• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 2014

The epothilones are a class of microtubule inhibitors that exhibit a strong antitumor activity. UTD2 is a novel epothilone analog generated by genetic manipulation of the polyketide biosynthetic gene cluster. This study investigated the effects of UTD2 on the actin cytoskeleton and its critical regulators, and the signaling pathways which are essential for cell motility, growth and survival in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Results showed that UTD2 inhibited the cellular functions of actin cytoskeleton, such as wound-closure, migration and invasion, as well as adhesion. Our study further demonstrated that UTD2 suppressed Rac1 GTPase activation and reduced the activity of PAK1, which is a downstream effector of Rac1, while the activity of Cdc42 was not affected. Additionally, the phosphorylation of p38 and ERK were significantly inhibited, but the phosphorylation of JNK remained the same after UTD2 treatment. Moreover, UTD2 inhibited the activity and mRNA expression of MMP-2, which plays a key role in cell motility. UTD2 also reduced the phosphorylation of Akt, which is an important signaling kinase regulating the cell survival through Rac1. Furthermore, UTD2 interrupted the synergy between Rac1 and Raf in focus formation assays. Taken together, these results indicated that UTD2 exerted multiple effects on the actin cytoskeleton and signaling pathways associated with Rac1. This study provided novel insights into the molecular mechanism of the antineoplastic and antimetastatic activities of epothilones. Our findings also suggest that the signaling pathways regulated by Rac1 may be evaluated as biomarkers for the response to therapy in clinical trials of epothilones.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.257-265
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• 2023

Kidney ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, a common cause of acute kidney injury (AKI), is associated with the migration of inflammatory cells into the kidney. Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac1), a member of the Rho family of small GTPase, plays an important role in inflammatory cell migration by cytoskeleton rearrangement. Here, we investigated the role of Rac1 on kidney I/R injury and macrophage migration. Male mice were subjected to either 25 min of bilateral ischemia followed by reperfusion (I/R) or a sham operation. Some mice were administrated with either NSC23766, an inhibitor of Rac1, or 0.9% NaCl (vehicle). Kidney damage and Rac1 activity and expression were measured. The migration and lamellipodia formation of RAW264.7 cells, mouse monocyte/macrophage, induced by monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1, a chemokine) were determined using transwell migration assay and phalloidin staining, respectively. In sham-operated kidneys, Rac1 was expressed in tubular cells and interstitial cells. In I/R-injured kidneys, Rac1 expression was decreased in tubule cells in correlation with the damage of tubular cells, whereas Rac1 expression increased in the interstitium in correlation with an increased population of F4/80 cells, monocytes/macrophages. I/R increased Rac1 activity without changing total Rac1 expression in the whole kidney lysates. NSC23766 administration blocked Rac1 activation and protected the kidney against I/R-induced kidney damage and interstitial F4/80 cell increase. NSC23766 suppressed monocyte MCP-1-induced lamellipodia and filopodia formation and migration of RAW 264.7 cells. These results indicate Rac1 inhibition protects the kidney against I/R via inhibition of monocytes/macrophages migration into the kidney.

• The Zoological Society Korea : Newsletter
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 1998

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.607-618
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• 2021

The pepper anthracnose fungus, Colletotrichum scovillei, causes severe losses of pepper fruit production in the tropical and temperate zones. RAC1 is a highly conserved small GTP-binding protein in the Rho GT-Pase family. This protein has been demonstrated to play a role in fungal development, and pathogenicity in several plant pathogenic fungi. However, the functional roles of RAC1 are not characterized in C. scovillei causing anthracnose on pepper fruits. Here, we generated a deletion mutant (𝜟Csrac1) via homologous recombination to investigate the functional roles of CsRAC1. The 𝜟Csrac1 showed pleiotropic defects in fungal growth and developments, including vegetative growth, conidiogenesis, conidial germination and appressorium formation, compared to wild-type. Although 𝜟Csrac1 was able to develop appressoria, it failed to differentiate appressorium pegs. However, 𝜟Csrac1 still caused anthracnose disease with significantly reduced rate on wounded pepper fruits. Further analyses revealed that 𝜟Csrac1 was defective in tolerance to oxidative stress and suppression of host-defense genes. Taken together, our results suggest that CsRAC1 plays essential roles in fungal development and pathogenicity in C. scovilleipepper fruit pathosystem.

• BMB Reports
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• v.49 no.11
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• pp.623-628
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• 2016

GPR78 is an orphan G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) that is predominantly expressed in human brain tissues. Currently, the function of GPR78 is unknown. This study revealed that GPR78 was expressed in lung cancer cells and functioned as a novel regulator of lung cancer cell migration and metastasis. We found that knockdown of GPR78 in lung cancer cells suppressed cell migration. Moreover, GPR78 modulated the formation of actin stress fibers in A549 cells, in a RhoA- and Rac1-dependent manner. At the molecular level, GPR78 regulated cell motility through the activation of $G{\alpha}q$-RhoA/Rac1 pathway. We further demonstrated that in vivo, the knockdown of GPR78 inhibited lung cancer cell metastasis. These findings suggest that GPR78 is a novel regulator for lung cancer metastasis and may serve as a potential drug target against metastatic human lung cancer.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.29-36
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• 2012

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignancy of bone, and patients often develop pulmonary metastasis. The mechanisms underlying osteosarcoma metastasis remain to be elucidated. Recently, anti-inflammatory agents were shown to be useful in the treatment of tumor progression. We previously isolated a natural anti-inflammatory peptide from the seahorse Hippocampus kuda bleeler. Here, we examined the antitumor metastatic activity of this peptide and investigated its mechanism. The peptide significantly inhibited 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced invasive migration of human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells. Its inhibitory effect on invasive migration was associated with reduced expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP1 and MMP2). In addition, TPA stimulation increased intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and small GTPase Rac1 expression, whereas the peptide decreased ROS generation and Rac1 activation. Taken together, these results suggest that the peptide inhibits invasive migration of MG-63 osteosarcoma cells by inhibiting MMP1 and MMP2 expression through downregulation of Rac1-ROS signaling.

• Experimental and Molecular Medicine
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.9.1-9.10
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• 2019

Mesangial cell proliferation has been identified as a major factor contributing to glomerulosclerosis, which is a typical symptom of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) levels are increased in the glomerulus of the kidney in diabetic mice. LPA is a critical regulator that induces mesangial cell proliferation; however, its effect and molecular mechanisms remain unknown. The proportion of ${\alpha}-SMA^+/PCNA^+$ cells was increased in the kidney cortex of db/db mice compared with control mice. Treatment with LPA concomitantly increased the proliferation of mouse mesangial cells (SV40 MES13) and the expression of cyclin D1 and CDK4. On the other hand, the expression of $p27^{Kip1}$ was decreased. The expression of $Kr{\ddot{u}}ppel$-like factor 5 (KLF5) was upregulated in the kidney cortex of db/db mice and LPA-treated SV40 MES13 cells. RNAi-mediated silencing of KLF5 reversed these effects and inhibited the proliferation of LPA-treated cells. Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) were activated, and the expression of early growth response 1 (Egr1) was subsequently increased in LPA-treated SV40 MES13 cells and the kidney cortex of db/db mice. Moreover, LPA significantly increased the activity of the Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate (Rac1) GTPase in SV40 MES13 cells, and the dominant-negative form of Rac1 partially inhibited the phosphorylation of p38 and upregulation of Egr1 and KLF5 induced by LPA. LPA-induced hyperproliferation was attenuated by the inhibition of Rac1 activity. Based on these results, the Rac1/MAPK/KLF5 signaling pathway was one of the mechanisms by which LPA induced mesangial cell proliferation in DN models.

• BMB Reports
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• v.54 no.12
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• pp.626-631
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• 2021

Janus kinase 2 (JAK2), a non-receptor tyrosine kinase, is a critical component of cytokine and growth factor signaling pathways regulating hematopoietic cell proliferation. JAK2 mutations are associated with multiple myeloproliferative neoplasms. Although physiological and pathological functions of JAK2 in hematopoietic tissues are well-known, such functions of JAK2 in the nervous system are not well studied yet. The present study demonstrated that JAK2 could negatively regulate neuronal differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Depletion of JAK2 stimulated neuronal differentiation of mouse ESCs and activated glycogen synthase kinase 3β, Fyn, and cyclin-dependent kinase 5. Knockdown of JAK2 resulted in accumulation of GTP-bound Rac1, a Rho GTPase implicated in the regulation of cytoskeletal dynamics. These findings suggest that JAK2 might negatively regulate neuronal differentiation by suppressing the GSK-3β/Fyn/CDK5 signaling pathway responsible for morphological maturation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1383-1391
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• 2016

Anti-estrogen drugs such as tamoxifen have been used for treating patients with ER-positive, early breast cancer. However, resistance to anti-estrogen treatment is inevitable in most patients. Breast cancer anti-estrogen resistance-3 (BCAR3) has been identified as the protein responsible for the induction of tamoxifen resistance in estrogen-dependent human breast cancer. We have previously reported that BCAR3 regulates the cell cycle progression and the signaling pathway of EGF and insulin leading to DNA synthesis. In this study, we investigated the functional role of BCAR3 in regulating c-Jun transcription in non-tumorigenic human breast epithelial MCF-12A cells. A transient transfection of BCAR3 increased both the mRNA and protein of c-Jun expression, and stable expression of BCAR3 increased c-Jun protein expression. The overexpression of BCAR3 directly activated the promoter of c-jun, AP-1, and SRE but not that of $NF-{\kappa}B$. Furthermore, single-cell microinjection of BCAR3 expression plasmid in the cell cycle-arrested MCF-12A cells induced c-Jun protein expression, and co-injection of dominant negative mutants of Ras, Rac, and Rho suppressed the transcriptional activity of c-Jun in the presence of BCAR3. Furthermore, stable expression of BCAR3 increased the proliferation of MCF-12A cells. The microinjection of inhibitory materials such as anti-BCAR3 antibody and siRNA BCAR3 inhibited EGF-induced c-Jun expression but did not affect IGF-1 induced upregulation of c-Jun. Taken together, we propose that BCAR3 plays a crucial role in c-Jun protein expression and cell proliferation and that small GTPases (e.g., Ras, Rac, and Rho) are required for the BCAR3-mediated activation of c-Jun expression.