• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.650-657
• /
• 2021

Metformin is an anti-diabetic drug and has anticancer effects on various cancers. Several studies have suggested that metformin reduces cell proliferation and stimulates cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. However, the definitive molecular mechanism of metformin in the pathophysiological signaling in endometrial tumorigenesis and metastasis is not clearly understood. In this study, we examined the effects of metformin on the cell viability and apoptosis of human cervical HeLa and endometrial HEC-1-A and KLE cancer cells. Metformin suppressed cell growth in a dose-dependent manner and dramatically evoked apoptosis in HeLa cervical cancer cells, while apoptotic cell death and growth inhibition were not observed in endometrial (HEC-1-A, KLE) cell lines. Accordingly, the p27 and p21 promoter activities were enhanced while Bcl-2 and IL-6 activities were significantly reduced by metformin treatment. Metformin diminished the phosphorylation of mTOR, p70S6K and 4E-BP1 by accelerating adenosine monophosphate-activated kinase (AMPK) in HeLa cancer cells, but it did not affect other cell lines. To determine why the anti-proliferative effects are observed only in HeLa cells, we examined the expression level of liver kinase B1 (LKB1) since metformin and LKB1 share the same signalling system, and we found that the LKB1 gene is not expressed only in HeLa cancer cells. Consistently, the overexpression of LKB1 in HeLa cancer cells prevented metformin-triggered apoptosis while LKB1 knockdown significantly increased apoptosis in HEC-1-A and KLE cancer cells. Taken together, these findings indicate an underlying biological/physiological molecular function specifically for metformin-triggered apoptosis dependent on the presence of the LKB1 gene in tumorigenesis.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.1154-1158
• /
• 2014

Hsp90 is an ubiquitous molecular chaperone protein, which plays an important role in regulating maturation and stabilization of many oncogenic proteins. Due to its potential to simultaneously disable multiple signaling pathways, Hsp90 represents great promise as a therapeutic target of cancer. In this study, we synthesized flavokawain analogues and evaluated their biological activities against drug-resistant cancer cells. The study indicated that compound 1i impaired the growth of gefitinib-resistant non-small cell lung cancer (H1975), down-regulated the expression of Hsp90 client proteins including EGFR, Her2, Met, Akt and Cdk4, and upregulated the expression of Hsp70. The result strongly suggested that compound 1i inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells through Hsp90 inhibition. Overall, compound 1i could serve as a potential lead compound to overcome the drug resistance in cancer chemotherapy.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
• /
• 2016.03a
• /
• pp.90-95
• /
• 2016

Heat Shock 70kDa Protein 1-Like(HSPA1L)는 Heat-shock protein70(HSP70) family에 속하는 chaperone protein으로 polypeptide folding, assembly, protein degradation 등 다양한 biological processes에 관여하고 있다. HSPA1L은 human methyltransferase-like protein 21A(METTL21A)에 의해 lysine residue에 methylation이 일어나게 되는데, 암세포에서 일반적인 HSPA1L은 주로 세포질에서 발견되는 반면 methylated HSPA1L의 경우 주로 핵에서 발견이 됨으로써 HSPA1L methylation이 암 세포 성장에 중요할 역할을 할 것이라 추측되며 anti-cancer drug target으로 주목 받고 있다. 하지만 현재 HSPA1L의 구조가 부분적으로만 밝혀져 있어 HSPA1L와 METTL21A가 어떤 residue들이 interaction 하여 binding을 하는지에 대해서 아직 밝혀 지지 않았다. 이로 인해 anti-cancer drug target으로서의 연구에 제한이 있다. 이번 연구에서는 homology modeling(Galaxy-TBM, Galaxy-refine)을 통해 HSPA1L 전체 구조를 밝혀 낸 후, HSPA1L 와 METTL21A를 protein-protein docking을 통해 binding pose 예측을 하였다. 이러한 binding pose를 protein interaction analysis하여 HSPA1L과 METTL21A binding에 관여하는 중요 residue들을 밝혀 냈다. 이러한 structural information은 methylated HSPA1L와 암 세포 성장간의 연관성, 더 나아가 anti-cancer drug 개발로 까지도 이어 질 수 있을 것이라 생각한다.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2018.10a
• /
• pp.108-108
• /
• 2018

In this study, we evaluated the anti-cancer effect of extracts of leaves (ST-L) and branches (ST-B) from Sageretia theezans in human colorectal cancer cells. ST-L and ST-B significantly inhibited the proliferation of human colorectal cancer cells, SW480. ST-L and ST-B decreased cyclin D1 protein level through the induction of cyclin D1 proteasomal degradation via $GSK3{\beta}$-dependent threonine-286 phosphorylation of cyclin D1. In addition, ST-L and ST-B increased HO-1 protein through p38, ROS and $GSK3{\beta}$-dependent Nrf2 activation. These findings suggest that ST-L and ST-B may have great potential for the development of anti-cancer drug to treat human colorectal cancer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2013.05a
• /
• pp.667-668
• /
• 2013

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.59 no.2
• /
• pp.145-147
• /
• 2016

Recently, conjugates of medicinal herb-derived bioflavonoids, such as quercetin, and gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have gained attention as targeted drug delivery systems. In the present study, because quercetin is an important flavonoid with anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidant properties, GNP-quercetin complexes (GNPQs) were synthesized to investigate possible adverse effects such as cytotoxicity. We found that while quercetin was cytotoxic, GNPQs were not cytotoxic towards the RAW 264.7 and THP-1 cell lines. Therefore, GNPQs may serve as a potential drug delivery system for cancer treatment.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.113-117
• /
• 2005

Organosulfur compounds have been shown to exert an anti-cancer activity. In an attempt to develop novel chemopreventive and anti-cancer agents for liver cancer, we synthesized allylthiopyridazine derivatives. We have previously shown that allylthiopyridazine derivatives exert inhibitory effects on proliferation, invasion and migration of SK-Hep-1 hepatocarcinoma cells in vitro. The in vivo anti-tumor effect of 3-methvl-6-allylthiopy-ridazine, named as K6, was also reported. In this study, we further investigated the preclinical anti-cancer efficacy of K6 for hepatocarcinoma using nude mice xenografted with Hep-G2 hepatocellular carcinoma cells. K6(20-100 mg/kg, orally administered everyday for 30 days) markedly decreased the tumor volume of Hep-G2 cell-transplanted nude mice as evidenced by ultrasonographic and plethysmogranhic analyses. The inhibitory effect on tumor volume was lower than that exerted by doxorubicin (2 mg/kg), intravenously injected) which was used as a positive control. This study shows that K6 efficiently suppresses xenograft tumor growth, revealing K6 as apotential anti-cancer agent for suppressing in vivo progression of liver cancer. Given that hepatocarcinoma is among the most prevalent and lethal malignancies and there is no effective treatment to date, our study may contribute to the potential drug development for liver cancer.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.178-183
• /
• 2023

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate cytotoxic lymphoid cells that actively prevent neoplastic development, growth, and metastatic dissemination in a process called cancer immunosurveillance. Regulation of the cytotoxic activity of NK cells relies on integrated interactions between inhibitory receptors and numerous activating receptors that act in tandem to eliminate tumor cells efficiently. Conventional chemotherapy is designed to produce an anti-proliferative or cytotoxic effect on early tumor cell division. Therapies designed to kill cancer cells and simultaneously maintain host anti-tumor immunity are attractive strategies for controlling tumor growth. Depending on the drug and dose used, several chemotherapeutic agents cause DNA damage and cancer cell death through apoptosis, immunogenic cell death, or other forms of non-killing (i.e., mitotic catastrophe, senescence, autophagy). Among stress-induced immunostimulatory proteins, changes in the expression levels of NK cell activating and inhibitory ligands and tumor cell death receptors play an important role in the detection and elimination by innate immune effectors including NK cells. Therefore, we will address how these cytotoxic lymphocytes sense and respond to high and low concentrations of drug-induced stress to the drug cisplatin, among the various types of drugs that contribute to their anticancer activity.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.313-321
• /
• 2018

Anti-cancer drug resistance is a major problem in colorectal cancer (CRC) research. Although several studies have revealed the mechanism of cancer drug resistance, molecular targets for chemotherapeutic combinations remain elusive. To address this issue, we focused on the expression of cellular prion protein ($PrP^C$) in 5-FU-resistant CRC cells. In 5-FU-resistant CRC cells, $PrP^C$ expression is significantly increased, compared with that in normal CRC cells. In the presence of 5-FU, $PrP^C$ increased CRC cell survival and proliferation by maintaining the activation of the PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and the expression of cell cycle-associated proteins, including cyclin E, CDK2, cyclin D1, and CDK4. In addition, $PrP^C$ inhibited the activation of the stress-associated proteins p38, JNK, and p53. Moreover, after treatment of 5-FU-resistant CRC cells with 5-FU, silencing of $PrP^C$ triggered apoptosis via the activation of caspase-3. These results indicate that $PrP^C$ plays a key role in CRC drug resistance. The novel strategy of combining chemotherapy with $PrP^C$ targeting may yield efficacious treatments of colorectal cancer.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.29 no.5
• /
• pp.506-518
• /
• 2021

The imprinted tumour suppressor NOEY2 is downregulated in various cancer types, including ovarian cancers. Recent data suggest that NOEY2 plays an essential role in regulating the cell cycle, angiogenesis and autophagy in tumorigenesis. However, its detailed molecular function and mechanisms in ovarian tumours remain unclear. In this report, we initially demonstrated the inhibitory effect of NOEY2 on tumour growth by utilising a xenograft tumour model. NOEY2 attenuated the cell growth approximately fourfold and significantly reduced tumour vascularity. NOEY2 inhibited the phosphorylation of the signalling components downstream of phosphatidylinositol-3'-kinase (PI3K), including phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase 1 (PDK-1), tuberous sclerosis complex 2 (TSC-2) and p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70S6K), during ovarian tumour progression via direct binding to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2). Particularly, the N-terminal domain of NOEY2 (NOEY2-N) had a potent anti-angiogenic activity and dramatically downregulated VEGF and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), key regulators of angiogenesis. Since no X-ray or nuclear magnetic resonance structures is available for NOEY2, we constructed the three-dimensional structure of this protein via molecular modelling methods, such as homology modelling and molecular dynamic simulations. Thereby, Lys15 and Arg16 appeared as key residues in the N-terminal domain. We also found that NOEY2-N acts as a potent inhibitor of tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. These findings provide convincing evidence that NOEY2-N regulates endothelial cell function and angiogenesis by interrupting the VEGFR-2/PDK-1/GSK-3β signal transduction and thus strongly suggest that NOEY2-N might serve as a novel anti-tumour and anti-angiogenic agent against many diseases, including ovarian cancer.