693-698Malachite green (MG) induces DNA damage and
malignant transformation of Syrian hamster embryo (SHE) cells in primary
culture. In the present study, we have studied the role of all the three
isoforms of mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinases i.e. ERK (extracellular
regulated kinase), JNK (JUN- N- terminal kinase) and p38 kinase during
transformation of SHE cells by MG. The results showed that transformed cells
were associated with a decreased expression of phosphoactive ERK and JNK and
increased expression of p38 kinase as evident from the Western blot,
immunofluorescence and flow cytometry studies. Also, a persistent nuclear
localization of p38 kinase was observed in the transformed cells. The present
study indicated that p38 kinase was present at higher levels and seemed to be
associated with transformation, which suggested that inhibitors of p38 kinase
could serve in general as potential agents for selective cancer therapy