Protection of 5α-dihydrotestosterone against TGF-β-induced apoptosis in FaO cells and induction of mitosis in HepG2 cells

Administration of TGF-β1 to both FaO and HepG₂ cells significantly induced apoptosis, particularly in FaO cells. Degradation of genomic DNA in FaO cells was rapidly induced by treatment with TGF-β1 (5 ng/ml) for only 4 hr. 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT, 25 nM) alone did not affect any significant changes in cell viability and in nuclei of FaO cells; however, pre-treatment with DHT protected genomic DNA degradation induced by TGF-β1 for 14 hr. Simultaneous treatment with DHT plus TGF-β1 (D + T) inhibited TGF-β-induced apoptosis by approximately 50% in FaO cells. On the other hand, D + T treatment increased mitosis in actively growing HepG₂ cells. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that DHT gives growth advantage to hepatocellular-carcinoma cells by inhibiting TGF-β-induced DNA fragmentation in FaO cells and by inducting mitosis in HepG₂ cells. Int. J. Cancer 72:351–355, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.