Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor(LY294002) induces apoptosis of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma in vitro and in vivo

Background: to evaluate whether pi3k/akt pathway could effect on apoptosis and its mechanism in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. methods. the activation of the pi3k/akt and its effect on cne-2z cells in vivo and in vitro was investigated by mtt assay,flow cytometry,western blot,elisa,terminal deoxyribonucleotide transferase-mediated nick-end labeling assays (tunel),and immunohistochemical analyses,using pi3k inhibitor,ly294002. results: the results showed that ly294002 inhibited the phosphorylating of akt (s473),cell proliferation,and induced apoptosis in cne-2z cells. however,our experiment results also demonstrated that apoptosis-induced ly294002 was directly regulated by caspase-9 activation pathway. conclusion: these data suggested that pi3k inhibitor,ly294002,induced apoptosis by caspase-9 activation pathway and might be as a potentially useful target for therapeutic intervention in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. © 2010 jiang et al; licensee biomed central ltd.