Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Impact of Intracellular Glutathione Depletion on Neutral Sphingomyelinase in Human Hepatoma HepG2 cells

Introduction: Incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been increasing dramaticallyandliver cancer is the fifth most common cancer globally. Increasing sphingomyelin (SM) hydrolysis via activation of the cell surface membrane-associated neutral sphingomyelinase (nSMase) has been linked to cel...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tanios, Marie
Format: Thesis
Published: AUC Knowledge Fountain 2021
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613419285250048
access_status_str Open Access
author Tanios, Marie
author_browse Tanios, Marie
author_facet Tanios, Marie
author_sort Tanios, Marie
collection Thesis
description Introduction: Incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been increasing dramaticallyandliver cancer is the fifth most common cancer globally. Increasing sphingomyelin (SM) hydrolysis via activation of the cell surface membrane-associated neutral sphingomyelinase (nSMase) has been linked to cell proliferation and apoptosis. Glutathione (GSH) depletion was reported to mediate induction of apoptosis via nSMase activation. On the other hand, other studies reported that GSH protected cancer cells against apoptosis. We hypothesized that GSH synthesis inhibition with buthioninesulfoximine (BSO) increases HepG2 cell proliferation. Objectives: The aim of the current study wasto investigate the effect of GSH depletion using BSO on HepG2 cell proliferation through evaluating nSMase mRNA expression and enzymaticactivity levels in addition to ceramide content. Methods: nSMase activity was assessed using Amplex red sphingomyelinase fluorescence assay. nSMases mRNA expression was assessed by real-time PCR. Finally, ceramide content was evaluated using ceramide colorimetric assay. Results: Our findings demonstrated that GSH synthesis inhibition using BSO decreases nSMase activity in HepG2 and was not accompanied by ceramide generation. In addition, results show that nSMase 1 and 3 expressions were upregulated, while nSMase 2 was not expressed in HepG2 cells. Furthermore, and despite GSH synthesis inhibition, BSO stimulated HepG2 cellular proliferation possibly through its inhibitory effect on nSMase activity. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that one-third of total nSMase, nSMase 2, is not expressed in HepG2 cells and the activities of the nSMase 1 and 3 are inhibited through BSO treatment, this explains why cellular proliferation was expected despite the high oxidative stress the cells were subjected to. We postulate that ceramide is an important molecule in inducing apoptosis in HepG2 cells; therefore, it is crucial to activate and increase the function of nSMase enzymes.
format Thesis
id oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2666
institution American University in Cairo (Egypt)
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:35:50.652Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher AUC Knowledge Fountain
publisherStr AUC Knowledge Fountain
record_format dspace
source_str AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress
spelling oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-2666 Impact of Intracellular Glutathione Depletion on Neutral Sphingomyelinase in Human Hepatoma HepG2 cells Tanios, Marie Introduction: Incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been increasing dramaticallyandliver cancer is the fifth most common cancer globally. Increasing sphingomyelin (SM) hydrolysis via activation of the cell surface membrane-associated neutral sphingomyelinase (nSMase) has been linked to cell proliferation and apoptosis. Glutathione (GSH) depletion was reported to mediate induction of apoptosis via nSMase activation. On the other hand, other studies reported that GSH protected cancer cells against apoptosis. We hypothesized that GSH synthesis inhibition with buthioninesulfoximine (BSO) increases HepG2 cell proliferation. Objectives: The aim of the current study wasto investigate the effect of GSH depletion using BSO on HepG2 cell proliferation through evaluating nSMase mRNA expression and enzymaticactivity levels in addition to ceramide content. Methods: nSMase activity was assessed using Amplex red sphingomyelinase fluorescence assay. nSMases mRNA expression was assessed by real-time PCR. Finally, ceramide content was evaluated using ceramide colorimetric assay. Results: Our findings demonstrated that GSH synthesis inhibition using BSO decreases nSMase activity in HepG2 and was not accompanied by ceramide generation. In addition, results show that nSMase 1 and 3 expressions were upregulated, while nSMase 2 was not expressed in HepG2 cells. Furthermore, and despite GSH synthesis inhibition, BSO stimulated HepG2 cellular proliferation possibly through its inhibitory effect on nSMase activity. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that one-third of total nSMase, nSMase 2, is not expressed in HepG2 cells and the activities of the nSMase 1 and 3 are inhibited through BSO treatment, this explains why cellular proliferation was expected despite the high oxidative stress the cells were subjected to. We postulate that ceramide is an important molecule in inducing apoptosis in HepG2 cells; therefore, it is crucial to activate and increase the function of nSMase enzymes. 2021-06-15T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1643 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2666/viewcontent/Marie_s_thesis.pdf Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain nSMase GSH BSO Sphingomyelin apoptosis Chemicals and Drugs Enzymes and Coenzymes
spellingShingle nSMase
GSH
BSO
Sphingomyelin
apoptosis
Chemicals and Drugs
Enzymes and Coenzymes
Tanios, Marie
Impact of Intracellular Glutathione Depletion on Neutral Sphingomyelinase in Human Hepatoma HepG2 cells
title Impact of Intracellular Glutathione Depletion on Neutral Sphingomyelinase in Human Hepatoma HepG2 cells
title_full Impact of Intracellular Glutathione Depletion on Neutral Sphingomyelinase in Human Hepatoma HepG2 cells
title_fullStr Impact of Intracellular Glutathione Depletion on Neutral Sphingomyelinase in Human Hepatoma HepG2 cells
title_full_unstemmed Impact of Intracellular Glutathione Depletion on Neutral Sphingomyelinase in Human Hepatoma HepG2 cells
title_short Impact of Intracellular Glutathione Depletion on Neutral Sphingomyelinase in Human Hepatoma HepG2 cells
title_sort impact of intracellular glutathione depletion on neutral sphingomyelinase in human hepatoma hepg2 cells
topic nSMase
GSH
BSO
Sphingomyelin
apoptosis
Chemicals and Drugs
Enzymes and Coenzymes
url https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/1643
https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/2666/viewcontent/Marie_s_thesis.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT taniosmarie impactofintracellularglutathionedepletiononneutralsphingomyelinaseinhumanhepatomahepg2cells