Establishment of a drug-resistant human cervical cancer cell line and research on its drug-resistance

Abstract

Aims: To investigate the differences and international connections between the human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa cells) and the Taxol-resistant HeLa cell line (HeLa/Taxol). Materials and Methods: As parental cells, HeLa cells were cultured in stepwise escalating concentration of Taxol from 0.01 μg/ml (11.7 × 10-9 mol/L) to 0.5 μg/ml (585 × 10-9 mol/L). The drug resistance of HeLa/Taxol cells was detected by methyl-Thiazolyl-Tetrazolium assay. Real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was conducted to detect the messenger RNA levels of drug resistance genes and apoptosis-related genes. The proteins levels were detected through immunofluorescence and Western blot. Results: Compared with parental HeLa cells, HeLa/Taxol with Taxol resistance had the following biological characteristics: first, they had a lower growth velocity; second, the expression of P-glycoprotein and glutathione S-Transferases was significantly increased; Third, the expression of antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 and apoptosis inhibitor protein survivin was prominently increased. Conclusions: The drug-resistance in HeLa/Taxol is mainly associated with the high expression of multidrug resistance genes, antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2, and apoptosis inhibitor protein survivin as an important reason for the failure of chemotherapy of tumor tissue.