[Effect of phenylhexyl isothiocyanate on Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway in Jurkat cell line]

This study was purposed to investigate the effect of phenylhexyl isothiocyanate (PHI) on Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, histone acetylation, histone methylation and cell apoptosis in Jurkat cell line. The viability of Jurkat cells after treatment with PHI was tested by MTT. Apoptotic rate of Jurkat cells was measured by flow cytometry. The levels of Wnt/β-catenin related proteins including β-catenin, TCF, c-myc, and cyclinD1, histone acetylated H3 and H4, histone methylated H3K9 and H3K4 were detected by Western blot. The results showed that PHI inhibited the cell growth and induced apoptosis in Jurkat cells in time-and dose-dependent manners. Its IC50 at 48 h was about 20 µmol/L. Expression of histone acetylated H3, H4 and histone methylated H3k4 increased after exposure to PHI for 3 h, while histone methylated H3K9 decreased. Expression of β-catenin was not changed after exposure to PHI for 3 h, but expression of β-catenin, and its cell cycle-related genes such as TCF, c-myc and cyclinD1 decreased after exposure to PHI for 7 h. It is concluded that PHI regulates acetylation and methylation of histone, inhibits Wnt/β-catenin signal pathway, and is able to induce apoptosis and inhibits growth of Jurkat cells.