Effects Of Matrine On Epigenetic Events In K562 Cells

Matrine is a major component of Traditional Chinese Medicine Kushen. Our previous study has shown that matrine induces differentiation and apoptosis in human leukemia K562 cells. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the effects remains unclear. DNA methyation, one of epigenetics mechanisms, plays a pivotal role in the abnormal gene expression in tumor cells. RIZ1 is a tumor suppressor gene and it has been reported that the lower expression level of RIZ1 in K562 cells is linked to the hypermethylation of its promoter. Here we investigated the effects of matrine on mRNA expression level of RIZ1 by RT-PCR and DNA demethyaltion of RIZ1 promoter using MSP in K562 cells. We also measured the influence of matrine on global genomic DNA methylation in K562 cells using HPCE and HPLC. In addition, the IGF-I mRNA expression level of downstream of RIZ1 was also detected using RT-PCR.