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Updated: Aug 11, 2026
Long-term Live-cell Imaging to Assess Cell Fate in Response to Paclitaxel
Published on: May 14, 2018
Differential gene expression profiles in paclitaxel-induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human breast cancer
Jin Wang1, Fang-ting He, Chi-hung Tzang
1Applied Research Center for Genomics Technology, Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Aim:
To elucidate the molecular mechanism of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of MCF-7 cells induced by paclitaxel.
Methods:
Flow cytometry was used to determine the cell cycle changes of MCF-7 cells upon paclitaxel treatment. Gene expression profiles of MCF-7 cells induced by paclitaxel were obtained by using cDNA microarrays containing 9984 genes and expressed sequence tags (ESTs).
Results:
Cell cycle analysis showed that 77.8% of cells arrested at G2/M phase and 1.3% of cells underwent apoptosis upon 100 nmol x L(-1) paclitaxel treatment for 24 hours; cDNA microarray results revealed that 27 and 77 genes were differentially expressed upon 12.5 nmol x L(-1) (IC50) and 100 nmol x L(-1) paclitaxel treatment, respectively.
Conclusion:
Paclitaxel stabilized microtubules and caused G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death in a concentration-dependent manner, which is associated with the regulation of selected genes related to microtubule assembly and cytoskeleton, cell cycle regulation, and DNA repair and apoptosis.
