and MTT analysis.The apoptosis-related protein levels of Bcl-2 and Bax were determined by fluoroimmunoassay.Results The quantity of apoptotic cells was increased significantly when MCF-7 cells were treated at 42 ℃.The expression of Bcl-2 was down-regulated and the expression of Bax was up-regulated.Conclusions Hyperthermia can induce MCF-7 cell to apoptosis through down-regulating the expression of Bcl-2 and up-regulating the expression of Bax.