Autophagy-related gene expression analysis of wild-type and atg5 gene knockout mouse embryonic fibroblast cells treated with polyethylenimine.

The molecular mechanisms of autophagy in polyethylenimine (PEI)-treated cells are not well understood because of the use of nonspecific autophagy inhibitors. Here, we applied autophagy-related gene expression analysis to pinpoint the molecular mechanisms of autophagy in PEI-treated wild-type and atg5 gene knockout (atg5(-/-)) mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells. It was demonstrated that the majority of induced genes are downregulated in wild-type and atg5(-/-) MEF cells, indicating that autophagy exhibits a trend toward downregulation after treatment with PEI. In addition to regulating genes encoding autophagy machinery components, genes related to coregulation of autophagy and apoptosis were induced in wild-type and atg5(-/-) cells treated with PEI. These data indicate that autophagy and apoptosis are closely related in the PEI-induced mechanism of cell death. In the absence of autophagy, the regulation of apoptosis was enhanced in atg5(-/-) MEF cells treated with PEI, indicating that inhibition of autophagy may lead to higher levels of apoptosis. Our study may provide deeper insight into the molecular mechanisms of cell death caused by PEI.