Venhar GURBUZ CAN, Tansu KUSAT
Marmara Medical Journal - 2026;39(2):146-150
Objective: Lung cancer represents the second most prevalent form of malignancy on a global scale and is associated with the highest mortality rate of all cancers. The objective of this study is to investigate the gene expression profiles of various cell death pathways in healthy lung cells and lung cancer cells. Furthermore, the study seeks to establish how epigenetically associated genes regulate these pathways. Materials and Methods: The MRC-5 and A549 cell lines were cultivated under the optimal conditions for their growth. The isolation of RNA, the subsequent synthesis of cDNA, and the analysis of quantitative real-time PCR were performed in order to measure the expression levels of EZH2, DNMT1, caspase-3, and GPX4 genes in the cells. Results: The findings of this study indicate an upregulation of the epigenetic regulators DNMT1 and EZH2, as well as the ferroptosis inhibitor GPX4, in A549 lung cancer cells. Concurrently, a decrease in caspase-3 gene expression was observed. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the expression levels of the epigenetic regulators DNMT1 and EZH2 are elevated in lung cancer cells, which is associated with reduced apoptotic signaling, as indicated by decreased caspase-3 expression, and suppression of ferroptosis through increased GPX4 expression.
