Mechanism of apoptosis induced by cisplatin and VP-16 in PANC-1 cells.

Cisplatin and VP-16 were used to study the induction of apoptosis in Panc-1 cells. Cisplatin and VP-16 inhibited the growth of Panc-1 cells. After 2 hours exposure to cisplatin or VP-16, attached and detached cells were subjected to TUNEL staining to calculate the ratio of apoptosis. In detached cells TUNEL positive ratios increased in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In Western blotting, Bax expression was obviously up-regulated, but Bcl-2 remained almost constant. The results suggested that in Panc-1 cells cisplatin and VP-16 induced apoptotic cell death which was mediated through the interaction of Bax expression in the presence of mutated p53.