Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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GENISTEIN DOES NOT INDUCE CASPASE 2 ACTIVATION IN VITRO ON B16 MELANOMA CELL LINES

CORINA DANCIU1#, ALEXANDRU CARABA2#, FLORINA BOJIN3, CODRUȚA ŞOICA4, GEORGETA MARIA SIMU5, SORINA CIURLEA6*, CAMELIA PEEV1, IOANA MIHAELA CÎTU2, IULIA PÂNZARU7

1.Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2 Eftimie Murgu, 300041, Timisoara, Romania
2.Faculty of Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2 Eftimie Murgu, 300041, Timisoara, Romania
3.Department of Physiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2 Eftimie Murgu, 300041, Timisoara, Romania
4.Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2 Eftimie Murgu, 300041, Timisoara, Romania
5.Department of Physical-Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2 Eftimie Murgu, 300041, Timisoara, Romania
6.Department of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2 Eftimie Murgu, 300041, Timisoara, Romania
7.CF Clinical Hospital Timisoara, Romania

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The phytocompound genistein, a tyrosin protein kinase inhibitor, the aglicon of the heteroside genistin, represents the main compound in the soybean, Glycine max (Fam. Fabaceae). Recent studies have attributed an anticancer potential to this compound due to its pro apoptotic and anti-proliferative effects. Several papers have demonstrated that genistein is an activator of caspase 3, an effector of apoptosis on different cell lines, including murine melanoma cell lines. Few data exist however about the effect of genistein on the initiator caspase 2 expressions on different cell lines. The aim of this study was to determine if B164A5 murine melanoma cell line and its high metastatic derivate B16F10 express caspase 2, an initiator of apoptosis after exposure to different concentrations of genistein. Results have shown that, after exposure to concentrations of genistein within the range 1-150 μM after 72 h of incubation, B164A5 cell line and its high metastatic derivative B16F10 do not express caspase 2. This result leads to the conclusion that genistein induced apoptosis is not mediated through caspase 2 signalling pathway in case of B16 murine melanoma cell lines.