• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.64-70
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• 2014

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the leading cause of cancer mortality among women worldwide. The life-threatening infection caused by HPV demands the need for designing anticancerous drugs. In the recent years, different compounds from natural origins, such as carrageenan, curcumin, epigallocatechin gallate, indole-3-carbinol, jaceosidin, and withaferin, have been used as a hopeful source of anticancer therapy. These compounds have been shown to suppress HPV infection by different researchers. In the present study, we explored these natural inhibitors against E6 oncoprotein of high-risk HPV-16, which is known to inactivate the p53 tumor suppressor protein. A robust homology model of HPV-16 E6 was built to anticipate the interaction mechanism of E6 oncoprotein with natural inhibitory molecules using a structure-based drug designing approach. Docking analysis showed the interaction of these natural compounds with the p53-binding site of E6 protein residues 113-122 (CQKPLCPEEK) and helped the restoration of p53 functioning. Docking analysis, besides helping in silico validation of natural compounds, also helps understand molecular mechanisms of protein-ligand interactions.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2015

Indole 3-carbinol (I3C), important component of cruciferous vegetables and its major acid-catalyzed metabolite, 3,3'-diindolylmethane (DIM) have been suggested to have an inhibitory effect on the tumor growth and metastasis. This study investigated the effect of DIM on the adhesion, migration and invasion of highly invasive PC3 and DU145 human prostate cancer cell lines. Cells were grown in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) supplemented with 3.0 g/L glucose, 3.7 g/L sodium bicarbonate and 10% fetal bovine and were incubated in a humidified incubator at $37^{\circ}C$ and 5% $CO_2$. DIM reduced the adhesion of PC3 and DU145 cells in a dose dependent manner. The pretreatment of PC3 cells with DIM reduced the adhesion dose dependantly, but inhibition was less effective than the treatment with DIM during the adhesion assay. The migration and invasion of PC3 and DU145 cells were reduced by DIM dose dependantly, and the inhibition of DIM was less effective in the DU145 cells than in the PC3 cells. The pretreatment of PC3 cells with DIM for 24 hr before the assay reduced invasion of PC3 cells by 37%. These results suggest that DIM inhibits adhesion, migration and invasion of the PC3 and DU145 cells and may be an effective antimetastatic therapy in addition to traditional chemotherapy.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.167-176
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• 2005

Nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is known as a key regulator of ARE-mediated gene expression and the induction of Phase II detoxifying enzymes and antioxidant enzymes, which is also a common property of many chemopreventive agents. In the present study, we investigated the regulatory role of different chemopreventive agents including sulforaphane (SUL), allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), indole-3-carbinol (I3C), and parthenolide (PTL), in the expression and degradation of Nrf2 and the induction of the antioxidant enzyme HO-1. SUL strongly induced Nrf2 protein expression and ARE-mediated transcription activation, retarded degradation of Nrf2 through inhibiting Keap1, and thereby activating the transcriptional expression of HO-1. AITC was also a potent inducer of Nrf2 protein expression, ARE-reporter gene and HO-1 but had little effect on delaying the degradation of Nrf2 protein. Although PTL and I3C could induce ARE reporter gene expression and Nrf2 to some extent, they were not as potent as SUL and AITC. However, PTL dramatically induced the HO-1 expression, which was comparable to SUL, while I3C had no effect. In addition, when treated with SUL and PTL, inhibition of proteasome by MG132 did not cause additional accumulation of Nrf2, suggesting the involvement of other degradation mechanism(s) in the presence of these compounds such as SUL and PTL. In summary, the results of our current study indicated that different chemopreventive compounds have different regulatory properties on the accumulation and degradation of Nrf2 as well as the induction of cellular antioxidant enzyme HO-1.