Previously, we demonstrated that
inostamycin, an inhibitor of
phosphatidylinositol turnover, caused cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase, inhibiting the expression of
cyclins D1 and E in normal cells. In the present study, we examined the effects of
inostamycin on cell cycle progression and apoptosis in human
small cell lung carcinoma Ms-1 cells. Treatment of exponentially proliferating Ms-1 cells with low concentrations of
inostamycin caused cells to accumulate in the G1 phase. We found that
inostamycin decreased
cyclin D1, and increased
cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors such as p21WAF1 and p27KIP1 in Ms-1 cells. On the other hand, higher concentrations of
inostamycin induced morphological apoptosis and DNA fragmentation in Ms-1 cells without affecting the expression of p53, Bcl-2 and Bax.
Inostamycin-induced apoptosis was suppressed by an inhibitor of
caspase-3, and
a 17 kDa fragment of activated
caspase-3 was detected following
inostamycin treatment. Therefore, caspase-3(-like) would appear to be involved in
inostamycin-induced apoptosis. On the other hand, an inhibitor of caspase-3(-like)
proteases did not affect the inhibitory effect of
inostamycin on
cyclin D1 expression, suggesting that caspase-3(-like)
proteases were not responsible for
inostamycin-induced G1 arrest.