scholarly journals Glucocorticoids regulate cancer cell dormancy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Prekovic ◽  
Karianne Schuurman ◽  
Anna González Manjón ◽  
Mark Buijs ◽  
Isabel Mayayo Peralta ◽  
...  

AbstractThe glucocorticoid receptor directly regulates thousands of genes across the human genome in a cell-type specific manner, governing various aspects of homeostasis. The influence of the glucocorticoid receptor is also seen in various pathologies, including cancer, where it has been linked to tumorigenesis, metastasis, apoptosis resistance, and therapy bypass. Nonetheless, the direct genetic and molecular underpinnings of glucocorticoid action in cancer remain elusive. Here, we dissected the glucocorticoid receptor signalling axis and uncovered the mechanism of glucocorticoid-mediated cancer cell dormancy. Upon glucocorticoid receptor activation cancer cells undergo quiescence, subserved by cell cycle arrest through CDKN1C and reprogramming of signalling orchestrated via FOXO1/IRS2. Strikingly, co-expression of these three genes, directly regulated by glucocorticoid-induced chromatin looping, correlates with a benign molecular phenotype across human cancers, whereas triple loss is associated with increased expression of proliferation/aggressiveness markers. Finally, we show that the glucocorticoid receptor signalling axis is inactivated by alterations of either the chromatin remodelling complex or TP53 in vitro and in vivo. Our results indicate that the activation of the glucocorticoid receptor leads to cancer cell dormancy, which has several implications in terms of glucocorticoid use in cancer therapy.

Author(s):  
Xiao Xue Ke ◽  
Rui Zhang ◽  
Xi Zhong ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Hongjuan Cui

Glioblastoma is an aggressive and difficult to treat cancer. Recent data have emerged implicating that histone modification level may play a crucial role in glioma genesis. The histone lysine methyltransferase G9a is mainly responsible for the mono- and di-methylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9), whose overexpression is associated with a more aggressive phenotype in cancer. However, the detailed correlations between G9a and glioblastoma genesis remain to be further elucidated. Here, we show that G9a is essential for glioblastoma carcinogenesis and reveal a probable mechanism of it in cell proliferation control. We found that G9a was highly expressed in glioblastoma cells, and knockdown or inhibition of G9a significantly repressed cell proliferation and tumorigenesis ability both in vitro and in vivo. Besides, knockdown or inhibition of G9a led to a cell cycle arrest in G2 phase, as well as decreased the expression of CDK1, CDK2, Cyclin A2, and Cyclin B1, while it induced the activation of autophagy. Further investigation showed that G9a deficiency induced cell proliferation suppression, and activation of autophagy was rescued by overexpression of the full-length c-Myc. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay showed that G9a was enriched on the −2267 to −1949 region of the c-Myc promoter in LN-229 cells and the −1949 to −1630 region of the c-Myc promoter in U-87 MG cells. Dual-luciferase reporter assay showed that c-Myc promoter activity was significantly reduced after knockdown or inhibition of G9a. Our study shows that G9a controls glioblastoma cell proliferation by transcriptionally modulating oncogene c-Myc and provides insight into the capabilities of G9a working as a potential therapeutic target in glioblastoma.


Tumor Biology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 10793-10804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaoqin Duan ◽  
Bin Zhang ◽  
Chao Deng ◽  
Yu Cao ◽  
Fan Zhou ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 106 (17) ◽  
pp. 7233-7238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy O. Jones ◽  
Eric C. Bolton ◽  
Yong Huang ◽  
Clementine Feau ◽  
R. Kiplin Guy ◽  
...  

Androgen receptor (AR) inhibitors are used to treat multiple human diseases, including hirsutism, benign prostatic hypertrophy, and prostate cancer, but all available anti-androgens target only ligand binding, either by reduction of available hormone or by competitive antagonism. New strategies are needed, and could have an important impact on therapy. One approach could be to target other cellular mechanisms required for receptor activation. In prior work, we used a cell-based assay of AR conformation change to identify non-ligand inhibitors of AR activity. Here, we characterize 2 compounds identified in this screen: pyrvinium pamoate, a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug, and harmol hydrochloride, a natural product. Each compound functions by a unique, non-competitive mechanism and synergizes with competitive antagonists to disrupt AR activity. Harmol blocks DNA occupancy by AR, whereas pyrvinium does not. Pyrvinium inhibits AR-dependent gene expression in the prostate gland in vivo, and induces prostate atrophy. These results highlight new therapeutic strategies to inhibit AR activity.


1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 460-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
M H Kubbutat ◽  
K H Vousden

The p53 tumor suppressor protein is activated in cells in response to DNA damage and prevents the replication of cells sustaining genetic damage by inducing a cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. Activation of p53 is accompanied by stabilization of the protein, resulting in accumulation to high levels within the cell. p53 is normally degraded through the proteasome following ubiquitination, although the mechanisms which regulate this proteolysis in normal cells and how the p53 protein becomes stabilized following DNA damage are not well understood. We show here that p53 can also be a substrate for cleavage by the calcium-activated neutral protease, calpain, and that a preferential site for calpain cleavage exists within the N terminus of the p53 protein. Treatment of cells expressing wild-type p53 with an inhibitor of calpain resulted in the stabilization of the p53 protein. By contrast, in vitro or in vivo degradation mediated by human papillomavirus E6 protein was unaffected by the calpain inhibitor, indicating that the stabilization did not result from inhibition of the proteasome. These results suggest that calpain cleavage plays a role in regulating p53 stability.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenjian Zhuo ◽  
Jianyang Hu ◽  
Xiaolin Yang ◽  
Minfen Chen ◽  
Xueping Lei ◽  
...  

Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 2324
Author(s):  
Hemapriyadarshini Vadarevu ◽  
Ridhima Juneja ◽  
Zachary Lyles ◽  
Juan L. Vivero-Escoto

The use of nanoparticle-based materials to improve the efficacy of photodynamic therapy (PDT) to treat cancer has been a burgeoning field of research in recent years. Polysilsesquioxane (PSilQ) nanoparticles with remarkable features, such as high loading of photosensitizers, biodegradability, surface tunability, and biocompatibility, have been used for the treatment of cancer in vitro and in vivo using PDT. The PSilQ platform typically shows an enhanced PDT performance following a cell death mechanism similar to the parent photosensitizer. Ferroptosis is a new cell death mechanism recently associated with PDT that has not been investigated using PSilQ nanoparticles. Herein, we synthesized a protoporphyrin IX (PpIX)-based PSilQ platform (PpIX-PSilQ NPs) to study the cell death pathways, with special focus on ferroptosis, during PDT in vitro. Our data obtained from different assays that analyzed Annexin V binding, glutathione peroxidase activity, and lipid peroxidation demonstrate that the cell death in PDT using PpIX-PSilQ NPs is regulated by apoptosis and ferroptosis. These results can provide alternative approaches in designing PDT strategies to enhance therapeutic response in conditions stymied by apoptosis resistance.


1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 5952-5959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika E. Wallberg ◽  
Kristen E. Neely ◽  
Jan-Åke Gustafsson ◽  
Jerry L. Workman ◽  
Anthony P. H. Wright ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Previous studies have shown that the Ada adapter proteins are important for glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-mediated gene activation in yeast. The N-terminal transactivation domain of GR, τ1, is dependent upon Ada2, Ada3, and Gcn5 for transactivation in vitro and in vivo. Using in vitro techniques, we demonstrate that the GR-τ1 interacts directly with the native Ada containing histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complex SAGA but not the related Ada complex. Mutations in τ1 that reduce τ1 transactivation activity in vivo lead to a reduced binding of τ1 to the SAGA complex and conversely, mutations increasing the transactivation activity of τ1 lead to an increased binding of τ1 to SAGA. In addition, the Ada-independent NuA4 HAT complex also interacts with τ1. GAL4-τ1-driven transcription from chromatin templates is stimulated by SAGA and NuA4 in an acetyl coenzyme A-dependent manner. Low-activity τ1 mutants reduce SAGA- and NuA4-stimulated transcription while high-activity τ1 mutants increase transcriptional activation, specifically from chromatin templates. Our results demonstrate that the targeting of native HAT complexes by the GR-τ1 activation domain mediates transcriptional stimulation from chromatin templates.


Author(s):  
Raul I. Garcia ◽  
Evelyn A. Flynn ◽  
George Szabo

Skin pigmentation in mammals involves the interaction of epidermal melanocytes and keratinocytes in the structural and functional unit known as the Epidermal Melanin Unit. Melanocytes(M) synthesize melanin within specialized membrane-bound organelles, the melanosome or pigment granule. These are subsequently transferred by way of M dendrites to keratinocytes(K) by a mechanism still to be clearly defined. Three different, though not necessarily mutually exclusive, mechanisms of melanosome transfer have been proposed: cytophagocytosis by K of M dendrite tips containing melanosomes, direct injection of melanosomes into the K cytoplasm through a cell-to-cell pore or communicating channel formed by localized fusion of M and K cell membranes, release of melanosomes into the extracellular space(ECS) by exocytosis followed by K uptake using conventional phagocytosis. Variability in methods of transfer has been noted both in vivo and in vitro and there is evidence in support of each transfer mechanism. We Have previously studied M-K interactions in vitro using time-lapse cinemicrography and in vivo at the ultrastructural level using lanthanum tracer and freeze-fracture.


2006 ◽  
Vol 175 (4S) ◽  
pp. 257-257
Author(s):  
Jennifer Sung ◽  
Qinghua Xia ◽  
Wasim Chowdhury ◽  
Shabana Shabbeer ◽  
Michael Carducci ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 87-90
Author(s):  
S.V. Nikulin ◽  
V.A. Petrov ◽  
D.A. Sakharov

The real-time monitoring of electric capacitance (impedance spectroscopy) allowed obtaining evidence that structures which look like intestinal villi can be formed during the cultivation under static conditions as well as during the cultivation in microfluidic chips. It was shown in this work via transcriptome analysis that the Hh signaling pathway is involved in the formation of villus-like structures in vitro, which was previously shown for their formation in vivo. impedance spectroscopy, intestine, villi, electric capacitance, Hh The study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation (Project 16-19-10597).


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