Development of efficient adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene delivery system with a phytoactive material for targeting human melanoma cells

We exploited the emerging potential of gene therapy strategies to design a powerful therapeutic system that combines two key components-AAV vector and [6]-gingerol. In this study, we created an AAV2 construct expressing the proapoptotic protein BIM, which uses HSPG as its primary receptor, to target HSPG-overexpressing melanoma cells. This combination treatment showed promising results in vitro, inducing apoptosis in human melanoma cells. This new platform technology will make a significant contribution to numerous therapeutic applications, most notably for melanoma, including overcoming resistance to conventional anticancer therapies.

Giant seaperch iridovirus infection upregulates Bas and Bak expression, leading to apoptotic death of fish cells

The giant seaperch iridovirus (GSIV) induces host cell apoptosis by a poorly-understood process. In this study, GSIV is shown to upregulate the pro-apoptotic death genes Bax and Bak at the middle replication stage, and factors in the grouper fin cell line (GF-1) are shown to modulate this process. Studying the mechanism of cell death, we found that upregulated, de novo-synthesized Bax and Bak proteins formed heterodimers. This up-regulation process correlated with mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) loss, increased caspase-3 activity, and increased apoptotic cell death. All effects were diminished by treatment of infected GF-1 cells with the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide. Interestingly, overexpression of the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-xL also diminished GSIV-induced mitochondria-mediated cell death, increasing host cell viability and decreasing MMP loss at the early replication stage. Our data suggest that GSIV induces GF-1 apoptotic cell death through up-regulation of the pro-apoptotic genes Bax and Bak, which are regulated by Bcl-xL overexpression on mitochondria in GF-1 cells.