CpG oligonucleotides suppress HepG2 cells-induced Jurkat cell apoptosis via the Fas-FasL-mediated pathway

Objective. to explore the potential role of cpg motif-containing oligonucleotides (cpg-odn) in modulating the expression of fasl in hepg2 and fas in jurkat cells in vitro,and to examine the effect of cpg-odn treatment on the hepg2 cells-mediated jurkat cell apoptosis in vitro. methods. the expressions of fasl in hepg2 and fas in jurkat cells were examined by real time pcr and flow cytometry (fcm). hepg2 and jurkat cells were co-cultured,and the frequency of apoptotic jurkat cells and levels of activated caspase-3 were determined by fcm. results: treatment with cpg-odn down-regulated the expression of fasl in hepg2 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. in addition,treatment with cpg-odn down-regulated the fas mrna transcription and protein expression in jurkat cells. treatment of hepg2 cells or jurkat cells with fasl-neutralizing antibody nok-2 remarkably inhibited the hepg2-medaited jurkat cell apoptosis. pre-treatment of hepg2 or jurkat cells with cpg-odn significantly reduced the frequency of hepg2-mediated apoptotic jurkat cells and inhibited the activation of caspase-3 in jurkat cells in vitro. conclusions: our data indicated that treatment with cpg-odn inhibited the hepg2 cells-mediated jurkat cell apoptosis by modulating the fas/fasl pathway. apparently,cpg-odn treatment may be a potential therapeutic reagent for hcc. © 2011 zheng et al; licensee biomed central ltd.