Resveratrol-induced autophagy in human U373 glioma cells

Autophagy is an intracellular protein transport process leading to the degradation of organelles and long-lived proteins in eukaryotes. The down-regulation of autophagy observed in cancer cells has been associated with tumor progression. This study investigated autophagy induced by resveratrol, a natural compound, in human glioma cells. Glioma cells were exposed to resveratrol, and the cell growth and autophagic level were evaluated. Resveratrol inhibited growth and induced cell death in U373 glioma cells. When treated with resveratrol, glioma cells stably expressing GFP fused to LC3, recruited more GFP-LC3-labeled autophagosomes, and the percentage of cells with GFP-LC3-labeled autophagosomes increased. Furthermore, in resveratrol-treated glioma cells, pretreatment with P38 or ERK1/2 inhibitors reduced the autophagic level, suggesting that resveratrol-induced autophagy was positively regulated by P38 and the ERK1/2 pathway. The Akt/mTOR pathway was not involved in resveratrol-induced autophagy. Our results suggest that resveratrol has an anticancer effect on glioma cells by inducing autophagy.