Prodigiosin induces apoptosis by acting on mitochondria in human lung cancer cells.

Prodigiosin (PG) is a secondary metabolite, isolated from a culture of Serratia marcescens, which has shown potent cytotoxicity against various human cancer cell lines as well as immunosuppressive activity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of mitochondria in PG-induced apoptosis. Therefore, we evaluated the apoptotic action of PG in GLC4 small cell lung cancer cell line by Hoechst 33342 staining. In these cells, we examined mitochondrial apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) and cytochrome c (cyt c) release to the cytosol in PG time-response studies. These findings suggest that PG induces apoptosis in both caspase-dependent and caspase-independent pathways.