Abstract
Nucleolin is one of the major proteins in AgNORs stained with silver nitrate. In th~ present study, we examined apoptosis-induced alterations of nucleolin and AgNOR proteins in human osteoblastic Saos-2 cells and Mg63 cells. Apoptosis was induced by the treatment with okadaic acid. AgNORs and nucleolin were changed in the localization and disappeared from the nuclei. According to the induction of apoptosis, the intensity of a 110-kDa AgNOR protein was decreased and the 80-kDa band was appeared. Similarly Western blot analysis also revealed that nucleolin was cleaved and the 80-kDa proteins appeared. AgNOR proteins and nucleolin are involved in the cell proliferation. These results suggest that AgNOR proteins and nucleolin are useful markers for not only malignant tumor prognosis but also assessing apoptosis.
