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Induction of apoptotic cell death in non‐melanoma skin cancer by interferon‐α
Author(s) -
RodríguezVillanueva Julio,
McDonnell Timothy J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910610119
Subject(s) - apoptosis , programmed cell death , melanoma , interferon , cytokine , cancer research , cell culture , immunology , uvb induced apoptosis , cell , biology , cytotoxic t cell , skin cancer , cell growth , cancer , medicine , in vitro , caspase , biochemistry , genetics
Interferon‐α (IFN‐α) is a cytokine that is effective in the treatment of a variety of cancers, including non‐melanoma skin cancers. The biologic responses of cells to IFN‐α are pleiotropic and include growth suppression and immunomodulation. The potential direct effects of IFN‐α on tumor cell populations are incompletely characterized. Our findings indicate that IFN‐α can directly induce apoptosis (programmed cell death) in sensitive squamous cell skin cancer cell lines. Cell lines resistant to the cytotoxic effects of IFN‐α showed no evidence of apoptosis induction. Transfection of IFN‐α‐sensitive cell lines with a bcl ‐2 expression vector conferred partial resistance to cell death induction by IFN‐α Our results indicate that the clinical efficacy of IFN‐α may, in part, be related to the ability of this cytokine to induce apoptosis. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc .