Human TNC Stable Cell Line - U-87 MG

Here, researchers investigated the effects of tendinogen C (TNC) on glioma cell function, paclitaxel chemosensitivity, and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) signaling pathway. Compared to normal human astrocytes, TNC mRNA and protein expression were increased in glioma cells (including U87, LN-229, U251, and T98G cells). In U87 and U251 cells, TNC promoted cell proliferation and inhibited apoptosis. Furthermore, TNC upregulated the expression of PI3K and p-AKT proteins in U87 and U251 cells. Regarding chemosensitivity, TNC improved the relative survival of U251 cells treated with 400 ng/mL and 800 ng/mL paclitaxel. Regarding stemness, TNC increased the number of spheroids formed per 1000 cells, the percentage of CD44+CD133+ cells, and the 1/stem cell frequency (assessed via limiting dilution analysis) in U251 cells. In the rescue experiment, 740 Y-P reduced the effects of TNC on U251 cell proliferation, apoptosis, chemosensitivity to paclitaxel, and stemness. These results indicate that TNC exerts its carcinogenic effect by regulating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, promoting glioma cell proliferation and stemness while inhibiting apoptosis and chemosensitivity to paclitaxel.

In U251 cells, TNC mRNA and protein expression was upregulated in the OE-TNC group compared to the OE-NC group, while it was downregulated in the KD-TNC group compared to the KD-NC group. Similarly, in U87 cells, TNC mRNA and protein expression was increased in the OE-TNC group compared to the OE-NC group, while it was decreased in the KD-TNC group compared to the KD-NC group. These results indicate successful transfection. Further experiments showed that at 48 h and 72 h post-transfection, TNC positively regulated the proliferation of U251 cells (Figure 1a) but negatively regulated apoptosis (Figure 1b, c). Furthermore, at 72 h post-transfection, TNC-overexpressing U87 cells exhibited enhanced proliferation (Figure 1d) and inhibited apoptosis (Figure 1e, f).

Figure 1. Cell proliferation and apoptosis regulated by TNC in glioma cells. (Zhang Q, et al., 2021)