Effect of C-myc Antisense Oligodeoxynucleotides on Hypoxia-induced Proliferation of Pulmonary Vascular Pericytes

To study the effect of c myc antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) on proliferation of pulmonary vascular pericytes (PC) induced by hypoxia, cell culture, dot hybridization using probe of digoxigenin 11 dUTP labeled cDNA, 3H thymidine incorporation, immunocytochemical technique and image analysis methods were used to observe the effect of c myc antisense ODNs on expression of c myc gene and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and 3H thymidine incorporation of PC induced by hypoxia. The results showed that hypoxia could significantly enhance the expression of c myc and PCNA ( P <0.01), and elevate 3H thymidine incorporation of PC ( P <0.01), but antisense ODNs could significantly inhibit the expression of c myc and PCNA ( P <0.05), and 3H thymidine incorporation of PC ( P <0.01). It was suggested that hypoxia could promote the proliferation of PC by up regulating the expression of c myc gene, but c myc antisense ODNs could inhibit hypoxia induced proliferation of PC by downregulating the expression of c myc gene.