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DOI: 10.1055/s-2004-828579
Characterisation of apoptosis inductor and suppressor genes in thermochemotherapy treated Ewing tumor cells
Hyperthermia enhances cytotoxic effects of Melphalan in Ewing tumor cells. In these cells cytotoxicity is mainly mediated by caspase-dependent pathways. Therefore, cDNA expression arrays were performed separately assessing hyperthermia- and Melphalan- induced, as well as the combined stimulation-induced effects. Roughly 200 apoptosis-related genes were analyzed 6hrs after stimulation by each of the 3 above described stimuli and after 6hrs culture in medium only. However, clusters of interest were only those genes, which were significantly up- or down-regulated by each of the 3 conditions compared to the medium control. Of this group of genes, 10 candidates were selected which have been reported to be inducers of apoptosis and were upregulated, like PARP, bax-alpha or CDC2 or signify suppressors of apoptosis and were downregulated, like DRAK2, CD137, CD30 and p21. Results of the confirmatory and functional assays will be presented.
* supported by Deutsche Krebshilfe
§ supported by Elternhilfe für krebskranke Kinder Leipzig e.V and McDonalds Kinderhilfe-Stiftung.