[Effect of Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Etoposide-induced Nalm-6 Cell Apoptosis].

Objective: To investigate the effect of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSC) on VP16-induced apoptosis of Nalm-6 cells.
Methods: hUC-MSC were isolated and identified using morphological observation and flow cytometry, then Nalm-6 cells were treated with hUC-MSC with or without VP16. Apoptosis and cell cycle were assayed by FACS. The mRNA levels of apoptosis-related genes BCL-2, BAX and caspase-3 were detected by quantitative RT-PCR, and the protein levels of BCL-2, BAX and caspase-3 were examined by Western blot.
Results: FACS showed that hUC-MSC inhibited the proliferation and decreased apoptosis of Nalm-6 cells resulted from VP16. The quantitative RT-PCR showed that hUC-MSC increased the mRNA expression level of BCL-2 and decreased the expression level of BAX and caspase-3 (P < 0.05). Western blot showed that the protein expression level of BCL-2 increased, and expression level of BAX and caspase-3 decreased in Nalm-6 cells after co-culture with hUC-MSC (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: hUC-MSC may protect Nalm-6 cells from apoptosis induced by VP16 through regulation of BCL-2, BAX and caspase-3.