High-intensity focused ultrasound inhibits invasion and metastasis of colon cancer cells by enhancing microRNA-124-mediated suppression of STAT3

Bisdemethoxycurcumin Induces Cell Apoptosis and Inhibits Human Brain Glioblastoma GBM 8401/Luc2 Cell Xenograft Tumor in Subcutaneous Nude Mice In Vivo

Bisdemethoxycurcumin (BDMC) has biological activities, including anticancer effects in vitro; however, its anticancer effects in human glioblastoma (GBM) cells have not been examined yet. This study aimed to evaluate the tumor inhibitory effect and molecular mechanism of BDMC on human GBM 8401/luc2 cells in vitro and in vivo. In vitro studies have shown that BDMC significantly reduced cell viability and induced cell apoptosis in GBM 8401/luc2 cells. Furthermore, BDMC induced apoptosis via inhibited Bcl-2 (anti-apoptotic protein) and increased Bax (pro-apoptotic proteins) and cytochrome c release in GBM 8401/luc2 cells in vitro. Then, twelve BALB/c-nude mice were xenografted with human glioblastoma GBM 8401/luc2 cancer cells subcutaneously, and the xenograft nude mice were treated without and with BDMC (30 and 60 mg/kg of BDMC treatment) every 3 days. GBM 8401/luc2 cell xenografts experiment showed that the growth of the tumors was significantly suppressed by BDMC administration at both doses based on the reduction of tumor size and weights. BDMC did not change the body weight and the H&E histopathology analysis of liver samples, indicating that BDMC did not induce systemic toxicity. Meanwhile, treatment with BDMC up-regulated the expressions of BAX and cleaved caspase-3, while it down-regulated the protein expressions of Bcl-2 and XIAP in the tumor tissues compared with the control group. This study has demonstrated that BDMC presents potent anticancer activity on the human glioblastoma GBM 8401/luc2 cell xenograft model by inducing apoptosis and inhibiting tumor cell proliferation and shows the potential for further development to the anti-GBM cancer drug.

Aloperine inhibits colorectal cancer cell proliferation and metastasis progress via regulating miR-296-5p/STAT3 axis

Anti-tumorous effect of Aloperine (ALO) has been previously found. This study examined the role and the underlying mechanism of ALO in colorectal cancer (CRC). CRC cells were processed by different concentrations of ALO, and subsequently the cell proliferation was detected by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and miR-296-5p expression was determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Moreover, the target gene of miR-296-5p was predicted by TargetScan and confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay. The expressions of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), apoptosis-related proteins and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related markers were measured by Western blot. Clone formation assay, flow cytometry, wound-healing and Transwell assays were respectively employed to detect cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion. ALO inhibited CRC cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. MiR-296-5p was low-expressed in CRC tissues and cells, and ALO promoted miR-296-5p expression. STAT3 was targeted by miR-296-5p. Up-regulation of miR-296-5p and ALO treatment both suppressed STAT3 expression, inhibited CRC cell proliferation, migration, invasion as well as the expressions of Bcl-2 and N-cadherin, but promoted apoptosis and expressions of Bax and E-cadherin, which were all reversed by overexpressed STAT3. ALO inhibited CRC cell proliferation, metastasis and EMT but promoted apoptosis via regulating miR-296-5p/STAT3 axis.

Tumor Suppressive Effects of miR-124 and Its Function in Neuronal Development

MicroRNA-124 (miR-124) is strongly expressed in neurons, and its expression increases as neurons mature. Through DNA methylation in the miR-124 promoter region and adsorption of miR-124 by non-coding RNAs, miR-124 expression is known to be reduced in many cancer cells, especially with high malignancy. Recently, numerous studies have focused on miR-124 due to its promising tumor-suppressive effects; however, the overview of their results is unclear. We surveyed the tumor-suppressive effect of miR-124 in glial cell lineage cancers, which are the most frequently reported cancer types involving miR-124, and in lung, colon, liver, stomach, and breast cancers, which are the top five causes of cancer death. Reportedly, miR-124 not only inhibits proliferation and accelerates apoptosis, but also comprehensively suppresses tumor malignant transformation. Moreover, we found that miR-124 exerts its anti-tumor effects by regulating a wide range of target genes, most notably STAT3 and EZH2. In addition, when compared to the original role of miR-124 in neuronal development, we found that the miR-124 target genes that contribute to neuronal maturation share similarities with genes that cause cancer cell metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. We believe that the two apparently unrelated fields, cancer and neuronal development, can bring new discoveries to each other through the study of miR-124.

AKT2 drives cancer progression and is negatively modulated by miR-124 in human lung adenocarcinoma

BACKGROUND

AKT2 is highly expressed in many human cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Accumulating evidence has also revealed that AKT2 can promote NSCLC cell proliferation and metastasis. However, the involved mechanism remains unclear. Herein, our study mainly explored the function of AKT2 during cancer progression and uncovered a new post-transcriptional mechanism of AKT2 expression in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD).

METHODS

Quantitative real-time (qRT-PCR), western blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC) assays were performed to detect the expression of AKT2 and other proteins. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), colony formation and EdU assays were performed to assess cell proliferation. Flow cytometry analysis was used to detect changes in the cell cycle and apoptosis. Transwell assays were used to evaluate cell migration and invasion. Additionally, a luciferase reporter assay and western blotting were employed to assess miR-124 targeting of AKT2. Xenograft mouse model was used to observe the role of miR-124/AKT2 axis on the occurrence and development of LUAD.

RESULTS

We showed that AKT2 was highly expressed in NSCLC tissues and closely related to the poor prognosis of LUAD patients. Moreover, AKT2 affected LUAD cell proliferation, migration and invasion by regulating the cell cycle and promoting the occurrence of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). In addition, we demonstrated that miR-124 overexpression downregulated AKT2 expression by binding to the 3'-untranslated region (3'- UTR) of AKT2 and thus inhibited the occurrence and development of LUAD in vivo and in vitro.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that miR-124 overexpression can negatively regulate AKT2 and thus inhibit the progression of LUAD. Therefore, the miR-124/AKT2 axis may serve as a potential target for novel therapies for LUAD.

Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound (LOFU)-mediated Acoustic Immune Priming and Ablative Radiation Therapy for in situ Tumor Vaccines

Focal ablative therapies have been primarily used for local tumor ablation. However, they often fail to impact systemic disease. Here we propose the use of low intensity focused ultrasound (LOFU), a noninvasive, nontoxic, conformal therapy, to deliver acoustic stress to the tumor for immune priming. We demonstrate that LOFU significantly induces expression and cell surface localization of heat shock proteins in murine breast (4T1) and prostate adenocarcinoma (TPSA23) cancer cell lines. In vivo LOFU followed by ablative radiation therapy (RT) results in primary tumor cure, upregulation of a cytotoxic immune response and induction of immunological memory by inhibiting secondary tumor growth upon re-challenge with tumor cells. We, therefore, describe a regimen of a combination therapy with noninvasive, acoustic immune priming and ablative radiation therapy to generate an in situ tumor vaccine, induce CD8+ T cells against tumor-associated antigens and provide a viable oncologic treatment option for solid tumors.

The mechanism and tumor inhibitory study of Lagopsis supine ethanol extract on colorectal cancer in nude mice

Background

This study was aimed to determination the tumor inhibitory effect and explore the potential mechanisms of Lagopsis supine ethanol extract (Ls) on colorectal cancer.

Methods

The cell growth inhibition experiment of Ls in colorectal cancer cell lines was determined by MTT method in the time course of 24, 48 and 72 h in four gradient drug concentrations. The protein expression levels of pSTAT3, pJAK2, STAT3, JAK2, Bcl-2 and caspase 3 were measured by Western blot method. The mRNA levels of the downstream genes of STAT3 were detected through semi-quantitative RT PCR. Sixty Balb/c-nude mice were xenograft with HCT116 colorectal cancer cells through subcutaneously. The xenografts were divided into five groups: model group, positive group (capecitabine 300 mg/kg) and three dosages of Ls treated groups (75, 150 and 300 mg/kg). Tumor size and tumor weight were calculated for evaluation the anti-tumor effects. H & E staining and immunohistochemical analysis were used to determine the histopathological changes and the levels of pSTAT3 and pJAK2 in the tumor tissues.

Results

Ls exhibited a significant anti-proliferation effect in HCT116 and SW480 cells in vitro. The protein levels of pSTAT3, pJAK2 and Bcl-2, and the mRNA levels of Bcl-2 and Bak notably reduced with a dose-dependent manner. While the protein levels of caspase 3, and mRNA levels of Bax and caspase-3 remarkably increased in the gradient dosage of Ls in HCT116 cells. HCT116 in vivo xenografts experiment showed that the growth of the tumors significantly inhibited by Ls administration, which with no any significant body weight changes in each experiment group. The histopathology analysis displayed that Ls significantly reduced the inflammatory cells in tumor tissue. Furthermore, Ls also significantly down-regulate the protein levels of pSTAT3 and pJAK2 in the tumor tissues, compared with the model group.

Conclusions

This work shows that Ls inhibited the cell proliferation of colorectal cancer in vitro and significantly reduced the tumor growth in HCT116 xenografts in vivo, which is probably related with the JAK/STAT signal pathway.