Protective effects of Rad23 protein on ultraviolet damage to HeLa cells

Protein Rad23, a nucleotide excision repair factor, mainly involves in repairing the DNA damage from environment, such as UV light. The function of Rad23 protein involved in DNA damage repair from many environmental factors has been studied extensively, but it is not clear from ultraviolet irradiation. To further investigate the photo-protective function of Rad23 protein on HeLa cells damaged from UV light irradiation, firstly, HeLa cells were irradiated by UV light and incubated with the fusion protein of pCold-Rad23, then the cell viability and apoptosis rate were detected by MTT and Hoechst33342/PI fluorescent staining, respectively. The results show that the recombinant Rad23 protein can protect the HeLa cells from UV irradiation, and inhibit the apoptosis of HeLa cell by UV irradiation.