• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제24권3호
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• pp.223-232
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• 2020

Sesamin, a lipid-soluble lignin originally isolated from sesame seeds, which induces cancer cell apoptosis and autophagy. In the present study, has been reported that sesamin induces apoptosis via several pathways in human lung cancer cells. However, whether mitophagy is involved in sesamin induced lung cancer cell apotosis remains unclear. This study, the anticancer activity of sesamin in lung cancer was studied by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and mitophagy. A549 cells were treated with sesamin, and cell viability, migration ability, and cell cycle were assessed using the CCK8 assay, scratch-wound test, and flow cytometry, respectively. ROS levels, mitochondrial membrane potential, and apoptosis were examined by flow cytometric detection of DCFH-DA fluorescence and by using JC-1 and TUNEL assays. The results indicated that sesamin treatment inhibited the cell viability and migration ability of A549 cells and induced G₀/G₁ phase arrest. Furthermore, sesamin induced an increase in ROS levels, a reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential, and apoptosis accompanied by an increase in cleaved caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-9. Additionally, sesamin triggered mitophagy and increased the expression of PINK1 and translocation of Parkin from the cytoplasm to the mitochondria. However, the antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine clearly reduced the oxidative stress and mitophagy induced by sesamin. Furthermore, we found that cyclosporine A (an inhibitor of mitophagy) decreased the inhibitory effect of sesamin on A549 cell viability. Collectively, our data indicate that sesamin exerts lethal effects on lung cancer cells through the induction of ROS-mediated mitophagy and mitochondrial apoptosis.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.173-183
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• 2020

An in vitro model for ischemia/reperfusion injury has not been well-established. We hypothesized that this failure may be caused by serum deprivation, the use of glutamine-containing media, and absence of acidosis. Cell viability of H9c2 cells was significantly decreased by serum deprivation. In this condition, reperfusion damage was not observed even after simulating severe ischemia. However, when cells were cultured under 10% dialyzed FBS, cell viability was less affected compared to cells cultured under serum deprivation and reperfusion damage was observed after hypoxia for 24 h. Reperfusion damage after glucose or glutamine deprivation under hypoxia was not significantly different from that after hypoxia only. However, with both glucose and glutamine deprivation, reperfusion damage was significantly increased. After hypoxia with lactic acidosis, reperfusion damage was comparable with that after hypoxia with glucose and glutamine deprivation. Although high-passage H9c2 cells were more resistant to reperfusion damage than low-passage cells, reperfusion damage was observed especially after hypoxia and acidosis with glucose and glutamine deprivation. Cell death induced by reperfusion after hypoxia with acidosis was not prevented by apoptosis, autophagy, or necroptosis inhibitors, but significantly decreased by ferrostatin-1, a ferroptosis inhibitor, and deferoxamine, an iron chelator. These data suggested that in our SIR model, cell death due to reperfusion injury is likely to occur via ferroptosis, which is related with ischemia/reperfusion-induced cell death in vivo. In conclusion, we established an optimal reperfusion injury model, in which ferroptotic cell death occurred by hypoxia and acidosis with or without glucose/glutamine deprivation under 10% dialyzed FBS.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제39권2호
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• pp.119-128
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• 2016

Angelica polymorpha Maxim root extract (APRE) is a popular herbal medicine used for treating stomachache, abdominal pain, stomach ulcers, and rheumatism; however the effect of APRE on cancer cells has not yet been explored. Here, we examined APRE cytotoxicity seen on target neuroblastoma cells (NB) using cell viability assays, DAPI visualization of fragmented DNA, and Western blotting analysis of candidate signaling pathways involved in proliferation and apoptosis. We demonstrated that APRE reduced cell viability in NB to a greater extent than in fibroblast cells. In addition, we found that APRE could inhibit the three classes of MAPK proteins and could also down-regulate the PI3K/AKT/GSK-$3{\beta}$ activity all being relevant for proliferation and survival. APRE could also up-regulate Bax expression and down-regulate Bcl-2 and Mcl-1. With APRE treatment, depolarization of mitochondria membrane potential and activation of caspase-3 was demonstrated in the SH-SY5Y cells. We could not found increased activity of death receptor and caspase-8 as markers of the extrinsic apoptosis pathway for the APRE treated cells. In presence of a caspase-3 siRNA and a pan-caspase inhibitor, APRE could not reduce the viability of NB cells to a significant degree. So we predicted that with APRE, the intrinsic pathway was solely responsible for inducing apoptosis as we also showed that the non-caspase autophagy pathway or ER stress-ROS mediated pathways were not involved. These findings demonstrate that an intrinsic mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway mediates the apoptotic effects of APRE on SH-SY5Y cells, and that APRE shows promise as a novel agent for neuroblastoma therapy.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.203-207
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• 2009

The target of rapamycin (TOR) signaling pathway conserved from yeast to human plays critical roles in regulation of eukaryotic cell growth. It has been shown that TOR pathway is involved in several cellular processes, including ribosome biogenesis, nutrient response, autophagy and aging. However, due to the functional diversity of TOR pathway, we do not know yet some key effectors of the pathway. To find unknown effectors of TOR signaling pathway, we took advantage of a green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged collection of budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We analyzed protein abundance changes by measuring the GFP fluorescence intensity of 4156 GFP-tagged yeast strains under inhibition of TOR pathway. Our proteomic analysis argues that 83 proteins are decreased whereas 32 proteins are increased by treatment of rapamycin, a specific inhibitor of TOR complex 1 (TORC1). We found that, among the 115 proteins that show significant changes in protein abundance under rapamycin treatment, 37 proteins also show expression changes in the mRNA levels by more than 2-fold under the same condition. We suggest that the 115 proteins indentified in this study may be directly or indirectly involved in TOR signaling and can serve as candidates for further investigation of the effectors of TOR pathway.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제30권12호
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• pp.1876-1884
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• 2020

Ethanol often accumulates during the process of wine fermentation, and mitophagy has critical role in ethanol output. However, the relationship between mitophagy and ethanol stress is still unclear. In this study, the expression of ATG11 and ATG32 genes exposed to ethanol stress was accessed by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The result indicated that ethanol stress induced expression of the ATG11 and ATG32 genes. The colony sizes and the alcohol yield of atg11 and atg32 were also smaller and lower than those of wild type strain under ethanol whereas the mortality of mutants is higher. Furthermore, compared with wild type, the membrane integrity and the mitochondrial membrane potential of atg11 and atg32 exhibited greater damage following ethanol stress. In addition, a greater proportion of mutant cells were arrested at the G1/G0 cell cycle. There was more aggregation of peroxide hydrogen (H2O2) and superoxide anion (O2•-) in mutants. These changes in H2O2 and O2•- in yeasts were altered by reductants or inhibitors of scavenging enzyme by means of regulating the expression of ATG11 and ATG32 genes. Inhibitors of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (mtETC) also increased production of H2O2 and O2•- by enhancing expression of the ATG11 and ATG32 genes. Further results showed that activator or inhibitor of autophagy also activated or inhibited mitophagy by altering production of H2O2 and O2•. Therefore, ethanol stress induces mitophagy which improves yeast the tolerance to ethanol and the level of mitophagy during ethanol stress is regulated by ROS derived from mtETC.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제29권5호
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• pp.506-518
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• 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.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.360-367
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• 2022

Tropomyosin receptor kinase A (TrkA) protein is a receptor tyrosine kinase encoded by the NTRK1 gene. TrkA signaling mediates the proliferation, differentiation, and survival of neurons and other cells following stimulation by its ligand, the nerve growth factor. Chromosomal rearrangements of the NTRK1 gene result in the generation of TrkA fusion protein, which is known to cause deregulation of TrkA signaling. Targeting TrkA activity represents a promising strategy for the treatment of cancers that harbor the TrkA fusion protein. In this study, we evaluated the TrkA-inhibitory activity of the benzoxazole compound KRC-108. KRC-108 inhibited TrkA activity in an in vitro kinase assay, and suppressed the growth of KM12C colon cancer cells harboring an NTRK1 gene fusion. KRC-108 treatment induced cell cycle arrest, apoptotic cell death, and autophagy. KRC-108 suppressed the phosphorylation of downstream signaling molecules of TrkA, including Akt, phospholipase Cγ, and ERK1/2. Furthermore, KRC-108 exhibited antitumor activity in vivo in a KM12C cell xenograft model. These results indicate that KRC-108 may be a promising therapeutic agent for Trk fusion-positive cancers.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.210-221
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• 2022

비스테로이드소염제(NSAID)와 γ-secretase 저해제(DAPT) 또는 SIRT1저해제(MHY2245)의 병용 효과를 인간 대장암(KM12) 및 간암(SNU475) 세포를 대상으로 조사한 결과, celecoxib (CCB) 및 2, 5-dimethyl celecoxib (DMC)를 포함하는 NSAID는 DAPT 또는 MHY2245와의 병용에 의하여 COX-2활성과 상관없이 NSAID의 암세포 증식 억제능이 현저히 증강되었다. DAPT와 MHY2245는 p62단백질 감소와 동시에 Notch1, CD44, CD133, octamer- binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4) 등의 다수의 종양 줄기세포 표지자 및 NICD1 발현 양을 감소시켰지만, activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) 발현은 증강시켰다. 또한 NSAID 단독처리 보다 NSAID/DAPT 및 NSAID/MHY2245 병용 처리에 의하여 오토파지가 촉진되므로서 종양 줄기세포 표지자의 발현 및 단백질양의 감소가 가속화되고, 이에 따라 PARP 활성화 및 세포사멸이 현저히 증강 되었다. 결론적으로 NSAID/DAPT 및 NSAID/MHY2245의 병용 투여는 종양 줄기세포 표지자를 발현하는 인간 암세포의 증식 억제 및 제거에 효과적인 처리방법으로, 임상에 적용시킬 수 있는 학문적 근거로서 제공 될 수 있다.