cAMP-Epac Pathway Stimulation Modulate Connexin-43 and MicroRNA-21 Expression in Glioma Cells

introduction: malignant astrocytic gliomas are the most common and lethal brain malignanciesdue to their refractory to the current therapies. nowadays, molecular targeted therapy hasattracted great attention in treatment of glioma. connexin 43 (cx43) and micro ribonucleic acid-21(mir-21) are among molecules that are involved in glioma development and progression.these molecules showed potential to be as target molecules with regard to glioma. some studieshave reported that cyclic adenosine monophosphate (camp) signaling could be effective oncx43 and mir-21 in tissues other than in brain. we investigate possible relationship betweenβ-adrenergic receptor and its newly described downstream, exchange protein directly activatedby camp (epac) signaling pathway and expression of cx43 and mir-21 in low (1321n1) andhigh grade (u87mg) glioma cell lines. methods: we treated cells with β-adrenergic agonist and epac activator with and without adenylcyclase inhibitor. cx43 and mir-21 expression were measured with real-time pcr. results: our data showed that in 1321n1 cells, β-adrenergic-epac pathway stimulation up anddown-regulated cx43 and mir-21 expression respectively. whereas, in u87mg cells theseinterventions had no effect on cx43 and mir-21 expression. discussion: these findings demonstrate that low grade astrocytoma cells have better response toour pharmacological interventions.