The Synergistic Reducing Drug Resistance Effect of Cisplatin and Ursolic Acid on Osteosarcoma through a Multistep Mechanism Involving Ferritinophagy

Increasing evidence suggests that traditional Chinese medicine strategies are obviously beneficial for cancer treatment, but scientific research on the underlying molecular mechanisms is lacking. We report that ursolic acid, a bioactive ingredient isolated from Radix Actinidiae chinensis, has strong antitumour effects on osteosarcoma cells. Functional studies showed that ursolic acid inhibited tumour cell proliferation and promoted the apoptosis of a variety of osteosarcoma cells. Ursolic acid had a synergistic cytotoxic effect with cisplatin on osteosarcoma cells. In a mouse osteosarcoma xenograft model, low-dose cisplatin combined with ursolic acid significantly reduced tumour growth. Notably, ursolic acid reversed weight loss in mice treated with cisplatin. Mechanistic studies showed that ursolic acid degraded ferritin by activating autophagy and induced intracellular overload of ferrous ions, leading to ferroptosis. In addition, ursolic acid enhanced the DNA-damaging effect of cisplatin on osteosarcoma cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that ursolic acid is a nontoxic adjuvant that may enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy in osteosarcoma.

Download Full-text

Platelet-derived lysophosphatidic acid mediated LPAR1 activation as a therapeutic target for osteosarcoma metastasis

Oncogene ◽

10.1038/s41388-021-01956-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Satoshi Takagi ◽

Yuki Sasaki ◽

Sumie Koike ◽

Ai Takemoto ◽

Yosuke Seto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Platelet Activation ◽

Pulmonary Metastasis ◽

Lysophosphatidic Acid ◽

Therapeutic Intervention ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Morphological Changes ◽

Osteosarcoma Cells ◽

Invasion And Metastasis ◽

Platelet Releasate

AbstractOsteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone cancer, with high rates of pulmonary metastasis. Osteosarcoma patients with pulmonary metastasis have worse prognosis than those with localized disease, leading to dramatically reduced survival rates. Therefore, understanding the biological characteristics of metastatic osteosarcoma and the molecular mechanisms of invasion and metastasis of osteosarcoma cells will lead to the development of innovative therapeutic intervention for advanced osteosarcoma. Here, we identified that osteosarcoma cells commonly exhibit high platelet activation-inducing characteristics, and molecules released from activated platelets promote the invasiveness of osteosarcoma cells. Given that heat-denatured platelet releasate maintained the ability to promote osteosarcoma invasion, we focused on heat-tolerant molecules, such as lipid mediators in the platelet releasate. Osteosarcoma-induced platelet activation leads to abundant lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) release. Exposure to LPA or platelet releasate induced morphological changes and increased invasiveness of osteosarcoma cells. By analyzing publicly available transcriptome datasets and our in-house osteosarcoma patient-derived xenograft tumors, we found that LPA receptor 1 (LPAR1) is notably upregulated in osteosarcoma. LPAR1 gene KO in osteosarcoma cells abolished the platelet-mediated osteosarcoma invasion in vitro and the formation of early pulmonary metastatic foci in experimental pulmonary metastasis models. Of note, the pharmacological inhibition of LPAR1 by the orally available LPAR1 antagonist, ONO-7300243, prevented pulmonary metastasis of osteosarcoma in the mouse models. These results indicate that the LPA–LPAR1 axis is essential for the osteosarcoma invasion and metastasis, and targeting LPAR1 would be a promising therapeutic intervention for advanced osteosarcoma.

Download Full-text

Local anesthetics impair the growth and self-renewal of glioblastoma stem cells by inhibiting ZDHHC15-mediated GP130 palmitoylation

Stem Cell Research & Therapy ◽

10.1186/s13287-021-02175-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoqing Fan ◽

Haoran Yang ◽

Chenggang Zhao ◽

Lizhu Hu ◽

Delong Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Stem Cells ◽

Western Blot ◽

Local Anesthetics ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Biological Activities ◽

Xenograft Model ◽

Cell Counting ◽

Migration And Invasion ◽

Self Renewal

Abstract Background A large number of preclinical studies have shown that local anesthetics have a direct inhibitory effect on tumor biological activities, including cell survival, proliferation, migration, and invasion. There are few studies on the role of local anesthetics in cancer stem cells. This study aimed to determine the possible role of local anesthetics in glioblastoma stem cell (GSC) self-renewal and the underlying molecular mechanisms. Methods The effects of local anesthetics in GSCs were investigated through in vitro and in vivo assays (i.e., Cell Counting Kit 8, spheroidal formation assay, double immunofluorescence, western blot, and xenograft model). The acyl-biotin exchange method (ABE) assay was identified proteins that are S-acylated by zinc finger Asp-His-His-Cys-type palmitoyltransferase 15 (ZDHHC15). Western blot, co-immunoprecipitation, and liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer-mass spectrometry assays were used to explore the mechanisms of ZDHHC15 in effects of local anesthetics in GSCs. Results In this study, we identified a novel mechanism through which local anesthetics can damage the malignant phenotype of glioma. We found that local anesthetics prilocaine, lidocaine, procaine, and ropivacaine can impair the survival and self-renewal of GSCs, especially the classic glioblastoma subtype. These findings suggest that local anesthetics may weaken ZDHHC15 transcripts and decrease GP130 palmitoylation levels and membrane localization, thus inhibiting the activation of IL-6/STAT3 signaling. Conclusions In conclusion, our work emphasizes that ZDHHC15 is a candidate therapeutic target, and local anesthetics are potential therapeutic options for glioblastoma.

Download Full-text

A novel humanized Frizzled-7-targeting antibody enhances antitumor effects of Bevacizumab against triple-negative breast cancer via blocking Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research ◽

10.1186/s13046-020-01800-x ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Wei Xie ◽

Huijie Zhao ◽

Fengxian Wang ◽

Yiyun Wang ◽

Yuan He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Triple Negative ◽

Vasculogenic Mimicry ◽

Xenograft Model ◽

Luciferase Reporter ◽

Antitumor Effects ◽

Mouse Xenograft Model

Abstract Background Anti-angiogenic therapy has been widely applied to the clinical treatment of malignant tumors. However, the efficacy of such treatments has been called into question, especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Bevacizumab, the first anti-angiogenic agent approved by FDA, actually increases invasive and metastatic properties of TNBC cells, resulting from the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in response to hypoxia. As a critical receptor of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, Frizzled-7 (Fzd7) is aberrantly expressed in TNBC, indicating Fzd7 a potential target for developing drugs to be combined with anti-angiogenic agents. Methods Hybridoma technique and antibody humanization technique were utilized to generate a Fzd7-targeting antibody (SHH002-hu1). Biolayer interferometry (BLI) assay and near infrared (NIR) imaging were conducted to detect the affinity and targeting ability of SHH002-hu1. Next, whether SHH002-hu1 could suppress the invasion and migration of TNBC cells induced by Bevacizumab were validated, and the underlying molecular mechanisms were elucidated by luciferase reporter and western blot assays. The nude-mice transplanted TNBC models were established to assess the anti-TNBC activities of SHH002-hu1 when combined with Bevacizumab. Then, the effects on putative TNBC stem-like cells and Wnt/β-catenin signaling were evaluated by immunofluorescence (IF). Further, the tumor-initiating and self-renew capacity of TNBC cells were studied by secondary nude mouse xenograft model and sphere formation assay. In addition, the effects of SHH002-hu1 on the adaptation of TNBC cells to hypoxia were evaluated by the detection of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) transcriptional activity. Results The novel humanized antibody targeting Fzd7 (SHH002-hu1) exhibited extremely high affinity with Fzd7, and specifically targeted to Fzd7+ cells and tumor tissues. SHH002-hu1 repressed invasion, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal cell transformation (EMT) of TNBC cells induced by Bevacizumab through abating Wnt/β-catenin signaling. SHH002-hu1 significantly enhanced the capacity of Bevacizumab to inhibit the growth of TNBC via reducing the subpopulation of putative TNBC stem-like cells, further attenuating Bevacizumab-enhanced tumor-initiating and self-renew capacity of TNBC cells. Moreover, SHH002-hu1 effectively restrained the adaptation of TNBC cells to hypoxia via disrupting Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Conclusion SHH002-hu1 significantly enhances the anti-TNBC capacity of Bevacizumab, and shows the potential of preventing TNBC recurrence, suggesting SHH002-hu1 a good candidate for the synergistic therapy together with Bevacizumab.

Download Full-text

LncRNA SNHG15 contributes to doxorubicin resistance of osteosarcoma cells through targeting the miR-381-3p/GFRA1 axis

Open Life Sciences ◽

10.1515/biol-2020-0086 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 871-883

Author(s):

Jinshan Zhang ◽

Dan Rao ◽

Haibo Ma ◽

Defeng Kong ◽

Xiaoming Xu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cell Lines ◽

Noncoding Rna ◽

Xenograft Model ◽

Inhibitory Effect ◽

Cell Counting ◽

Luciferase Reporter ◽

Osteosarcoma Cell ◽

Osteosarcoma Cells

AbstractBackgroundOsteosarcoma is a common primary malignant bone cancer. Long noncoding RNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 15 (SNHG15) has been reported to play an oncogenic role in many cancers. Nevertheless, the role of SNHG15 in the doxorubicin (DXR) resistance of osteosarcoma cells has not been fully addressed.MethodsCell Counting Kit-8 assay was conducted to measure the half-maximal inhibitory concentration value of DXR in osteosarcoma cells. Western blotting was carried out to examine the levels of autophagy-related proteins and GDNF family receptor alpha-1 (GFRA1). Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was performed to determine the levels of SNHG15, miR-381-3p, and GFRA1. The proliferation of osteosarcoma cells was measured by MTT assay. The binding sites between miR-381-3p and SNHG15 or GFRA1 were predicted by Starbase bioinformatics software, and the interaction was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Murine xenograft model was established to validate the function of SNHG15 in vivo.ResultsAutophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine sensitized DXR-resistant osteosarcoma cell lines to DXR. SNHG15 was upregulated in DXR-resistant osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines. SNHG15 knockdown inhibited the proliferation, DXR resistance, and autophagy of osteosarcoma cells. MiR-381-3p was a direct target of SNHG15, and GFRA1 bound to miR-381-3p in osteosarcoma cells. SNHG15 contributed to DXR resistance through the miR-381-3p/GFRA1 axis in vitro. SNHG15 depletion contributed to the inhibitory effect of DXR on osteosarcoma tumor growth through the miR-381-3p/GFRA1 axis in vivo.ConclusionsSNHG15 enhanced the DXR resistance of osteosarcoma cells through elevating the autophagy via targeting the miR-381-3p/GFRA1 axis. Restoration of miR-381-3p expression might be an underlying therapeutic strategy to overcome the DXR resistance of osteosarcoma.

Download Full-text

Ionizing Radiation and Translation Control: A Link to Radiation Hormesis?

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms21186650 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (18) ◽

pp. 6650

Author(s):

Usha Kabilan ◽

Tyson E. Graber ◽

Tommy Alain ◽

Dmitry Klokov

Keyword(s):

Protein Synthesis ◽

Ionizing Radiation ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Low Dose ◽

Mrna Translation ◽

Cellular Responses ◽

Translation Control ◽

Cis Acting ◽

Radiation Hormesis ◽

Downstream Signaling

Protein synthesis, or mRNA translation, is one of the most energy-consuming functions in cells. Translation of mRNA into proteins is thus highly regulated by and integrated with upstream and downstream signaling pathways, dependent on various transacting proteins and cis-acting elements within the substrate mRNAs. Under conditions of stress, such as exposure to ionizing radiation, regulatory mechanisms reprogram protein synthesis to translate mRNAs encoding proteins that ensure proper cellular responses. Interestingly, beneficial responses to low-dose radiation exposure, known as radiation hormesis, have been described in several models, but the molecular mechanisms behind this phenomenon are largely unknown. In this review, we explore how differences in cellular responses to high- vs. low-dose ionizing radiation are realized through the modulation of molecular pathways with a particular emphasis on the regulation of mRNA translation control.

Download Full-text

Ursolic acid inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis by inactivating Wnt/β-catenin signaling in human osteosarcoma cells

International Journal of Oncology ◽

10.3892/ijo.2016.3701 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 49 (5) ◽

pp. 1973-1982 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Ran-Xi Zhang ◽

Yang Li ◽

Dong-Dong Tian ◽

Yang Liu ◽

Wu Nian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ursolic Acid ◽

Osteosarcoma Cells ◽

Human Osteosarcoma ◽

Human Osteosarcoma Cells

Download Full-text

Low dose gemcitabine increases the cytotoxicity of human γδT cell in in vitro and in an orthotopic xenograft model in bladder cancer

European Urology Supplements ◽

10.1016/s1569-9056(18)31291-0 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. e650-e651

Author(s):

T. Shimizu ◽

M. Miyashita ◽

M. Tomogane ◽

O. Ukimura ◽

E. Ashihara

Keyword(s):

Bladder Cancer ◽

Low Dose ◽

Xenograft Model ◽

Orthotopic Xenograft ◽

Γδt Cell ◽

Orthotopic Xenograft Model

Download Full-text

Stable transfer and restricted expression of a cloned class I gene encoding a secreted transplantation-like antigen

Molecular and Cellular Biology ◽

10.1128/mcb.5.6.1295-1300.1985 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 5 (6) ◽

pp. 1295-1300

Author(s):

Y Barra ◽

K Tanaka ◽

K J Isselbacher ◽

G Khoury ◽

G Jay

Keyword(s):

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Cell Types ◽

Class I ◽

Regulatory Sequences ◽

Transcriptional Enhancer ◽

Gene Encoding ◽

Specific Expression ◽

Tissue Specific ◽

Functional Studies ◽

I Gene

The identification of a unique major histocompatibility complex class I gene, designated Q10, which encodes a secreted rather than a cell surface antigen has led to questions regarding its potential role in regulating immunological functions. Since the Q10 gene is specifically activated only in the liver, we sought to define the molecular mechanisms which control its expression in a tissue-specific fashion. Results obtained by transfection of the cloned Q10 gene, either in the absence or presence of a heterologous transcriptional enhancer, into a variety of cell types of different tissue derivations are consistent with the Q10 gene being regulated at two levels. The first is by a cis-dependent mechanism which appears to involve site-specific DNA methylation. The second is by a trans-acting mechanism which would include the possibility of an enhancer binding factor. The ability to efficiently express the Q10 gene in certain transfected cell lines offers an opportunity to obtain this secreted class I antigen in quantities sufficient for functional studies; this should also make it possible to define regulatory sequences which may be responsible for the tissue-specific expression of Q10.

Download Full-text

Parallel molecular mechanisms for enzyme temperature adaptation

Science ◽

10.1126/science.aay2784 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 371 (6533) ◽

pp. eaay2784

Author(s):

Margaux M. Pinney ◽

Daniel A. Mokhtari ◽

Eyal Akiva ◽

Filip Yabukarski ◽

David M. Sanchez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Interaction Networks ◽

Temperature Adaptation ◽

Mechanistic Studies ◽

Sequence Analyses ◽

Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽

Ketosteroid Isomerase ◽

Physical Mechanisms ◽

Bacterial Enzyme ◽

Enzyme Families

The mechanisms that underly the adaptation of enzyme activities and stabilities to temperature are fundamental to our understanding of molecular evolution and how enzymes work. Here, we investigate the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms of enzyme temperature adaption, combining deep mechanistic studies with comprehensive sequence analyses of thousands of enzymes. We show that temperature adaptation in ketosteroid isomerase (KSI) arises primarily from one residue change with limited, local epistasis, and we establish the underlying physical mechanisms. This residue change occurs in diverse KSI backgrounds, suggesting parallel adaptation to temperature. We identify residues associated with organismal growth temperature across 1005 diverse bacterial enzyme families, suggesting widespread parallel adaptation to temperature. We assess the residue properties, molecular interactions, and interaction networks that appear to underly temperature adaptation.

Download Full-text