Effect of fragile histidine triad gene transfection on seusitivity of human colon cancer cell line SW480 to oxuliplatin

Objective To explore the effect of fragile histidine triad gene transfection on sensitiv-ity of human colon cancer cell line SW480 to oxaliplatin. Methods The eukaryotic expression plasmid containing FHIT, pRc/CMV2-FHIT was prepared and purified, and then identified by restrictive enzyme digestion, pRc/CMV2-FHIT was transfected into SW480 cells, and positive cell clones (SW480-FHIT) were selected and amplified. Empty plasmid-transfeeted SW480 cells (SW480-pRc/CMV2) and normal SW480 cells servcd as controls. The expression of FHIT was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). After treatment with oxaliplatin, MTT colorimetric assay was applied to deter-mine the inhibition rate. The apoptosis and cell cycle were analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM). Results After pRc/CMV2-FHIT being transfected into SW480 cells for 96 h, the FHIT mRNA in cells was in-creased. After treatment with oxaliplatin, apoptosis cells were significantly more in FHIT-transfected SW480 cells than in control and blank groups (P<0.05). Oxaliplatin-induced apoptosis could be enhanced by wild FHIT expression. Before and after treatment with oxaliplatin,the rate of cells in G_0/G_1 phase was sta-tistically higher in FHIT-transfected cells than in controls. Conclusion The FHIT gene might be involved in apoptosis and blocks the cell cycle of colon cancer cells. The expression of the wild FHIT gene can in-crease the sensitivity of colon cancer cell line SW480 to oxaliplatin. Key words: Colon carcinoma;  Oxaliplatin;  Histidine;  Gene transfection