Effects of alpha-difluoromethylornithine on the Fas expression and apoptosis in Hep-2 cells.

DFMO is an irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxilase (ODC), the key enzyme in mammalian polyamine biosynthesis, and has been shown to induce apoptosis. In this paper, the relation between the effects of DFMO on the polyamine content, apoptotic index and Fas expression in HEP-2 cells was determined. Fas is a type I membrane protein with a molecular mass of 45 kDa, which mediates apoptosis. The results suggest that the treatment with the polyamine inhibitor DFMO induced the expression of the surface antigen Fas, which could be responsible for trigger apoptosis in these cells.