Doxorubicin （Dox） is a major anticancer chemotherapeutic agent. However, it causes cardiomyopathy due to the side effect of cardiomyocyte apoptosis. We have previously reported that angiopoietin-1 significantly reduced myocardial infarction after ischemic injury and protected cardiomyocytes from oxidative stress-induced apoptosis. It is hypothesized that angiopoietin-1 may protect cardiomyocytes from Dox-induced apoptosis. Cardiomyocytes H9C2 were transfected with adenovirus expressing angiopoietin-1 （Ad5-Ang-1） 24 h before the cells were chal- lenged with Dox at a concentration of 2 ~tmol/L. Ad5-GFP served as the vector control. Cardiomyocyte apoptosis was evaluated using Annexin V-FITC staining and caspase-3 and caspase-8 activity was determined by Western blotting. The results showed that Dox treatment significantly induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis as evidenced by the greater number of Annexin V-FITC stained cells and increases in caspase-3 and caspase-8 activity. In contrast, overexpression of angiopoietin-1 significantly prevented Dox-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. To elucidate the mechanisms by which angiopoietin-1 protected cells from Dox-induced apoptosis, we analyzed both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathways. We observed that angiopoietin-1 prevented Dox-induced activation of both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic signaling pathways. Specifically, angiopoietin-1 prevented DOX-induced in- creases in FasL and Bax levels and cleaved caspase-3 and caspase-8 levels in H9C2 cells. In addition, overexpres- sion of angiopoietin-1 also activated the pro-survival phosphoinositide-3 kinase （PI3K）/Akt signaling pathway and decreased Dox-induced nuclear factor-kappaB （NF-~：B） activation. Our data suggest that promoting the expression of angiopoietin-1 could be a potential approach for reducing Dox-induced cardiomyocyte cytoxicity.
Danyang RenQuan ZhuJiantao LiTuanzhu HaXiaohui WanYuehua Li
