Objective: To explore the effects of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Serine-threonine kinase (PI3K/Akt) signal pathway on the proliferation of HL-60 cells exposed to benzoquinone (BQ).
Methods: HL60 cells were divided into 3 groups: control group (treated with PBS), BQ group (treated with 3 micromol/L BQ) and LY294002 plus BQ group (treated with 20 micromol/L LY294002 plus 3 micromol/L BQ). The cell proliferation was measured with alamar blue dye assay. Western blot assay was used to detect the expression of p-Akt and Akt proteins and flow cytometer was used to observe the cell cycle.
Results: The cell proliferation rate and the cell proportion in the S, G2 phase of BQ group were 185.00% +/- 30.00%, 48.23% +/- 1.37% and 15.40% +/- 1.21%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those (100.00% +/- 0.00%, 42.47% +/- 0.45% and 5.40% +/- 0.40%) of control group (P<0.05). But the cell proportion rate (36.37% +/- 0.40%) in the G1 phase in BQ group was significantly lower than that (52.13 +/- 0.75%) in control group (P<0.05). The expression level of p-Akt protein in BQ group was significantly higher than that in control group (P<0.05). The cell proliferation rate and the cell proportion in the S, G2 phase of LY294002 plus BQ group were 82.59% +/- 15.00%, 42.03% +/- 0.50% and 3.87% +/- 0.47%, respectively, which were significantly lower than those of BQ group (P<0.05). But the cell proportion rate (54.43% +/- 0.40%) in the G1 phase in LY294002 plus BQ group was significantly higher than that in BQ group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The PI3K/Akt signal pathway may play an important role in the proliferation of HL-60 cells exposed to BQ.