Recombinant soluble TRAIL induces apoptosis of cancer cells

TRAIL is a tumor necrosis factor family member that selectively induces apoptosis of cancer cells but not of normal cells. To develop TRAIL into a potential cancer drug, three different sizes of soluble TRAIL fragments, including sTRAIL(74-281), sTRAIL(95-281) and sTRAIL(101-281), were expressed in E. coli and purified to homogeneity. Apoptosis assays indicated that sTRAIL(95281) and sTRAIL(101-281), but not sTRAIL(74-281), can potently induce apoptosis of various cancer cell lines in 6 h, suggesting that the N-terminal fragment of aa101 has inhibitory effect on TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Moreover, we found that some cancer cells were resistant to TRAIL and the resistant cells could be converted into sensitive cells by treatment with the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide, suggesting that one or more short-lived proteins are responsible for cells' resistance to TRAIL.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000173323300013&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Multidisciplinary SciencesSCI(E)1ARTICLE242073-20774