Apoptosis, commonly known as programmed cell death, constantly occurs in humans. In healthy cells, proton pump proteins allow for H<sup>+ </sup>ions to permeate cellular membranes, regulating pH levels. However, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), such as omeprazole, prevent proton movement, resulting in pH regulation limitations. As the cell increases in acidity, apoptosis is induced. In previous studies, omeprazole induced cell death in Jurkat T-Lymphocytes; however, there was no confirmation of whether the cells died through apoptosis, or through necrosis, where the cell bursts. In order to measure the extent of cell death, cytosolic esterase activity was measured by staining cells with Calcein-acetoxymethyl (AM) dye. Jurkat cells were exposed to PPIs omeprazole, dexlansoprazole, and esomeprazole for six-hours, and monitored for 30 hours to measure viability. Doxorubicin, a known chemotherapeutic, was also used as a positive control when testing viability. When imaged using fluorescence microscopy, if cells fluoresced, they were deemed viable, while nonfluorescent cells were deemed necrotic. Preliminary data shows 69.7% viability of cells exposed to 1 µM doxorubicin after 30 hours. Additional data from the PPI drugs will be presented as well as the results of a second set of experiments performed using the same PPIs and exposure methods but stained with Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide (PI) dye to determine the ability of the PPIs to induce apoptosis. Future studies will focus on addressing the optimal concentration of each PPI drug. In the future, PPI drugs could be a novel therapeutic method for cancer treatment.

Apoptosis induction in jurkat T-lymphocytes by proton pump inhibitors

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