Kv10.1 and p53 expression in SiHa cells during the generation of cisplatin resistance

Abstract

Introduction: Cervical cancer is one of the diseases with the highest incidence in women whose conventional treatment is cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy. Drug resistance is a limiting factor for the success of treatment, which makes it necessary to find biomarkers to demonstrate the development of chemoresistance, such as Kv10.1 and p53 proteins, which are important in tumor models resistant to cisplatin.

Objective: To evaluate the variation in the expression of Kv10.1 and p53 proteins in the SiHa cell line, during the process of generation of resistance to cisplatin.

Methods: SiHa cells were cultured while exposed to different doses of cisplatin and then, total protein extraction was performed and changes in expression were evaluated by dot blot assays.

Results: Significant decrease in Kv10.1 and p53 protein expression was found at doses of 0.05μg/mL and 0.5μg/mL of cisplatin, with morphological changes associated with each dose.

Conclusions: The mechanism of response to cisplatin exposure in the SiHa cell line differs from that reported for other cancer types and no increase in Kv10.1 expression was evident and in contrast its expression was similar to that observed for p53 protein. In addition, Kv10.1 and p53 did not present antagonistic behavior, so that the mechanism of resistance generated by exposure to cisplatin is unrelated to the activity of both proteins.