ALG-2 knockdown in HeLa cells results in G2/M cell cycle phase accumulation and cell death.

Berit R Høj, Jonas M la Cour, Jens Mollerup, Martin W Berchtold

Copenhagen Biocenter, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Ole Maaløes Vej 5, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.

Biochemical and biophysical research communications 2009 Jan 2

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ALG-2 (apoptosis-linked gene-2 encoded protein) has been shown to be upregulated in a variety of human tumors questioning its previously assumed pro-apoptotic function. The aim of the present study was to obtain insights into the role of ALG-2 in human cancer cells. We show that ALG-2 downregulation induces accumulation of HeLa cells in the G2/M cell cycle phase and increases the amount of early apoptotic and dead cells. Caspase inhibition by the pan-caspase inhibitor zVAD-fmk attenuated the increase in the amount of dead cells following ALG-2 downregulation. Thus, our results indicate that ALG-2 has an anti-apoptotic function in HeLa cells by facilitating the passage through checkpoints in the G2/M cell cycle phase.

Citation

Berit R Høj, Jonas M la Cour, Jens Mollerup, Martin W Berchtold. ALG-2 knockdown in HeLa cells results in G2/M cell cycle phase accumulation and cell death. Biochemical and biophysical research communications. 2009 Jan 2;378(1):145-8