More Related Gene Pathways to Vincristine-Induced Death Events in a Human T-Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cell Line

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is common in children but rare in adults. Vincristine (VCR) is one of the drugs used at the beginning of treatment. Some genes are resistant to VCR in B-ALL. 

Here, we examined the effect of VCR on gene expression changes in a T-ALL cell line, Jurkat. The MTT method was used to determine the IC50 in Jurkat cells treated with different concentrations of VCR for 48 and 72 hours. Total RNA was isolated from the cells and cDNA was prepared. The Human Cancer Drug Target PCR Array kit was used to evaluate the 84 gene expression changes in Jurkat cells. Protein-protein interaction was analyzed by STRING software.

We identified 66 differentially expressed genes as comparison to untreated cells. The response to VCR-induced apoptotic events was remarkable in the pathways of heat shock protein, topoisomerase, protein kinases, cathepsins and cell cycle. In other pathways, there were resistant genes as well as sensitive genes to VCR treatment. Some proteins like HSP90AA1 and ESR1 had determining associations with other proteins.

The results suggest VCR target genes in T-ALL cells may be beneficial biomarkers for ALL treatment and can be used to select appropriate synergistic drugs for VCR.