The tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein increases basal cAMP and potentiates
forskolin-induced cAMP accumulation in A549 human airway epithelial cells.
Burvall KM, Palmberg L, Larsson K.
National Institute for Working Life, Stockholm, Sweden. Karin.Burvall@niwl.se
Genistein is often used as an inhibitor of tyrosine kinases. A less studied side
effect of genistein is an inhibition of cyclic AMP-phosphodiesterase (cAMP-PDE)
activity resulting in increased cAMP accumulation. The effect of genistein on
intracellular cAMP-levels, basal and forskolin-induced, was studied in A549
human airway epithelial cells and compared with the unspecific PDE inhibitor,
isobutylmethylxanthine (IBMX). It was shown that genistein (50 microM) increased
basal cAMP and potentiated forskolin-induced cAMP accumulation to the same
extent as IBMX (100 microM). Thus, the use of genistein in studies on signaling
transductions may result in erroneous conclusions since increased cAMP may cause
or contribute to the observed effects.