potassium-ascorbyl-tocopheryl-phosphate and Astrocytoma

We investigated the effect of EPC-K1, which is a phosphodiester compound of vitamin E and vitamin C, on NF-kappaB activity in human cultured astrocytoma cells T98G. In TNFalpha-stimulated T98G cells, treatment with EPC-K1 inhibited both DNA binding activity and transactivation of NF-kappaB in a dose-dependent manner, and the suppressive effect of EPC-K1 was stronger than either that of vitamin E or vitamin C. Moreover, we showed that in TNFalpha-stimulated T98G cells treatment with EPC-K1 repressed NF-kappaB-dependent activation of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 promoter. In contrast, TNFalpha-induced activation of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 promoter was not completely inhibited by either treatment with vitamin E or vitamin C. We, thus, suggest that EPC-K1 is considered to be one of the inhibitory agents of NF-kappaB.

Topics: Antioxidants; Ascorbic Acid; Astrocytoma; DNA, Viral; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Free Radical Scavengers; Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; Genes, Reporter; HIV-1; Humans; NF-kappa B; Plasmids; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Transcription, Genetic; Transfection; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; Vitamin E