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Glutaredoxin 2a, a mitochondrial isoform, plays a protective role in a human cell line under serum deprivation

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Abstract

The roles of mitochondrial glutaredoxin (Grx2a) under serum deprivation were assessed using the human stable HepG2 cell lines overexpressing or down-regulating Grx2a. The Grx2a-overexpressing stable cells displayed enhanced proliferation, decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and caspase-3 activity levels, and increased total GSH level, compared to the vector control cells. These characteristics of the overexpressing stable cells were reversed by down-regulating Grx2a in the same cell line. In the limited serum conditions, the Grx2a-overexpressing stable pcDNA3.0/HA-Grx2a cells exhibited higher cellular viabilities and total GSH level, and showed much lower enhancement in ROS and caspase-3 activity levels than the vector control pcDNA3.0/HA cells. However, the Grx2a-down-regulating stable cells gave rise to diminished cellular viabilities and further decreased total GSH level, and contained significantly higher ROS and caspase-3 activity levels, under serum deprivation than the vector control cells. These results suggest that Grx2a plays proliferative and anti-apoptotic roles under serum deprivation.

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Abbreviations

Grx2a:

Mitochondrial glutaredoxin

GSH:

Glutathione

HED:

2-Hydroxyethyl disulfide

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

RT-PCR:

Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2009-0072536).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Kangwon National University, 192-1 Hyoja-2-dong, Chuncheon, 200-701, Korea

    Su-Jung Kim & Chang-Jin Lim

  2. College of Pharmacy, Sookmyung Women’s University, 52 Hyochangwon-gil, Seoul, 140-742, Korea

    Hyun-Joo Jung

  3. Department of Neurology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, 249-1 Gyomun-dong, Guri-city, 471-701, Korea

    Hojin Choi

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  1. Su-Jung Kim
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Correspondence to Chang-Jin Lim.

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Kim, SJ., Jung, HJ., Choi, H. et al. Glutaredoxin 2a, a mitochondrial isoform, plays a protective role in a human cell line under serum deprivation. Mol Biol Rep 39, 3755–3765 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1152-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-011-1152-0

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