CYCLOSPORIN A AFFECTS THE PROLIFERATION PROCESS IN NORMAL HUMAN DERMAL FIBROBLASTS

Cyclosporin A is an immunosuppressant drug that is used not only in solid transplant rejection, but also in moderate and severe forms of psoriasis, pyoderma, lupus or arthritis. Serious side effects of the drug such as skin cancer or gingival hyperplasia probably start with the latent proliferation process. Little is known about the influence of cyclosporin A on molecular signaling in epidermal tissue. Thus, the aim of this study was to estimate the influence of cyclosporin A on the process of proliferation in normal human dermal fibroblasts. Fibroblasts were cultured in a liquid growth medium in standard conditions. Cyclosporin A was added to the culture after the confluence state. Survival and proliferation tests on human dermal fibroblast cells were performed. Total RNA was extracted from fibroblasts, based on which cDNA and cRNA were synthesized. The obtained cRNA was hybridized with the expression microarray HGU-133A_2.0. Statistical analysis of 2734 mRNAs was performed by the use of GeneSpring 13.0 software and only results with p < 0.05 were accepted. Analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc test with Benjamini-Hochberg correction for all three (8, 24, 48 h) culture stages (with and without cyclosporin A) was performed to lower the number of statistically significant results from 679 to 66, and less. Between statistically and biologically significant mRNAs down-regulated were EGRJ, BUBIB, MKI67, CDK1, TTK, E2F8, TPX2, however, the INSIG1, FOSL1, HMOX1 were up-regulated. The experiment data revealed that cyclosporin A up-regulated FOSL1 in the first 24 h, afterwards down-regulating its expression. The HMOX1 gene was up-regulated in the first stage of the experiment (CsA 8 h), however, after the next 16 h of culture time its expression was down-regulated (CsA 24 h), to finally increased in the later time period. The results indicate that cyclosporin A had a significant effect on proliferation in normal human dermal fibroblasts through the changes in the expression of genes related to the cell cycle and transcription regulation process.