• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.927-934
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• 2014

Sanguinarine, a benzophenanthridine alkaloid originally derived from the root of Sanguinaria canadensis, has been shown to possess antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-cancer properties. Although tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is known to induce apoptosis in cancer cells, but not most normal cells and has shown efficacy in a phase 2 clinical trial, development of resistance to TRAIL by tumor cells is a major roadblock. Our previous study indicated that treatment with TRAIL in combination with subtoxic concentrations of sanguinarine sensitized TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in TRAIL-resistant human gastric carcinoma AGS cells; however, the detailed mechanisms are not fully understood. In this study, we show that sanguinarine sensitizes AGS cells to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis as detected by MTT assay, agarose gel electrophoresis, chromatin condensation and flow cytometry analysis. Combined treatment with sanguinarine and TRAIL effectively induced expression of death receptor (DR) 5 but did not affect expression of DR4 and mitogen activated protein kinases signaling molecules. Moreover, the combined treatment with sanguinarine and TRAIL increased the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS); however, N-acetylcysteine, ROS scavenger, significantly recovered growth inhibition induced by the combined treatment. Taken together, our results indicate that sanguinarine can potentiate TRAIL-mediated apoptosis through upregulation of DR5 expression and ROS generation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.697-701
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• 2012

Activated protein C (APC) has an anticoagulant effect and a non-hemostatic effect such as regulation of cell metastasis and modulation of inflammation. In this study, we investigated whether APC could modulate apoptosis in cancer cells. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$, cyclohexamide, and FAS markedly induced apoptosis in human renal carcinoma Caki cells. When Caki cells were pretreated with APC, the percentage of death receptor-induced apoptosis did not change. Furthermore, we checked the effect of APC on tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis in human glioma T98G and human breast carcinoma MDA231 cells. APC also had no effect on TRAIL-induced apoptosis in both cell lines. However, pretreatment with APC inhibited combination treatment (kahweol plus TRAIL and kahweol plus melatonin)-induced apoptosis and PARP cleavage in Caki cells. Taken together, our results suggest that APC can modulate anti-cancer therapeutic efficiency.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.261-265
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• 2003

Tumor necrosis facto-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a recently identified member of the tumor necrosis factor cytokine superfamily. TRAIL has been shown to induce apoptosis in a number of tumor cells whereas cells from most of normal tissues are highly resistant to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. These observations have raised considerable interest in the use of TRAIL in tumor therapy. In this study we report the biodistribution fates and serum expression pattern of plasmid DNA encoding TRAIL (pTRAIL) delivered in erythrocyte ghosts (EG). pTRAIL was loaded into EG by electroportion in a hypotonic medium The mRNA expression of pTRAIL was prolonged following delivery in EG-encapsulated forms. EG containing pTRAIL showed significant levels of mRNA expression in the blood over 9 days. The organ expression patterns of pTRAIL delivered via EG, however, did not significantly differ from those of naked pTRAIL, indicating that the expression-enhancing effect of EG containing pTRAIL was localized to the blood. These results suggest that pTRAIL-loaded EG might be of potential use in the treatment of hematological diseases such as TRAIL-sensitive leukemia.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2011

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL) is one of the promising anti-cancer agent because of its ability to selectively induce apoptosis in tumor cell lines but not in normal cells. However, TRAIL resistance has been reported in some cancer cells including hepatocarcinoma cells. Therefore, studies of agents that sensitize TRAIL-resistant cancer cells could be a effective therapeutic approach in cancer management. In our study, we examined the effect of combination of TRAIL with apigenin in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. As a result, the combined use of TRAIL and apigenin significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity in PLC-PRF5 cells. Flow cytometry analysis after annexin V-FITC/PI dual staining showed that this increase of cell cytotoxicity was related to enhanced apoptosis in combined treatment of TRAIL with apigenin. Furthermore, synergistic induction of apoptosis was also confirmed by observation of morphological changes and annexin V-FITC/PI fluorescence. Our findings suggests that apigenin has the potential to improve the efficiency of TRAIL-based therapies in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Further study is needed to reveal the molecular mechanisms of this combined therapy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.84.2-84.2
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• 2007

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• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.145-154
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• 2017

Objectives : Bufalin is one of the bioactive component of 'Sum Su (蟾酥)', which is obtained from the skin and parotid venom gland of toad. Bufalin has been known to possess the inhibitory effects on cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis in various cancer cells. The tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has concerned, because it can selectively induce apoptotic cell death in many types of malignant cells, while it is relatively non-toxic to normal cells. Here, we investigated whether bufalin can trigger TRAIL-induced apoptotic cell death in EJ human bladder cancer cells. Methods : Effects on the cell viability and apoptotic activity were quantified using MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. To investigate the morphological change of nucleus, DAPI staining was performed. Protein expressions were measured by immunoblotting. Results : A combined treatment with bufalin (10 nM) and TRAIL (50 ng/ml) significantly promoted TRAIL-mediated growth inhibition and apoptosis in EJ cells. The apoptotic effects were associated with the up-regulation of death receptor proteins, and the down-regulation of cFLIP and XIAP. Moreover, our data showed that bufalin and TRAIL combination activated caspases and subsequently increased degradation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. Conclusions : Taken altogether, the nontoxic doses of bufalin sensitized TRAIL-mediated apoptosis in EJ cells. Therefore, bufalin might be an effective therapeutic strategy for the safe treatment of TRAIL-resistant bladder cancers.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.43-55
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• 2013

I investigated whether snake venom toxin(SVT) from Vipera lebetina turanica enhances the apoptosis ability of tumor necrosis factor(TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand(TRAIL) in cancer cells. TRAIL inhibited HCT116 cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. Consistent with cell growth inhibition, the expression of TRAIL receptors; DR4 and DR5 was significantly increased as well as apoptosis related proteins such as cleaved caspase-3, 8, 9 and Bax. However, the expression of survival proteins(eg, cFLIP, survivin, XIAP and Bcl2) was suppressed by the combination treatment of SVT and TRAIL. Pretreatment with the reactive oxygen species(ROS) scavenger N-acetylcysteine reduced the SVT and TRAIL-induced upregulation of DR4 and DR5 expression and expression of the apoptosis related protein such as caspase-3 and-9 as well as cell growth inhibitory effects. The collective results suggest that SVT facilitates TRAIL-induced apoptosis in human colorectal cancer HCT116 cells through up-regulation of the TRAIL receptors; DR4 and DR5 via ROS pathway signals.

• BMB Reports
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.119-126
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• 2019

The tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) initiates the extrinsic apoptotic pathway through formation of the death-inducing signaling complex (DISC), followed by activation of effector caspases. TRAIL receptors are composed of death receptors (DR4 and DR5), decoy receptors (DcR1 and DcR2), and osteoprotegerin. Among them, only DRs activate apoptotic signaling by TRAIL. Since the levels of DR expressions are higher in cancer cells than in normal cells, TRAIL selectively activates apoptotic signaling pathway in cancer cells. However, multiple mechanisms, including down-regulation of DR expression and pro-apoptotic proteins, and up-regulation of anti-apoptotic proteins, make cancer cells TRAIL-resistant. Therefore, many researchers have investigated strategies to overcome TRAIL resistance. In this review, we focus on protein regulation in relation to extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathways via ubiquitination. The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is an important process in control of protein degradation and stabilization, and regulates proliferation and apoptosis in cancer cells. The level of ubiquitination of proteins is determined by the balance of E3 ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitinases (DUBs), which determine protein stability. Regulation of the UPS may be an attractive target for enhancement of TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Our review provides insight to increasing sensitivity to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis through control of post-translational protein expression.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.16
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• pp.6991-6996
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• 2015

In the past decade, the incidence and mortality rates of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) have been increasing worldwide. The relatively low responsiveness of CCA to conventional chemotherapy leads to poor overall survival. Recently, tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL or Apo2L) has emerged as the most promising anti-cancer therapeutic agent since it is able to selectively induce apoptosis of tumor cells but not normal cells. In this study, we aimed to investigate the therapeutic effect of TRAIL in CCA cell lines (M213, M214 and KKU100) compared with the immortal biliary cell line, MMNK1, either alone or in combination with a subtoxic dose of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). We found that recombinant human TRAIL (rhTRAIL) was a potential agent which significantly inhibited cell proliferation and mediated caspase activities (caspases 8, 9 and 3/7) and apoptosis of CCA cells. The combined treatment of rhTRAIL and 5-FU effectively enhanced inhibition of CCA cell growth with a smaller effect on MMNK1. Our finding suggests TRAIL to be a novel anti-cancer therapeutic agent and advantage of its combination with a conventional chemotherapeutic drug for effective treatment of CCA.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.sup3
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• pp.293-297
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• 2016

TRAIL, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand belongs to one of important cytokine superfamilIES, tumor necrosis factor ($TNF{\alpha}$). TRAIL-2 receptor agonists activate several cell signaling pathways in cells in different manners and could lead to apoptosis or necrosis. Agonistic egg yolk antibodies like IgY which have been developed in a selective manner could activate TRAIL death receptors such as TRAIL-2 (DR5) and thus apoptosis signaling. We here investigated induction of apoptosis in human breast cancer cells (MCF7 cell line) by an IgY produced against an 21 aminoacid epitope of the human TRAIL-2 receptor. As the first step a small peptide of 21 aminoacids choosen from the extracellular domain of DR5 protein was produced with a peptide synthesizer. After control assays and confirmation of the correct amino acid sequence, it was injected to hens immunized to achieve high affinity IgYs. At the next step, the produced IgYs were extracted and examined for specificity against DR5 protein by ELISA assay. Subsequently, the anticancer effect of such IgYs was determined by MTT assay in the MCF7 human breast cancer cell line. The produced peptides successfully immunized hens and the produced antibodies which accumulated in egg yolk specifically recognized the DR5 protein. IgYs exerted significant toxicity and killed MCF7 cells as shown by MTT assay.