Effects of exogenous IL-18 gene on the proliferation and related gene expression in C6 glioma cells

AIM: To investigate the effects of exogenous IL-18 gene on the proliferative ability and related gene expression in transfected C6 glioma cells.METHODS: The cell cycle distributions and proliferation index of C6/IL-18 and its parental C6 cells were detected by flow cytometry.RT-PCR,immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis were applied to test the mRNA and protein expression of cyclin D1,cyclin B1 and Bcl-2 in C6/IL18 and C6 cells respectively.RESULTS: Compared with C6 cells,C6/IL-18 cells were arrested at G0/G1 phase with fewer G2/M cells.The proliferation index of C6/IL-18 cells was lower than that of C6 cells.At both mRNA and protein levels,the Bcl-2,cyclin B1 and cyclin D1 expression in C6/IL-18 cells were decreased. CONCLUSION: Exogenous IL-18 gene could reduce the proliferative ability of C6 cells by inhibiting the progress of cell cycle and down-regulating the Bcl-2,cyclin B1 and cyclin D1 expressions.