Abstract:

Objective To study the potential antitumor effect of telomerase inhibitors.Methods Human oral squamous carcinoma cell line KB was selected as target cell. The effects of 3′azido3′deoxythymidine （AZT） and human antisense phosphorothioate （ASONS） for telomerase template on KB cell line were investigated. The cytotoxic effect of AZT and ASONS on tumor cells was quantified using MTT colorimetric assay. Assay of \+3 HTdR incorporation was undertaken to measure the cell proliferation. The changes of telomerase activity after treatment was detected and quantified by telomeric repeat amplification protocol （TRAP） semiquantitative analysis. The Flow Cytometry was used to detect apoptosis and measure cell cycle.Results Both AZT and ASONS inhibited the growth of KB cell line in a certain range of concentrations, and meanwhile the telomerase activity was reduced after treatment. In addition, both AZT and ASONS can induce apoptosis and arrest G\-1 phase of cell cycle.Conclusion The results obtained above indicated that AZT and ASONS could be potentially used as an antioral carcinoma agent or an auxiliary treatment for cancer. Those inhibitory effects might be partially due to the induction of apoptosis and the prolongation of cell cycle.

Key words: telomerase, oral squamous carcinoma, anti-oral carcinoma agent, apoptosis