Caspase 8 gene expression highly reduced in atherosclerotic model cells: effect of oxidized low-density lipoprotein.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Apoptosis is one of the programmed cell death pathways. Cysteine protease, Caspase 8 (CASP8), starts apoptosis signaling through the extrinsic apoptotic pathway. Oxidatively modified low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) activates the apoptosis in vascular endothelial cells (VECs). Ox-LDL is a crucial risk factor that ultimately promoted development of atherosclerosis (AS). We purposed to investigated gene expression of CASP8 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) after ox-LDL dose-dependent stimulation. METHODS: We examined CASP8 gene expression level in treated two different dose ox-LDL treated HUVECs and HUVECs without ox-LDL in current research. We made measurement with dye of Symmetrical Cyanine Benzothiazole Green (SYBR Green) utilizing the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) method. RESULTS: When we compared to HUVECs without treatment of ox-LDL, expression of CASP8 was statistically significant down-regulated (P < 0.05) in HUVECs stimulated with ox-LDL. In addition, we supported our gene expression results with permutation analysis of variance (ANOVA). CONCLUSION: Ox-LDL may affect expression of CASP8 therefore apoptosis signaling pathway in VECs. Excessive down-regulation in gene expression of CASP8 in HUVECs stimulated by ox-LDL may show potential role of it in the endothelial cell (EC) apoptosis for AS.