scholarly journals Comparative Proteomics of Dying and Surviving Cancer Cells Improves the Identification of Drug Targets and Sheds Light on Cell Life/Death Decisions

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 1144-1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir Ata Saei ◽  
Pierre Sabatier ◽  
Ülkü Güler Tokat ◽  
Alexey Chernobrovkin ◽  
Mohammad Pirmoradian ◽  
...  

Chemotherapeutics cause the detachment and death of adherent cancer cells. When studying the proteome changes to determine the protein target and mechanism of action of anticancer drugs, the still-attached cells are normally used, whereas the detached cells are usually ignored. To test the hypothesis that proteomes of detached cells contain valuable information, we separately analyzed the proteomes of detached and attached HCT-116, A375, and RKO cells treated for 48 h with 5-fluorouracil, methotrexate and paclitaxel. Individually, the proteomic data on attached and detached cells had comparable performance in target and drug mechanism deconvolution, whereas the combined data significantly improved the target ranking for paclitaxel. Comparative analysis of attached versus detached proteomes provided further insight into cell life and death decision making. Six proteins consistently up- or downregulated in the detached versus attached cells regardless of the drug and cell type were discovered; their role in cell death/survival was tested by silencing them with siRNA. Knocking down USP11, CTTN, ACAA2, and EIF4H had anti-proliferative effects, affecting UHRF1 additionally sensitized the cells to the anticancer drugs, while knocking down RNF-40 increased cell survival against the treatments. Therefore, adding detached cells to the expression proteomics analysis of drug-treated cells can significantly increase the analytical value of the approach. The data have been deposited to the ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD007686.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingshu Liu ◽  
Jiangfeng Qiu ◽  
Zhiqi Zhang ◽  
Lei Zhou ◽  
Yunzhe Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are the root of human cancer development and the major cause of treatment failure. Aberrant elevation of SOX4, a member of SOX (SRY-related HMG-box) family transcription factors, has been identified in many types of human cancer and promotes cancer development. However, the role of SOX4 in CSCs, especially at a proteome-wide level, has remained elusive. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of SOX4 on the stemness of CSCs and reveal the underlying mechanisms by identification of SOX4-induced proteome changes through proteomics study. Results Overexpression of SOX4 promotes sphere formation and self-renewal of colorectal cancer cells in vitro and in vivo and elevates the expression levels of CSCs markers. Through iTRAQ-based quantitative proteomics analysis, 215 differentially expressed proteins (128 upregulated, 87 downregulated) in SOX4-overexpressing HCT-116 spheres were identified. The bioinformatic analysis highlighted the importance of HDAC1 as the fundamental roles of its impacted pathways in stem cell maintenance, including Wnt, Notch, cell cycle, and transcriptional misregulation in cancer. The mechanistic study showed that SOX4 directly binds to the promoter of HDAC1, promotes HDAC1 transcription, thereby supporting the stemness of colorectal cancer cells. HDAC1 hallmarks colorectal cancer stem cells and depletion of HDAC1 abolished the stimulatory effect of SOX4. Furthermore, SOX4-HDAC1 axis is conserved in multiple types of cancer. Conclusions The results of this study reveal SOX4-induced proteome changes in HCT-116 spheres and demonstrates that transcriptional activation of HDAC1 is the primary mechanism underlying SOX4 maintaining CSCs. This finding suggests that HDAC1 is a potential drug target for eradicating SOX4-driven human CSCs.


Author(s):  
Heather A. Cirka ◽  
Mehmet H. Kural ◽  
Kristen L. Billiar

Author(s):  
Mayson H. Alkhatib ◽  
Dalal Al-Saedi ◽  
Wadiah S. Backer

The combination of anticancer drugs in nanoparticles has great potential as a promising strategy to maximize efficacies by eradicating resistant, reduce the dosage of the drug and minimize toxicities on the normal cells. Gemcitabine (GEM), a nucleoside analogue, and atorvastatin (ATV), a cholesterol lowering agent, have shown anticancer effect with some limitations. The objective of this in vitro study was to evaluate the antitumor activity of the combination therapy of GEM and ATVencapsulated in a microemulsion (ME) formulation in the HCT116 colon cancer cells. The cytotoxicity and efficacy of the formulation were assessed by the 3- (4,5dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-diphyneltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The mechanism of cell death was examined by observing the morphological changes of treated cells under light microscope, identifying apoptosis by using the ApopNexin apoptosis detection kit, and viewing the morphological changes in the chromatin structure stained with 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) under the inverted fluorescence microscope. It has been found that reducing the concentration of GEM loaded on ME (GEM-ME) from 5μM to 1.67μM by combining it with 3.33μM of ATV in a ME formulation (GEM/2ATV-ME) has preserved the strong cytotoxicity of GEM-ME against HCT116 cells. The current study proved that formulating GEM with ATV in ME has improved the therapeutic potential of GEM and ATV as anticancer drugs.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 466
Author(s):  
Chen Chen ◽  
Samuel Haddox ◽  
Yue Tang ◽  
Fujun Qin ◽  
Hui Li

Gene fusions and their products (RNA and protein) have been traditionally recognized as unique features of cancer cells and are used as ideal biomarkers and drug targets for multiple cancer types. However, recent studies have demonstrated that chimeric RNAs generated by intergenic alternative splicing can also be found in normal cells and tissues. In this study, we aim to identify chimeric RNAs in different non-neoplastic cell lines and investigate the landscape and expression of these novel candidate chimeric RNAs. To do so, we used HEK-293T, HUVEC, and LO2 cell lines as models, performed paired-end RNA sequencing, and conducted analyses for chimeric RNA profiles. Several filtering criteria were applied, and the landscape of chimeric RNAs was characterized at multiple levels and from various angles. Further, we experimentally validated 17 chimeric RNAs from different classifications. Finally, we examined a number of validated chimeric RNAs in different cancer and non-cancer cells, including blood from healthy donors, and demonstrated their ubiquitous expression pattern.


Pharmaceutics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 707
Author(s):  
Mohd Shahnawaz Khan ◽  
Alya Alomari ◽  
Shams Tabrez ◽  
Iftekhar Hassan ◽  
Rizwan Wahab ◽  
...  

The continuous loss of human life due to the paucity of effective drugs against different forms of cancer demands a better/noble therapeutic approach. One possible way could be the use of nanostructures-based treatment methods. In the current piece of work, we have synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using plant (Heliotropiumbacciferum) extract using AgNO3 as starting materials. The size, shape, and structure of synthesized AgNPs were confirmed by various spectroscopy and microscopic techniques. The average size of biosynthesized AgNPs was found to be in the range of 15 nm. The anticancer potential of these AgNPs was evaluated by a battery of tests such as MTT, scratch, and comet assays in breast (MCF-7) and colorectal (HCT-116) cancer models. The toxicity of AgNPs towards cancer cells was confirmed by the expression pattern of apoptotic (p53, Bax, caspase-3) and antiapoptotic (BCl-2) genes by RT-PCR. The cell viability assay showed an IC50 value of 5.44 and 9.54 µg/mL for AgNPs in MCF-7 and HCT-116 cell lines respectively. We also observed cell migration inhibiting potential of AgNPs in a concentration-dependent manner in MCF-7 cell lines. A tremendous rise (150–250%) in the production of ROS was observed as a result of AgNPs treatment compared with control. Moreover, the RT-PCR results indicated the difference in expression levels of pro/antiapoptotic proteins in both cancer cells. All these results indicate that cell death observed by us is mediated by ROS production, which might have altered the cellular redox status. Collectively, we report the antimetastasis potential of biogenic synthesized AgNPs against breast and colorectal cancers. The biogenic synthesis of AgNPs seems to be a promising anticancer therapy with greater efficacy against the studied cell lines.


2021 ◽  
Vol 552 ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
Alain Aguilar-Valdés ◽  
Lilia G. Noriega ◽  
Armando R. Tovar ◽  
María de J. Ibarra-Sánchez ◽  
Víctor A. Sosa-Hernández ◽  
...  

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1201
Author(s):  
Garri Manasaryan ◽  
Dmitry Suplatov ◽  
Sergey Pushkarev ◽  
Viktor Drobot ◽  
Alexander Kuimov ◽  
...  

The PARP family consists of 17 members with diverse functions, including those related to cancer cells’ viability. Several PARP inhibitors are of great interest as innovative anticancer drugs, but they have low selectivity towards distinct PARP family members and exert serious adverse effects. We describe a family-wide study of the nicotinamide (NA) binding site, an important functional region in the PARP structure, using comparative bioinformatic analysis and molecular modeling. Mutations in the NA site and D-loop mobility around the NA site were identified as factors that can guide the design of selective PARP inhibitors. Our findings are of particular importance for the development of novel tankyrase (PARPs 5a and 5b) inhibitors for cancer therapy.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reham Samir Hamida ◽  
Gadah Albasher ◽  
Mashael Mohammed Bin-Meferij

Green nanoparticles represent a revolution in bionanotechnology, providing opportunities to fight life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, with less risk to the environment and to human health. Here, for the first time, we systematically investigated the anticancer activity and possible mechanism of novel silver nanoparticles (N-SNPs) synthesized by Nostoc Bahar M against the MCF-7 breast cancer cells, HCT-116 colorectal adenocarcinoma cells, and HepG2 liver cancer cells, using cell viability assays, morphological characterization with inverted light and transmission electron microscopy, antioxidants and enzymes (glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione (GSH), adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)), and western blotting (protein kinase B (Akt), phosphorylated-Akt (p-Akt), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), tumor suppressor (p53), and caspase 3). N-SNPs decreased the viability of MCF-7, HCT-116, and HepG2 cells, with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations of 54, 56, and 80 µg/mL, respectively. They also significantly increased LDH leakage, enhanced oxidative stress via effects on antioxidative markers, and caused metabolic stress by significantly decreasing ATPase levels. N-SNPs caused extensive ultrastructural alterations in cell and nuclear structures, as well as in various organelles. Furthermore, N-SNPs triggered apoptosis via the activation of caspase 3 and p53, and suppressed the mTOR signaling pathway via downregulating apoptosis-evading proteins in MCF-7, HCT-116, and HepG2 cells. Ultrastructural analysis, together with biochemical and molecular analyses, revealed that N-SNPs enhanced apoptosis via the induction of oxidative stress and/or through direct interactions with cellular structures in all tested cells. The cytotoxicity of Nostoc-mediated SNPs represents a new strategy for cancer treatment via targeting various cell death pathways. However, the potential of N-SNPs to be usable and biocompatible anticancer drug will depend on their toxicity against normal cells.


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