Chamaejasmine inactivates Akt to trigger apoptosis in human HEp-2 larynx carcinoma cells

hMSCs Migrate under the Chemotaxis of CXCL-13 and Enhance Islet B Cell Activity through p-AKT Signaling Pathway in High-Glucose Environment

As a common clinical chronic disease, the incidence of diabetes is increasing year by year. According to the latest statistics from the International Diabetes Federation, as of 2019, the global prevalence of diabetes has reached 8.3%. This study aims to investigate the effect of CXCL-13 on the migration ability of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and to clarify the specific molecular mechanism of the protective effect of hMSCs on islet B cells. The hMSCs were cultured in high-glucose environment, and the effect of CXCL-13 on the migration ability of hMSCs was determined by Transwell experiment. After coculture of hMSCs and islet B cells, the activity of cells was detected by CCK8 assay, the expression of Ki-67 in cells was detected by RT-PCR, and the expression of P53 was detected by Western blot to investigate the effect of hMSCs on the proliferation and apoptosis of islet B cells. The effect of hMSCs on the function of islet B cells was determined by glucose stimulated insulin secretion experiment. Transwell experiment results showed that CXCL-13 could promote the migration of hMSCs to islet B cells in high-glucose environment. The results of CCK-8 showed that the cell activity in the coculture group was significantly higher than that of the other groups, and RT-PCR showed that the expression of Ki-67 was significantly increased in the coculture group of hMSCs and islet B cells. The results of Western blot showed that the expression of P53 was significantly decreased in the coculture group, and the glucose stimulated insulin secretion test showed that insulin secretion was significantly increased. It was found that after the inhibition of ATK, cell activity was significantly reduced, and apoptosis was significantly increased. Meanwhile, the expression of Ki-67 was inhibited, the expression of P-53 was significantly increased, and insulin secretion was significantly reduced. To sum up, in a high-glucose environment, CXCL-13 effectively promoted the migration of hMSCs, and hMSCs protected the activity and function of islet B cells through Akt signaling pathway.

Neochamaejasmin A Induces Mitochondrial-Mediated Apoptosis in Human Hepatoma Cells via ROS-Dependent Activation of the ERK1/2/JNK Signaling Pathway

The botanical constituents of Stellera chamaejasme Linn. exhibit various pharmacological and medicinal activities. Neochamaejasmin A (NCA), one main active constituent of S. chamaejasme, inhibits cell proliferation and induces cell apoptosis in several types of tumor cells. However, the antitumor effect of NCA on hepatocellular carcinoma cells is still unclear. In this study, NCA (36.9, 73.7, and 147.5 μM) significantly inhibited hepatoblastoma-derived HepG2 cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. Hoechst 33258 staining and flow cytometry showed that apoptotic morphological changes were observed and the apoptotic rate was significantly increased in NCA-treated HepG2 cells, respectively. Additionally, the levels of Bax, cleaved caspase-3, and cytoplasmic cytochrome c were increased, while the level of Bcl-2 was decreased in NCA-treated HepG2 cells when compared with the control group. Moreover, we found that the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level was significantly higher and the mitochondrial membrane potential was remarkably lower in NCA-treated HepG2 cells than in the control group. Further studies demonstrated that the levels of p-JNK and p-ERK1/2 were significantly upregulated in NCA-treated HepG2 cells, and pretreatment with JNK and ERK1/2 inhibitors, SP600125 and PD0325901, respectively, suppressed NCA-induced cell apoptosis of HepG2 cells. In addition, NCA also significantly inhibited human hepatoma BEL-7402 cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis through the ROS-mediated mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. These results implied that NCA induced mitochondrial-mediated cell apoptosis via ROS-dependent activation of the ERK1/2/JNK signaling pathway in HepG2 cells.

Development of Certain Protein Kinase Inhibitors with the Components from Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) have been used in China for more than two thousand years, and some of them have been confirmed to be effective in cancer treatment. Protein kinases play critical roles in control of cell growth, proliferation, migration, survival, and angiogenesis and mediate their biological effects through their catalytic activity. In recent years, numerous protein kinase inhibitors have been developed and are being used clinically. Anticancer TCMs represent a large class of bioactive substances, and some of them display anticancer activity via inhibiting protein kinases to affect the phosphoinositide 3-kinase, serine/threonine-specific protein kinases, pechanistic target of rapamycin (PI3K/AKT/mTOR), P38, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) pathways. In the present article, we comprehensively reviewed several components isolated from anticancer TCMs that exhibited significantly inhibitory activity toward a range of protein kinases. These components, which belong to diverse structural classes, are reviewed herein, based upon the kinases that they inhibit. The prospects and problems in development of the anticancer TCMs are also discussed.

Synthesis of 3,3′-carbonyl-bis(chromones) and their activity as mammalian alkaline phosphatase inhibitors

Hitherto unknown 3,3′-carbonyl-bis(chromones) 8, dimeric chromones bridged by a carbonyl group, were prepared by reaction of chromone-3-carboxylic acid chloride with 3-(dimethylamino)-1-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-2-propen-1-ones 9.

Poly(A)-specific ribonuclease and Nocturnin in squamous cell lung cancer: prognostic value and impact on gene expression

Background

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, mainly due to late diagnosis, poor prognosis and tumor heterogeneity. Thus, the need for biomarkers that will aid classification, treatment and monitoring remains intense and challenging and depends on the better understanding of the tumor pathobiology and underlying mechanisms. The deregulation of gene expression is a hallmark of cancer and a critical parameter is the stability of mRNAs that may lead to increased oncogene and/or decreased tumor suppressor transcript and protein levels. The shortening of mRNA poly(A) tails determines mRNA stability, as it is usually the first step in mRNA degradation, and is catalyzed by deadenylases. Herein, we assess the clinical significance of deadenylases and we study their role on gene expression in squamous cell lung carcinoma (SCC).

Methods

Computational transcriptomic analysis from a publicly available microarray was performed in order to examine the expression of deadenylases in SCC patient samples. Subsequently we employed real-time PCR in clinical samples in order to validate the bioinformatics results regarding the gene expression of deadenylases. Selected deadenylases were silenced in NCI-H520 and Hep2 human cancer cell lines and the effect on gene expression was analyzed with cDNA microarrays.

Results

The in silico analysis revealed that the expression of several deadenylases is altered in SCC. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that four deadenylases, PARN, CNOT6, CNOT7 and NOC, are differentially expressed in our SCC clinical samples. PARN overexpression correlated with younger patient age and CNOT6 overexpression with non-metastatic tumors. Kaplan-Meier analysis suggests that increased levels of PARN and NOC correlate with significantly increased survival. Gene expression analysis upon PARN and NOC silencing in lung cancer cells revealed gene expression deregulation that was functionally enriched for gene ontologies related to cell adhesion, cell junction, muscle contraction and metabolism.

Conclusions

Our results highlight the clinical significance of PARN and NOC on the survival in SCC diagnosed patients. We demonstrate that the enzymes are implicated in important phenotypes pertinent to cancer biology and provide information on their role in the regulation of gene expression in SCC. Overall, our results support an emerging role for deadenylases in SCC and contribute to the understanding of their role in cancer biology.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12943-015-0457-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

SOX2 promotes the migration and invasion of laryngeal cancer cells by induction of MMP-2 via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway

SOX2 is a high mobility group box containing transcription factor that has been reported to be aberrantly overexpressed in various human malignancies, including laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC). However, the potential role of SOX2 in LSCC migration and invasion remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we generated stable transformants of human LSCC cells constitutively overexpressing SOX2 and investigated the effects of SOX2 overexpression on migration and invasion in LSCC cells as well as the possible underlying mechanisms. We found that ectopic overexpression of SOX2 in LSCC cells enhanced their migratory and invasive ability in vitro, accompanied by increased expression and activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2. Meanwhile, SOX2-induced cell migration and invasion were significantly abrogated by a neutralizing anti-MMP-2 antibody or small interfering RNA targeting MMP-2. Furthermore, overexpression of SOX2 induced phosphorylation of Akt and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), which are downstream effectors of the PI3K pathway. Finally, LY294002, an inhibitor of PI3K, also markedly abolished SOX2-induced activation of the Akt/mTOR pathway and increased cell invasion and MMP-2 expression. Taken together, we conclude that SOX2 promotes migration and invasion of laryngeal cancer cells by inducing MMP-2 via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. Our findings suggest that SOX2 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for LSCC.

Chamaejasmine arrests cell cycle, induces apoptosis and inhibits nuclear NF-κB translocation in the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231

In this study, the anticancer activity of chamaejasmine was characterized in the human breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231. Cell viability and cell cycle distribution were determined by MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Western blotting was performed to determine changes in levels of various proteins. Results showed that treatment with chamaejasmine (4–16 μM) inhibited cell proliferation, which correlated with G2/M phase arrest and apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells. Chamaejasmine treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells resulted in induction of WAF1/p21 and KIP1/p27, decrease in cyclins A and cyclins B1. Cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) 2 and cdc2 was also decreased after chamaejasmine treatment. Moreover, inhibition of nuclear translocation, phosphorylation of NF-κB, activation of IKKα and IKKβ, inhibition of phosphorylation and degradation of IκBα were also detected in this work. Our findings suggested that chamaejasmine could be explored as a preventive and perhaps as a chemotherapeutic agent in the management of breast cancer.

Fighting fire with fire: poisonous Chinese herbal medicine for cancer therapy

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Following the known principle of "fighting fire with fire", poisonous Chinese herbal medicine (PCHM) has been historically used in cancer therapies by skilled Chinese practitioners for thousands of years. In fact, most of the marketed natural anti-cancer compounds (e.g., camptothecin derivatives, vinca alkaloids, etc.) are often known in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and recorded as poisonous herbs as well. Inspired by the encouraging precedents, significant researches into the potential of novel anticancer drugs from other PCHM-derived natural products have been ongoing for several years and PCHM is increasingly being recognized as a gathering place for promising anti-cancer drugs. The present review aimed at giving a rational understanding of the toxicity of PCHM and, especially, providing the most recent developments on PCHM-derived anti-cancer compounds.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Information on the toxicity and safety control of PCHM, as well as PCHM-derived anti-cancer compounds, was gathered from the articles, books and monographs published in the past 20 years.

RESULTS

Based on an objective introduction to the CHM toxicity, we clarified the general misconceptions about the safety of CHM and summarized the traditional experiences in dealing with the toxicity. Several PCHM-derived compounds, namely gambogic acid, triptolide, arsenic trioxide, and cantharidin, were selected as representatives, and their traditional usage and mechanism of anti-cancer actions were discussed.

CONCLUSIONS

Natural products derived from PCHM are of extreme importance in devising new drugs and providing unique ideas for the war against cancer. To fully exploit the potential of PCHM in cancer therapy, more attentions are advocated to be focused on their safety evaluation and mechanism exploration.