Gamma-Tocotrienol Modulated Gene Expression in Senescent Human Diploid Fibroblasts as Revealed by Microarray Analysis

Abstract

The effect ofγ-tocotrienol, a vitamin E isomer, in modulating gene expression in cellular aging of human diploid fibroblasts was studied. Senescent cells at passage 30 were incubated with 70 μM ofγ-tocotrienol for 24 h. Gene expression patterns were evaluated using Sentrix HumanRef-8 Expression BeadChip from Illumina, analysed using GeneSpring GX10 software, and validated using quantitative RT-PCR. A total of 100 genes were differentially expressed (P<0.001) by at least 1.5 fold in response toγ-tocotrienol treatment. Amongst the genes wereIRAK3, SelS, HSPA5, HERPUD1, DNAJB9, SEPR1, C18orf55, ARF4, RINT1, NXT1, CADPS2, COG6, andGLRX5. Significant gene list was further analysed by Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), and the Normalized Enrichment Score (NES) showed that biological processes such as inflammation, protein transport, apoptosis, and cell redox homeostasis were modulated in senescent fibroblasts treated withγ-tocotrienol. These findings revealed thatγ-tocotrienol may prevent cellular aging of human diploid fibroblasts by modulating gene expression.