Preliminary study of the in vitro growth inhibition of human bladder cancer cell line BIU-87 by arsenic trioxide

Summary

To study the effects of arsenic trioxide (As₂O₃) on the in vitro growth of human bladder cancer cells and the mechanisms. The growth inhibition rates of human bladder cancer cell line BIU87 by various concentrations of As₂O₃ were detected by using MTT method. Cell apoptosis was detected by in situ terminally labeled transferase technique and bcl-2 gene expression of BIU-87 cells was observed by SABC immunohistochemical method. The results showed that As₂O₃ could inhibit the growth of BIU-87 effectively in a dose-dependent manner. After drug’s action, the apoptotic bladder cancer cells were obviously increased, which depended on the prolongation of the action time and Bcl-2 expression of BIU-87 cells was decreased significantly. It was suggested that As₂O₃ could significantly inhibit the growth of bladder human cancer cells. Inducing cell apoptosis by down-regulating the expression of bcl-2 gene might be one of its action mechanisms.