Recombinant immunotoxin anti-c-Met/PE38KDEL inhibits proliferation and promotes apoptosis of gastric cancer cells

Background: our study aims to evaluate the anti-growth effects of recombinant immunotoxin (it) anti-c-met/pe38kdel on gastric cancer cells,and its mechnisms. methods. gastric cancer cells were treated with increasing doses of it and c-met protein was quantified by western blotting. cell proliferation was determined by cell counting kit-8 assay (cck). [ 3h]-leucine incorporation assay was used to evaluate it inhibition of protein synthesis. cell apoptosis was quantified by flow cytometry. caspase activities were measured using colorimetric protease assays. results: cell growth and protein synthesis of the gastric cancer cell lines were suppressed by it in a dose- and time-dependent manner. it also induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. the apoptosis rates of gastric cancer cell lines mkn-45 and sgc7901 were 19.19% and 27.37%,respectively when treated with 50 ng/ml of it. there were significant increase ofcaspase-3 activity at 24 hr of it treatment (100 ng/ml) (p < 0.01) in these gastric cancer cell lines. conclusions: it anti-c-met/pe38kdel has anti-growth effects on the gastric cancer cell lines in vitro,and it provides an experimental basis for c-met-targeted therapy towards in vivo testing. © 2011 wei et al; licensee biomed central ltd.