Effect of protein kinase C on human melanoma A375-S2 cell death induced by evodiamine

AimTo study the role of PKC in evodiamine-induced A375-S2 cell death. Methods Ratio of apoptosis induced by evodiamine was determined by TUNEL assay. MTT assay was carried out to assess cytotoxic effect of evodiamine. The influence on expression of ERK, phospho-ERK and Bcl-2 was detected by Western blotting analysis. ResultsTUNEL assay indicated that apoptosis was the type of A375-S2 cell death induced by evodiamine treatment for 24 h. Both staurosporine (inhibitor of PKC) and PD98059 (inhibitor of ERK) cooperated with evodiamine to further induce A375-S2 cell death. Evodiamine inhibited PKC activity, down-regulated the expression of ERK, phospho-ERK and Bcl-2, and staurosporine was capable of augmenting these effects induced by evodiamine. ConclusionPKC lies upstream and exhibits regulatory effect on ERK and Bcl-2 in evodiamine-induced cell death.