본 연구에서 봉독의 apoptosis 유도에 의한 항암기전 효능을 A549 인체폐암세포를 대상으로 조사하였으며, apoptosis 유발에 관여할 것으로 예상되는 중요한 유전자들의 발현 및 활성에 미치는 봉독의 영향을 조사하였다. A549 세포의 생존율은 봉독의 처리 농도 증가에 따라 강력하게 억제되었으며, 이는 염색질 응축 현상을 동반한 apoptosis 유발에 의한 것임을 알 수 있었다. 봉독 처리에 의한 apoptosis 유발은 Bax 및 Bcl-xL의 발현 변화 없이 Bcl-2의 발현 감소에 따른 상대적인 Bax의 발현 증가와 IAP family에 속하는 인자들의 발현 감소 및 caspase의 활성화와 연관성이 있었다.
Bee venom is used to treat inflammatory diseases in Korean traditional medicine and has been known to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in bee venom-induced apoptosis are still uncharacterized in human lung cancer cells. In the present study, we investigated the effects of bee venom on the apoptosis of A549 human lung epithelial cancer cells. Treatment of bee venom inhibited the cell viability and induced apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner as measured by hemocytometer counts, fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry analysis. Bee venom-induced apoptosis in A549 cells was associated with a marked inhibition of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expression without significant changes in the levels of Bax and Bcl-xL. Bee venom treatment also inhibited the levels of IAP family members such as cIAP-1 and cIAP-2 and induced the proteolytic activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9. Although further studies are needed, the present results suggest that apoptotic signals evoked by bee vemon in A549 cancer cells may converge caspases activation through a down-regulation of Bcl-2 rather than an up-regulation of Bax. These findings provide important insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of bee vemon in human cancer cells.
