West Asia Organization for Cancer Prevention (WAOCP), APOCP's West Asia Chapter. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 1513-7368 22 5 2021 05 01 Evaluation of Apoptotic Gene Expression in Hepatoma Cell Line (HepG2) Following Nisin Treatment 1413 1419 89590 10.31557/APJCP.2021.22.5.1413 EN Nahid Zainodini Immunology of Infectious Diseases Research Center, Research Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Mohammad Reza Hajizadeh Molecular Medicine Research Center, Research Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Mohammad Reza Mirzaei Molecular Medicine Research Center, Research Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran. 0000-0002-6283-5332 Journal Article 2020 11 23 Objective: The present study aims to examine the effects of nisin on the survival and apoptosis of the hepatoma cell line HepG2 and to investigate possible apoptosis pathways activated by nisin. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, viability and apoptosis of the cells were accomplished by the nisin treatment using the MTT assay and Annexin-V-fluorescein/propidium iodide (PI) double staining, respectively. Additionally, the human apoptosis PCR array was performed to determine pathways or genes activated by nisin during possible apoptosis. Results: The results of the present study showed that nisin was able to decrease cell viability (IC50 ~ 40 µg/ml) in a dose-dependent manner and could induce apoptosis in HepG2 cells. PCR data indicated a considerable increase in the expression of genes, such as caspase and BCL2 families, involved in the induction of apoptosis. Conclusions: The data from this study showed that overexpression of genes involved in the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, especially caspase-9 and BID, increased apoptosis in HepG2 cells treated by nisin, compared to the control group. https://journal.waocp.org/article_89590_406a61c9e0ab7211834955b94ab9bd04.pdf