Wild-type PTEN gene transfection increases the sensitivity of human ovarian cancer cell line A2780 to paclitaxel

Background and purpose:Loss of PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homology deleted on.chromosome ten) plays an important role in the drug resistance of cancer.This study was designed to evaluate the effect of exogenous wild PTEN gene stable transfection on increasing sensitivity of human ovarian cancer cell line A2780 to paclitaxel. Methods:Wild-type PTEN recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid was constructed and then was transfected into A2780 cells by lipofectamine 2000. The expression of PTEN mRNA and protein were monitored by RT-PCR and Western blot. Proliferation and chemosensitivity of cells to paclitaxel were measured by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium(MTT),and cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry after having been treated with paclitaxel. Empty plasmid-transfected A2780 and normal A2780 cells were used as control (the different there groups were named as WT-PTEN/A2780, GFP/A2780 and A2780).Results:RT-PCR and Western blot showed that A2780 cells express high level of PTEN mRNA and protein after infection with WT-PTEN plasmid; The proliferation rate of WT-PTEN/A2780 cells was obviously slower than those of other groups; the chemosensitivity of A2780 cells to paclitaxel was enhanced after wild-type PTEN gene was transfected into A2780 cells. The apoptotic rates of WT-PTEN/A2780, GFP/A2780 and A2780 cells were (34.55±1.62)%、(13.50±0.94)% and(12.72±0.97)% respectively, the difference was statistically significant (P0.05).Conclusions:Transfection of PTEN could increase the expression of PTEN and increase drug sensitivity to human ovarian cancer cell line A2780 by inducing apoptosis.