To analyze the effects of a new unknown
peptide DEF on the growth of
tumor cells, a fused
polypeptide TAT-DV1-DEF was designed and synthesized. The
lung adenocarcinoma cell line GLC-82 treated with TAT- DV1-DEF was analyzed with a cell counting kit 8, and the location of
polypeptides in cells was observed under
laser confocal microscopy. The efficiency of
polypeptide transfection and changes in nuclear morphology were analyzed by flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy, respectively. Finally, the mechanism of
tumor cell growth inhibition was evaluated by Western blotting. We found that TAT-DV1-DEF could significantly inhibit the growth of the
lung adenocarcinoma cell line GLC-82, but not the normal human embryonic kidney cell line HEK-293.
Polypeptides were found to be mostly localized in the cytoplasm and some mitochondria. The efficiency of
polypeptide transfection in the two cell types was approximately 99%. Apoptotic nuclei were observed under fluorescence microscopy upon treatment with
polypeptides and
DAPI staining. Western blot analyses indicated that the
polypeptide inhibition of
tumor cell growth was apoptosis dependent. In the present study, we demonstrated that fused
polypeptides could induce apoptosis of the
lung adenocarcinoma cell line GLC-82, indicating that the new unknown
peptide DEF has antitumor effects.