Cancer Letters 2008-03-08

Kinetin riboside preferentially induces apoptosis by modulating Bcl-2 family proteins and caspase-3 in cancer cells.

Bo-Hwa Choi, Wanil Kim, Qiuxia Chelsia Wang, Dong-Chan Kim, Swee Ngin Tan, Jean Wan Hong Yong, Kyong-Tai Kim, Ho Sup Yoon

Index: Cancer Lett. 261 , 37-45, (2008)

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Abstract

Here, we demonstrate that kinetin riboside (KR), a cytokinin analog, induces apoptosis in HeLa and mouse melanoma B16F-10 cells. KR disrupted the mitochondrial membrane potential and induced the release of cytochrome c and activation of caspase-3. Bad were upregulated while Bcl-2 was down-regulated under KR exposure. A tumor growth in mice was dramatically suppressed by KR. In contrast, human skin fibroblast CCL-116 and bovine primary fibroblast cells show resistances to KR and no significant changes in Bad, Bcl-X(L,) and cleaved PARP were observed. Our data suggest that KR selectively induces apoptosis in cancer cells through the classical mitochondria dependent apoptosis pathway.