AB161. Rottlerin-induced autophagy leads to the apoptosis in bladder cancer cells

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of rottlerin on growth inhibition as well as autophagy in EJ cells in vitro. METHODS: Cell viability, measured by MTT assay, apoptosis of cells was stained by annexin V-FITC/PI staining. RESULTS: Cell viability, measured by MTT assay, was suppressed in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner. Moreover, apoptosis of cells was significantly increased with the treatment of rottlerin as indicated by increased annexin V-FITC/PI staining and cell cycle distribution being blocked in G1 phases. Rottlerin treatment also enhanced activation of autophagy with increased expression of LC3-II and appearance of autophagosome. CONCLUSIONS: The increased level of protein LC3-II and autophagosome suggests that autophagy may contribute to apoptosis. In addition, Pro caspase-3, cleaved caspase-3, total PARP, and cleaved-PARP showed no apparent changes in cells treated with rottlerin, which indicates that caspases may not play a key role during the process of apoptosis induced by rottlerin.