Abstract. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of the Na + /H + exchanger-1 (NHE-1) antisense gene on drugresistant human small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell proliferation and apoptosis. A recombinant NHE-1 antisense gene was transfected into drug-resistant human SCLC H446/CDDP cells. Intracellular pH (pHi) was measured with fluorescence spectrophotometry. Cell proliferation was assayed cytometrically, and expression of the apoptosis gene caspase-3 was assayed using immunohistochemistry. Apoptosis and the cell cycles were imaged using a flow cytometer. pHi decreased significantly in transfected cells compared with control cells transfected with an empty vector (6.86±0.01 and 7.25±0.02, respectively, P<0.01). Cell proliferation began to decrease 48 h after antisense gene transfection, and the expression of the caspase-3 was stronger in transfected cells compared to the control group. The drug resistant exponent was significantly decreased (P<0.01), and there were more cells in G1 in the transfected group compared to the control group (70 and 57%, respectively, P<0.05). The rate of apoptosis in transfected cells was significantly higher than in the control group (12.18±1.86 and 2.37±0.33%, respectively, P<0.01). The NHE-1 antisense gene was able to induce drugresistant human SCLC H446/CDDP cells to become acidified and apoptotic, which could provide a novel therapy for multidrug resistance SCLC.
IntroductionSmall cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a non-resectable and highly metastatic neoplastic disease, accounting for about 20% of all lung cancers (1). It is particularly aggressive and has a poor prognosis, with the 5-year survival rate at diagnosis rarely exceeding 10% (2). SCLC is a chemosensitive and radiosensitive disease; chemotherapy for SCLC typically involves a combination of etoposide, doxorubicin, vincristine, paclitaxel, and platinum-based regimens (3-5). First-line combination chemotherapy (with or without regional radiotherapy) induces a positive response in 70% of patients, with 50% of patients showing complete remission (6,7). However, 90% of these complete remission patients relapse with multidrug resistant tumours, making chemotherapy ineffective (8,9). Multidrug resistance is a serious clinical problem, which often severely limits the effectiveness of cancer chemotherapy (10). Thus, treating SCLC presents a significant clinical challenge.However, an effective way to treat SCLC multi-drug resistance has been reported (11). NHE-1 can directly interact with other regulatory cellular signaling pathways and is a multifaceted regulator of cell migration, proliferation, and cell death (12-14). The Na + /H + exchanger NHE-1 isoform is expressed ubiquitously and plays the crucial role of regulating intracellular pH by catalyzing the exchange of one extracellular sodium ion against one intracellular proton. Maintaining a steady-state intracellular pH during physiological conditions requires the continuous cellular export of acidic equivalents (15,16). Na + /H + exchangers (NHE) are membrane transport...