Abstract
英文摘要 Cadmium is a non-essential trace element for plant or animal life, excessive intake may cause severe poisoning to organisms. Previous studies indicated that cadmium affects the polymerization of the cytoskeleton. Because the polymerization of actin filaments is affected by cofilins activity. We focused in this study the effects of cadmium on cofilin activity and the involved signaling pathway in Hek293 cells. We found that cadmium treatment increased cofilin activity and decreased PTEN protein level in HEK293 cells. PTEN is a widely known negative regulator of PI3K pathway. Investigated whether cadmium regulates cofilin activity through PTEN/PI3K pathway. .Addition of PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) also blocked the cadmium-induced cofilin activation. We found that overexpression of PTEN decreased cofilin activity. PI3K and its downstream effectors, including Rho-GTPase and PKD also modulate cofilin activity. Our results established the signal transduction pathway for cadmium-induced cofilin activation.