Selective inhibition of dexamethasone-induced apoptosis in rat thymocytes by herbimycin A.

DNA fragmentation and cell death in rat thymocytes induced by dexamethasone were inhibited by herbimycin A but not by the other inhibitors of tyrosine kinase including genistein and tyrphostin. Herbimycin A also prevented the inter-nucleosomal DNA fragmentation induced by dexamethasone. On the contrary, apoptosis induced by DNA topoisomerase inhibitors such as camptothecin and etoposide were not affected by herbimycin A. These results demonstrate that dexamethasone-induced apoptosis is specifically inhibited by herbimycin A.