Regulation of Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway in cancer drug resistance by galectin-1: cellular and molecular implications

Oxidative stress is characterized by the deregulation of the redox state in the cells, which plays a role in the initiation of various types of cancers. The activity of galectin-1 (Gal-1) depends on the cell redox state and the redox state of the microenvironment. Gal-1 expression has been related to many different tumor types, as it plays important roles in several processes involved in cancer progression, such as apoptosis, cell migration, adhesion, and immune response. The erythroid-2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1) signaling pathway is a crucial mechanism involved in both cell survival and cell defense against oxidative stress. In this review, we delve into the cellular and molecular roles played by Gal-1 in the context of oxidative stress onset in cancer cells, particularly focusing on its involvement in activating the Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway. The emerging evidence concerning the anti-apoptotic effect of Gal-1, together with its ability to sustain the activation of the Nrf2 pathway in counteracting oxidative stress, supports the role of Gal-1 in the promotion of tumor cells proliferation, immuno-suppression, and anti-tumor drug resistance, thus highlighting that the inhibition of Gal-1 emerges as a potential strategy for the restraint and regression of tumor progression. Overall, a deeper understanding of the multi-functionality and disease-specific expression profiling of Gal-1 will be crucial for the design and development of novel Gal-1 inhibitors as anticancer agents. Excitingly, although it is still understudied, the ever-growing knowledge of the sophisticated interplay between Gal-1 and Nrf2/Keap1 will enable researchers to gain valuable insights into the underlying causes of carcinogenesis and metastasis.

The role of cytokeratin 19 levels in the determination of endometriosis stages

OBJECTIVE/AIM

Endometrisosis, one of the most common gynecological disease, is characterized by the presence of endometriotic tissue outside of uterine cavity. The development and the validation of a simple blood biomarker specific and sensitive for endometriosis may facilitate the rapid and the accurate diagnosis of the disease and thus early treatment. Cytokeratin expression changes during epithelial differentiation and this expression is important for the modulation and the control of cell cycle regulation, tumor cell motility and apoptosis. Cytokeratin 19 (CK-19) is expressed in most simple epithelial cells and their malignant counterparts. The aim of this study is to investigate serum CK-19 expression levels in patients with endometriosis and to determine the diagnostic role of CK-19 levels in differentiating various stage of endometriosis.

METHODS

Ctytokeratin-19 expression and level were studied in 70 endometriosis patients and 50 volunteers by ELISA and RT-PCR. ROC analysis was performed by comparing all stages with each other and with the control group.

RESULTS

The CK-19 levels were significantly higher in the endometriosis groups than that of the control group by ELISA and RT-PCR. A significant (p < .05) difference was observed in endometriosis patients according to the stages.

CONCLUSION

Based on our data, it suggests that Cytokeratin-19 may have a potential role in the development of endometriosis.

Six potential biomarkers for bladder cancer: key proteins in cell-cycle division and apoptosis pathways

BACKGROUND

The bladder cancer (BC) pathology is caused by both exogenous environmental and endogenous molecular factors. Several genes have been implicated, but the molecular pathogenesis of BC and its subtypes remains debatable. The bioinformatic analysis evaluates high numbers of proteins in a single study, increasing the opportunity to identify possible biomarkers for disorders.

METHODS

The aim of this study is to identify biomarkers for the identification of BC using several bioinformatic analytical tools and methods. BC and normal samples were compared for each probeset with T test in GSE13507 and GSE37817 datasets, and statistical probesets were verified with GSE52519 and E-MTAB-1940 datasets. Differential gene expression, hierarchical clustering, gene ontology enrichment analysis, and heuristic online phenotype prediction algorithm methods were utilized. Statistically significant proteins were assessed in the Human Protein Atlas database. GSE13507 (6271 probesets) and GSE37817 (3267 probesets) data were significant after the extraction of probesets without gene annotation information. Common probesets in both datasets (2888) were further narrowed by analyzing the first 100 upregulated and downregulated probesets in BC samples.

RESULTS

Among the total 400 probesets, 68 were significant for both datasets with similar fold-change values (Pearson r: 0.995). Protein-protein interaction networks demonstrated strong interactions between CCNB1, BUB1B, and AURKB. The HPA database revealed similar protein expression levels for CKAP2L, AURKB, APIP, and LGALS3 both for BC and control samples.

CONCLUSION

This study disclosed six candidate biomarkers for the early diagnosis of BC. It is suggested that these candidate proteins be investigated in a wet lab to identify their functions in BC pathology and possible treatment approaches.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Combined With IFNγ Induce Apoptosis of Breast Cancer Cells Partially Through TRAIL

BACKGROUND

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have gained remarkable attention because of their ability to dualistically regulate tumor growth. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the apoptotic effects of human bone marrow-derived (hBM) MSCs in combination with interferon gamma (IFN-γ) on MCF-7 breast cancer cells, and to determine the cytokines involved in the apoptotic process.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

hBM-MSCs were co-cultured with MCF-7 cells either directly and indirectly for 72 h in-vitro. Levels of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), apoptosis and cytokines were analyzed.

RESULTS

hBM-MSCs increased the apoptosis of MCF-7 cells partially through TRAIL in vitro. IFN-γ enhanced the apoptotic effect of hBM-MSCs (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

hBM-MSCs in combination with IFN-γ might be a suitable therapy for breast cancer.

Expression of miR-373 and its predicted target genes E-cadherin and CD44 in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is a genomically complex disease that is difficult to target, and efforts have been made to identify new treatment strategies and   molecular markers that might stratify patients and individualize options for treatment. miR-373 has diametrically opposed roles in different stages and types of cancers. miR-373 has been suggested to quantitatively control E-cadherin and CD44 expression. We studied the expression of miR-373, E-cadherin and CD44 in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and evaluated the association between the disease and clinical characteristics of patients. Tumor tissues were collected from 24 laryngeal cancer patients. Adjacent normal tissue samples were also obtained as controls. After RNA isolation, we assessed the miR-373, E-cadherin and CD44 levels. As endogenous controls, we used the small RNA U6 and GAPDH TaqMan® to normalize the levels of expression of miR-373, E-cadherin and CD44. The fold change in the expression of the genes in larynx tumor and control tissues was calculated using the 2-ΔΔCT method. miR-373 was significantly upregulated in seventeen tumor samples compared to controls. However, the expression levels of both E-cadherin and CD44 mRNA were found to be significantly downregulated in tumor versus control regions (p=0.026 and p=0.005, respectively). We did not find any significant difference in the expression levels of miR-373, E-cadherin or CD44 and cancer risk factors. miR-373, E-cadherin and CD44 may be involved in the etiopathogenesis of laryngeal cancer. It can be suggested that E-cadherin and CD44 are functional targets of miR-373, but we need further studies to investigate this hypothesis.

Novel type ketone-substituted metallophthalocyanines: synthesis, spectral, structural, computational and anticancer studies

This work reports on the synthesis and characterization of phthalocyanines (M = Cu(ii) (2), Zn(ii) (3) In(iii) (4) and Co(ii) (5)) peripherally tetra-substituted with 1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propan-1-one.