The Effect Of Nimesulide On Proliferation And Apoptosis In Bel-7402 Cells

Objectives:To investigate the effect of selective Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, nimesulide, on the proliferation and apoptosis of human hepatocellular carcinoma Bel-7402 cell line.Methods:Bel-7402 cells were treated with various concentrations of nimesulide (50～ 300μM) . The effect of nimesulide on cell proliferation was measured by MTT and apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry (FCM) analysis. The level of COX-2 mRNA, Bcl-2 mRNA and VEGF mRNA were measured by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis (RT-PCR). The expression of COX-2, Bcl-2 and VEGF were measured by western blot.All the detection items in this study were repeated at least 3 times. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software. The data was expressed as mean ± SD and the statistical significance of the differences between control and FTY720-treated cells was determined by a two-tailed Student's t test. The Spearman correlation testwas used to analyze the correlation between reagents' concentrations and inhibition rates. P-value <0.05 was considered as significant.Results:Nimesulide inhibited cell proliferation in Bel-7402 cell in a concentrations-dependent manner. The results of FCM showed that apoptosis of Bel-7402 cells was induced after treated with various concentrations of nimesulide for 48 hours. The rate of apoptosis significantly increased with the higher concentration of nimesulide. Furthermore, the expression of COX-2 mRNA, Bcl-2 mRNA and VEGF mRNA were suppressed and the expression level of COX-2, Bcl-2 and VEGF decreased obviously.Conclusions:Nimesulide significantly inhibits the proliferation and induces apoptosis in Bel-7402. Mechanisms may be involved in suppression of COX-2 expression, and related with down-regulation of Bcl-2 and VEGF expression.