Overexpression of Bcl-2-associated death inhibits A549 cell growth in vitro and in vivo.

The importance of apoptosis during the process of inhibiting tumorigenesis has been recognized. The role of BH3-only proapoptotic protein Bcl-2-associated death (BAD) in tumor growth remains controversial. The aim of this study was to explore the role of BAD in lung cancer cells. Our study showed that expression of BAD was upregulated in A549 cells by a recombinant lentivirus overexpressing BAD. In vitro, BAD overexpression significantly inhibited A549 cell proliferation and induced apoptosis in cell proliferation and apoptosis assays, respectively. The effect of BAD on A549 cells was studied in tumor xenograft of nude mice and the results showed that the tumor volume in the experimental group was smaller than the control groups. Further, immunohistochemical technique was used to determine the cell proliferation and apoptosis status of the lung tumor xenograft cells. This demonstrated that the in vivo and in vitro results were consistent. Taken together, our results indicate that overexpression of BAD inhibits the growth of A549 cells in vitro and in vivo, through inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis. Thus, BAD could be a potential therapeutic target.