• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제72권4호
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• pp.343-351
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• 2012

Background: The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling axis has emerged as a novel target for cancer therapy. Agents that inhibit this pathway are currently under development for lung cancer treatment. In the present study, we have tested whether dual inhibition of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling can lead to enahnced antitumor effects. We have also examined the role of autophagy during this process. Methods: We analyzed the combination effect of the mTOR inhibitor, temsirolimus, and the Akt inhibitor, GSK690693, on the survival of NCI-H460 and A549 non-small cell lung cancer cells. Cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay and apoptosis induction was evaluated by flow cytometry and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay. Autophagy induction was also evaluated by acridine orange staining. Changes of apoptosis or autophagy-related proteins were evaluated by western blot analysis. Results: Combination treatment with temsirolimus and GSK690693 caused synergistically increased cell death in NCI-H460 and A549 cells. This was attributable to increased induction of apoptosis. Caspase 3 activation and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase cleavage accompanied these findings. Autophagy also increased and inhibition of autophagy resulted in increased cell death, suggesting its cytoprotective role during this process. Conclusion: Taken together, our results suggest that the combination of temsirolimus and GSK690693 could be a novel strategy for lung cancer therapy. Inhibition of autophagy could also be a promising method of enhancing the combination effect of these drugs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.1119-1124
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• 2012

Background: The effect and possible mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine, baicalin, on the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in drug-resistant human myeloid leukemia HL-60/ADR cells have been investigated in this current study. Methods: HL-60/ADR cells were treated by 20, 40, $80\;{\mu}mol/L$ baicalin followed by cell cycle analysis at 24h. The mRNA expression level of the apoptosis related gene, Bcl-2 and bad, were measured by RT-PCR on cells treated with $80\;{\mu}mol/L$ baicalin at 12, 24 and 48hr. Western blot was performed to detect the changes in the expression of the proteins related to HL-60/ADR cell apoptosis and the signaling pathway before and after baicalin treatment, including Bcl-2, PARP, Bad, Caspase 3, Akt, p-Akt, NF-${\kappa}B$, p-NF-${\kappa}B$, mTOR and p-mTOR. Results: Sub-G1 peak of HL-60/ADR cells appeared 24 h after $20\;{\mu}mol/L$ baicalin treatment, and the ratio increased as baicalin concentration increased. Cell cycle analysis showed 44.9% G0/G1 phase cells 24 h after baicalin treatment compared to 39.6% in the control group. Cells treated with $80\;{\mu}mol/L$ baicalin displayed a trend in decreasing of Bcl-2 mRNA expression over time. Expression level of the Bcl-2 and PARP proteins decreased significantly while that of the PARP, Caspase-3, and Bad proteins gradually increased. No significant difference in Akt expression was observed between treated and the control groups. However, the expression levels of p-Akt, NF-${\kappa}B$, p-NF-${\kappa}B$, mTOR and p-mTOR decreased significantly in a time-dependent manner. Conclusions: We conclude that baicalin may induce HL-60/ADR cell apoptosis through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.2201-2205
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• 2013

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers in many parts of the world. Its development is a multi-step process involving three distinct stages, initiation that alters the molecular message of a normal cell, followed by promotion and progression that ultimately generates a phenotypically altered transformed malignant cell. Reports have suggested an association of the phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway with colon tumorigenesis. Activation of Akt signaling and impaired expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) (a negative regulator of Akt) has been reported in 60-70% of human colon cancers and inhibitors of PI3K/Akt signaling have been suggested as potential therapeutic agents. Around 80% of human colon tumors possess mutations in the APC gene and half of the remainder feature ${\beta}$-catenin gene mutations which affect downstream signaling of the PI3K/Akt pathway. In recent years, there has been a great focus in targeting these signaling pathways, with natural and synthetic drugs reducing the tumor burden in different experiment models. In this review we survey the role of PI3K/Akt/mTOR and Wnt signaling in CRC.

• 생물정신의학
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.18-23
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• 2016

Depression is a complicated psychiatric illness with severe consequences. Despite recent advanced achievements of molecular neurobiology, pathophysiology of depression has not been well elucidated. Among new findings of pathophysiology of depression, the possible fast antidepressant effect by N-methyl-D-asparate receptor antagonist, such as ketamine, is regarded as a promising treatment target of depression. Ketamine stimulates the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway and activation of mTOR signaling pathway may be a key mechanism of the antidepressant effect of ketamine. Thus, this review describes the role of mTOR signaling in the pathophysiology of depression and developing a new treatment target of depression.

• 한국식품영양과학회지
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• 제45권9호
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• pp.1257-1264
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• 2016

개똥쑥은 예로부터 항암, 항바이러스 및 항균의 효능을 지니는 것으로 알려져 왔지만 작용 기작에 대한 내용이 많이 알려지지 않았다. 본 연구에서는 AGS 인체 위암 세포를 대상으로 개똥쑥 추출물(AAE)에 의한 apoptosis 효과와 신호경로 연구를 시행하였다. AAE의 암세포 성장에 미치는 영향을 확인하기 위하여 AGS cell에 AAE를 처리하고 MTT assay와 LDH assay를 수행한 결과 AAE 농도 의존적으로 나타난 세포 성장 억제가 세포 손상에 의한 것임을 확인하였다. 또한, AAE에 의한 암세포 증식 억제 효과가 apoptosis에 의한 것인지 확인하기 위하여 Hoechst 33342 staining과 Annexin V-PI staining을 수행한 결과, Hoechst 33342 staining에서 apoptotic body와 세포질 응축이 농도 의존적으로 증가하는 것을 확인하였고, Annexin V-PI staining에서 apoptotic cells의 변화가 농도 의존적으로 증가함을 확인하였다. Western blotting의 결과 AAE가 농도 의존적으로 세포 생장에 관여하는 신호 단백질인 p-Akt, p-TSC2, p-mTOR, p-GSK-$3{\beta}$의 발현이 감소함을 확인하였고, anti-apoptotic 단백질인 Bcl-2의 발현이 억제됨으로써 proapoptotic 단백질인 Bax, Bak의 발현이 증가하는 일련의 신호경로를 조절할 수 있다는 것을 확인하였다. 미토콘드리아 막 전위의 탈분극 유도를 확인하기 위한 JC-1 assay 수행 결과, AAE 농도 의존적으로 미토콘드리아 막 전위의 탈분극이 유도됨을 확인하였다. 탈분극에 의한 caspase 활성을 확인하기 위해 caspase-3/7 activity assay를 수행한 결과, AAE 농도 의존적으로 caspase activity 증가를 확인하였다. 또한, apoptosis가 일어나는 일련의 신호경로를 확인하기 위해 apoptosis 상위 단백질인 Akt, mTOR, GSK-$3{\beta}$의 활성을 억제하는 LY294002, Rapamycin, BIO를 각각 AGS cell에 처리하고 세포증식에 미치는 영향과 신호 단백질의 발현 양상을 알아보기 위해 MTT assay, LDH assay, western blotting을 수행하였다. 그 결과 AAE와 LY294002, Rapamycin 처리군에서 세포증식 억제와 LDH 방출량 증가뿐만 아니라 세포 생장 신호 단백질인 p-mTOR, p-TSC2, p-Akt, p-GSK-$3{\beta}$의 발현이 감소하는 것을 확인하였고, Bcl-2의 발현이 억제됨으로써 Bax와 Bak의 발현을 증가시키는 신호경로를 조절할 수 있다는 것을 확인하였다. 따라서 AGS cell에 개똥쑥 추출물을 처리하였을 때 유도되는 apoptosis 효과는 Akt/mTOR/GSK-$3{\beta}$ 경로 활성 억제를 통해 Bcl-2 발현이 감소함에 따라 Bax, Bak를 활성화해 세포질로의 cytochrome C 유리에 따른 caspase 활성으로 이루어진다는 것을 알 수 있었다.

• 생명과학회지
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• 제21권9호
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• pp.1288-1294
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• 2011

식물에서 추출한 파이토케미컬은 암세포의 여러 신호전달 기작에 관여함으로써 apoptosis를 유도한다. 본 연구에서는 파이토케미컬의 한 종류인 레스베라트롤을 MCF-7 세포에 처리함으로써 암세포의 증식 억제와 apoptosis 유도 효과를 알아보았고, 이러한 효과가 암세포의 성장과 증식에 관여하는 단백질인 mTOR와 COX-2의 발현 양상에 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 알아보고자 하였다. 그 결과 MCF-7 세포에 레스베라트롤을 처리했을 때 농도가 증가함에 따라 암세포의 생존률이 감소하였고, Hoechst 33342를 이용한 chromatin 염색과 Annexin V-propodium iodide staning을 통하여 암세포의 세포증식 효과가 apoptosis에 의해 유도된 것임을 알 수 있었다. MCF-7 세포에 레스베라트롤을 처리했을 때 mTOR 및 COX-2의 발현 양상을 확인하기 위해 Western blotting을 실시한 결과, 레스베라트롤의 농도가 높아짐에 따라 mTOR 및 COX-2의 발현이 감소함을 확인 하였다. 이와 같은 결과는 MCF-7 유방암 세포에서 레스베라트롤에 의한 암세포의 증식 억제 및 apoptosis 유도가 mTOR 신호경로 저해를 통한 COX-2의 발현을 감소시킴으로써 나타나는 것으로 보인다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제33권4호
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• pp.449-462
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• 2023

Previously, we confirmed that Mychonastes sp. 246 methanolic extract (ME) markedly reduced the viability of BxPC-3 human pancreatic cancer cells. However, the underlying mechanism ME remained unclear. Hence, we attempted to elucidate the anticancer effect of ME on BxPC-3 human pancreatic cancer cells. First, we investigated the components of ME and their cytotoxicity in normal cells. Then, we confirmed the G1 phase arrest mediated growth inhibitory effect of ME using a cell counting assay and cell cycle analysis. Moreover, we found that the migration-inhibitory effect of ME using a Transwell migration assay. Through RNA sequencing, Gene Ontology-based network analysis, and western blotting, we explored the intracellular mechanisms of ME in BxPC-3 cells. ME modulated the intracellular energy metabolism-related pathway by altering the mRNA levels of IGFBP3 and PPARGC1A in BxPC-3 cells and reduced PI3K and mTOR phosphorylation by upregulating IGFBP3 and 4E-BP1 expression. Finally, we verified that ME reduced the growth of three-dimensional (3D) pancreatic cancer spheroids. Our study demonstrates that ME suppresses pancreatic cancer proliferation through the IGFBP3-PI3K-mTOR signaling pathway. This is the first study on the anticancer effect of the ME against pancreatic cancer, suggesting therapeutic possibilities and the underlying mechanism of ME action.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.365-377
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• 2022

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a serine-threonine kinase member of the cellular phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, which is involved in multiple biological functions by transcriptional and translational control. mTOR is a downstream mediator in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and plays a critical role in cell survival. In cancer, this pathway can be activated by membrane receptors, including the HER (or ErbB) family of growth factor receptors, the insulin-like growth factor receptor, and the estrogen receptor. In the present work, we congregated an electronic network of mTORC1 built on an assembly of data using natural language processing, consisting of 470 edges (activations/interactions and/or inhibitions) and 206 nodes representing genes/proteins, using the Cytoscape 3.6.0 editor and its plugins for analysis. The experimental design included the extraction of gene expression data related to five distinct types of cancers, namely, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, hepatic cirrhosis, cervical cancer, glioblastoma, and anaplastic thyroid cancer from Gene Expression Omnibus (NCBI GEO) followed by pre-processing and normalization of the data using R & Bioconductor. ExprEssence plugin was used for network condensation to identify differentially expressed genes across the gene expression samples. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis was performed to find out the over-represented GO terms in the network. In addition, pathway enrichment and functional module analysis of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were also conducted. Our results indicated NOTCH1, NOTCH3, FLCN, SOD1, SOD2, NF1, and TLR4 as upregulated proteins in different cancer types highlighting their role in cancer progression. The MCODE analysis identified gene clusters for each cancer type with MYC, PCNA, PARP1, IDH1, FGF10, PTEN, and CCND1 as hub genes with high connectivity. MYC for cervical cancer, IDH1 for hepatic cirrhosis, MGMT for glioblastoma and CCND1 for anaplastic thyroid cancer were identified as genes with prognostic importance using survival analysis.

• 한국발생생물학회지:발생과생식
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2016

Molecular targeting for the altered signaling pathways has been proven to be effective for the treatment of many types of human cancer, including colorectal cancer (CRC). The dual phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor BEZ235 has shown to exhibit potent antitumor activity against solid tumors. Autophagy is a cellular lysosomal catabolic process to maintain metabolic homeostasis, which has been known to be induced in response to many therapeutic agents in cancer cells. This process is negatively regulated by mTOR and often acts as prosurvival or prodeath mechanism following cancer therapeutics. The current study was designed to investigate the antiproliferation activity of BEZ235 and to evaluate the role of autophagy induced by BEZ235 using HCT15 CRC cells bearing ras oncogene mutation. We found that BEZ235 decreases cell viability, which was mostly dependent on $G_1$ arrest of cell cycle via suppression of cyclin A expression. BEZ235 affects PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway by increasing the phosphorylation of AKT at $Ser^{473}$ and RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway by decreasing the phosphorylation of ERK at $Tyr^{204}$. BEZ235 also stimulated autophagy induction as evidenced by the increased expression of LC3-II and abundant acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs) in the cytoplasm. In addition, the combination of BEZ235 with autophagy inhibitor chloroquine, a known antagonist of autophagy, counteracted the antiproliferation effect of BEZ235. Thus, our study indicates that autophagy induced in response to BEZ235 treatment appears to act as cell death mechanism in HCT15 CRC cells.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.319-329
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• 2023

Resistance to hypomethylating agents (HMAs) in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a concerning problem. Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) is a key cell cycle modulator and is known to be associated with an activation of the PI3K pathway, which is related to the stabilization of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), a target of HMAs. We investigated the effects of volasertib on HMA-resistant cell lines (MOLM/AZA-1 and MOLM/DEC-5) derived from MOLM-13, and bone marrow (BM) samples obtained from patients with MDS (BM blasts >5%) or AML evolved from MDS (MDS/AML). Volasertib effectively inhibited the proliferation of HMA-resistant cells with suppression of DNMTs and PI3K/AKT/mTOR and ERK pathways. Volasertib also showed significant inhibitory effects against primary BM cells from patients with MDS or MDS/AML, and the effects of volasertib inversely correlated with DNMT3B expression. The DNMT3B-overexpressed AML cells showed primary resistance to volasertib treatment. Our data suggest that volasertib has a potential role in overcoming HMA resistance in patients with MDS and MDS/AML by suppressing the expression of DNMT3 enzymes and PI3K/AKT/mTOR and ERK pathways. We also found that DNMT3B overexpression might be associated with resistance to volasertib.