[Effect of external gastrin on apoptosis and expression of bcl-2 gene in gastric cancer cells].

Background & Objective: It has been reported that external gastrin could facilitate the growth of the cells of gastrointestinal carcinomas. However, the modifying effect of gastrin on apoptosis of the gastric carcinoma has not been well appreciated. This study was designed to investigate the modifying effect of gastrin on apoptosis of the stomach cancer cell.

Methods: Flow cytometric analysis (FCM) and immunohistochemical dyeing are used to measure the rates of apoptosis and expression of bcl-2 gene in MKN45 cell line treated with gastrin and its receptor antagonist.

Results: Forty-eight hours later, the percentage of apoptosis cell in gastrin group was 1.39 +/- 0.54%, lower than that in control group (8.58 +/- 0.67%) (P < 0.01), but the expression rate of bcl-2 in gastrin treatment group was 22.3 +/- 5.3% higher than that in control group (P < 0.01). These effects were vanished after combined treatment with proglumide.

Conclusions: External gastrin may restrain the apoptosis of MKN45 cell by inducing the expression of bcl-2 gene, and proglumide can block these effects of gastrin.