Objective: To study the pattern of polymorphism expression of heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70) family in A549 cell line treated with different concentrations of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) and its probable biological effect.
Method: Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) was used for the HSP70 expression analysis.
Results: 2D-PAGE showed that when A549 cells were exposed to different concentrations of BaP (0.1, 1.0, 5.0, 10.0 micromol/L) for 24, 48 h respectively, the HSP72 in A549 gradually declined as BaP concentrations increased [the integral OD (IOD)] for 24 h were: 150.36 +/- 26.03, 98.57 +/- 13.34, 64.92 +/- 15.03, 34.65 +/- 19.10, 32.92 +/- 18.71 respectively, for 48 h: 126.85 +/- 17.41, 106.19 +/- 15.32, 73.64 +/- 21.02, 35.18 +/- 11.95, 16.27 +/- 9.35 respectively), while the IOD of HSP73 did not show any remarkable change (24 h: 102.29 +/- 21.24, 87.71 +/- 18.70, 71.19 +/- 14.08, 71.87 +/- 15.16, 72.78 +/- 17.31 respectively; 48 h: 86.66 +/- 16.86, 75.67 +/- 10.61, 66.83 +/- 12.63, 67.29 +/- 10.26, 91.37 +/- 13.68 respectively).
Conclusion: BaP can inhibit HSP72 expression and with certain dose-effect relationship, but cannot affect HSP73 expression.