Patterns of microcystin-LR induced alteration of the expression of genes involved in response to DNA damage and apoptosis

Microcystins (MCs) are hepatotoxic cyclic heptapeptides produced by freshwater cyanobacteria. They are inhibitors of serine/threonine protein phosphatases 1A and 2A and are involved in liver tumour promotion. Several recent studies indicated that MCs are genotoxic and may also act as tumour initiators. Based on our previous results showing that microcystin-LR (MCLR) induces DNA damage in HepG2 cells, we have now explored the effect of MCLR on the expression of selected genes known to be involved in the cell response to DNA damage and apoptosis. The HepG2 cells were exposed to non-cytotoxic concentrations (0.01, 0.1 and 1 μg/ml) of MCLR for various periods of time (2–16 h) and the mRNA expression was determined with the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR). We found a significantly elevated expression of tumour suppressor gene p53 and its downstream-regulated genes involved in DNA repair and cell cycle regulation (p21, gadd 45a, mdm2), as well as increased expression of the pro-apoptotic gene bax, but no alterations of the anti-apoptotic bcl-2. Up-regulation of the expression of mdm2, p21 and gadd45a provides strong support for our previous suggestion that MCLR is a genotoxic carcinogen. The increased ratio of expression of bax to that of bcl-2 induced by MCLR suggests that apoptosis in HepG2 cells proceeds via the mitochondrial pathway.