Cisplatin increases nuclear translocation of Nrf2 and promotes autophagy and apoptosis in HeLa human cervical cancer cells

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of cisplatin on the protein expression and nuclear translocation of Nrf2, and on the changes of autophagy and apoptosis in HeLa human cervical cancer cells.

MethodsAfter the HeLa human cervical cancer cells were treated with different concentrations of cisplatin(0, 2.5, 5 and 10 μmol/L), MTT assay was used to detect the cell activity, Transwell assay was used to observe the cell migration ability, mCherry-GFP-LC3B fusion protein adenovirus transfected HeLa cells were applied to observe the autophagy changes, flow cytometry was employed to detect the apoptosis, Western blotting was used to detect the expression of Nrf2 in the cytoplasm and nucleus, and immunofluorescence staining was used to observe the nuclear translocation of Nrf2.

ResultsCompared with the control group, 2.5, 5 and 10 μmol/L cisplatin could inhibit the activity and migration ability of HeLa cells(P < 0.05), and the inhibitory effect increased with the increase of drug concentration(P < 0.05).Compared with the control group, 2.5, 5 and 10 μmol/L cisplatin could promote the expression of LC3B, apoptosis and nuclear translocation of Nrf2 in HeLa cells(P < 0.05), reduce the protein expression level of Nrf2 in the cytoplasm(P < 0.05), and increase the protein expression level of Nrf2 in the nucleus(P < 0.05).

ConclusionsCisplatin promotes autophagy and apoptosis by increasing nuclear translocation of Nrf2 in HeLa human cervical cancer cells, and inhibits cell viability and migration ability.