scholarly journals Pericytes of Indirect Contact Coculture Decrease Integrity of Inner Blood-Retina Barrier Model In Vitro by Upgrading MMP-2/9 Activity

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Tianye Yang ◽  
Liang Guo ◽  
Yuan Fang ◽  
Mingli Liang ◽  
Yongzheng Zheng ◽  
...  

Inner blood-retina barrier (iBRB) is primarily formed of retinal microvascular endothelial cells (ECs) with tight junctions, which are surrounded and supported by retinal microvascular pericytes (RMPs) and basement membrane. Pericytes are believed to be critically involved in the physiology and pathology of iBRB. However, the underlying mechanism remains to be fully elucidated. We developed a novel in vitro iBRB model which was composed of primary cultures of rat retinal ECs and RMPs based on Transwell system. We tested the involvement of pericytes in the migration and invasion of ECs, examined the expression and activity of matrix metalloproteinase- (MMP-) 2/MMP-9 in the culture, evaluated the TEER and permeability of iBRB, and assessed the expression of ZO-1, occludin, claudin-5, and VE-cadherin of endothelial junctions. We found that RMPs with indirect contact of ECs can increase the expression of MMP-2 and upgrade the activity of MMP-2/9 in the coculture, which subsequently decreased TJ protein abundance of ZO-1 and occludin in ECs, promoted the migration of ECs, and finally reduced the integrity of iBRB. Taken together, our data show that RMP relative location with ECs is involved in the integrity of iBRB via MMP-2/9 and has important implications for treating diabetic retinopathy and other retinal disorders involving iBRB dysfunction.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunyang Li ◽  
Shuangqing Yang ◽  
Huaqing Ma ◽  
Mengjia Ruan ◽  
Luyan Fang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cervical cancer is a type of the most common gynecology tumor in women of the whole world. Accumulating data have shown that icariin (ICA), a natural compound, has anti-cancer activity in different cancers, including cervical cancer. The study aimed to reveal the antitumor effects and the possible underlying mechanism of ICA in U14 tumor-bearing mice and SiHa cells. Methods The antitumor effects of ICA were investigated in vivo and in vitro. The expression of TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways were evaluated. Results We found that ICA significantly suppressed tumor tissue growth and SiHa cells viability in a dose-dependent manner. Also, ICA enhanced the anti-tumor humoral immunity in vivo. Moreover, ICA significantly improved the composition of the microbiota in mice models. Additionally, the results clarified that ICA significantly inhibited the migration, invasion capacity, and expression levels of TGF-β1, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-17A, IL-10 in SiHa cells. Meanwhile, ICA was revealed to promote the apoptosis of cervical cancer cells by down-regulating Ki67, survivin, Bcl-2, c-Myc, and up-regulating P16, P53, Bax levels in vivo and in vitro. For the part of mechanism exploration, we showed that ICA inhibits the inflammation, proliferation, migration, and invasion, as well as promotes apoptosis and immunity in cervical cancer through impairment of TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB and Wnt/β-catenin pathways. Conclusions Taken together, ICA could be a potential supplementary agent for cervical cancer treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1466-1476
Author(s):  
Xuli Wang ◽  
Aiping Wang

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been reported to participate in the molecular mechanism of human cancers. This study investigates the role of circRNA hsa_circ_0000515 in gastric cancer (GC) cells and the underlying mechanism associated with microRNA-615-5p (miR-615-5p). qRT-PCR analysis showed the upregulation of hsa_circ_0000515 and downregulation of miR-615-5p in GC cell lines. Loss-of-function experiments indicated that suppression of hsa_circ_0000515 inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Dual-luciferase reporter assay highlighted that hsa_circ_0000515 was able to act as a ceRNA of miR-615-5p. Furthermore, hsa_circ_0000515 could interact with splicing factors and bind miR-615-5p to regulate progression of GC cells. Deficiency of miR-615-5p reverses the inhibitory roles of si-hsa_circ_0000515 on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of GC cells. The findings highlighted the promising uses of hsa_circ_0000515 as a likely novel target for gastric cancer treatment.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Ying Zhang ◽  
Xia Li ◽  
Ting Ting Huang ◽  
Mei Ling Xiang ◽  
Lin Lin Sun ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Long intergenic non-coding RNA 00839 (LINC00839) has been verified as a cancer-promoting gene in malignancies. However, the significance of LINC00839 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has yet to be elaborated, as well as its underlying mechanism.Methods LINC00839 and miR-454-3p relative expression levels in NPC cells were examined by qRT-PCR. The growth of cells was examined by CCK-8 and colony formation assays. Cell migration and invasion were examined by wound healing and Transwell experiment, respectively. The binding sequence of LINC00839 and miR-454-3p was confirmed by the luciferase reporter gene experiment. The regulatory function of LINC00839 and miR-454-3p on c-Met was investigated by western blot.Results Here, we revealed that LINC00839 was elevated in NPC. Both LINC00839 knockdown and upregulation of miR-454-3p suppressed NPC cells proliferation, invasive capacity and EMT in vitro. Besides, LINC00839 was validated as a miR-454-3p “sponge”, and upregulation of LINC00839 could reverse miR-454-3p-mediated functions in NPC C666-1 and SUNE-1 cells. Furthermore, c-Met was determined to be targeted by miR-454-3p. Notably, c-Met was downregulated by LINC00839 knockdown through sponging miR-454-3p. In vivo, LINC00839 knockdown resulted in a slower tumor growth.Conclusions Altogether, knockdown of LINC00839 inhibits the aggressive properties of NPC cells via sponging miR-454-3p and regulating c-Met.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Zheng ◽  
Bowen Zheng ◽  
Xue Meng ◽  
Yuwen Yan ◽  
Jia He ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC) is a most invasive cancer with high mortality and poor prognosis. It is reported that lncRNA DANCR has implications in multiple types of cancers. However, its biological role and underlying mechanism in TSCC progress are not well elucidated. Methods Our present study first investigated the function of DANCR on the proliferation, migration and invasion of TSCC cells by silencing or overexpressing DANCR. Further, the miR-135a-5p-Kruppel-like Factor 8 (KLF8) axis was focused on to explore the regulatory mechanism of DANCR on TSCC cell malignant phenotypes. Xenografted tumor growth using nude mice was performed to examine the role of DANCR in vivo. Results DANCR knockdown reduced the viability and inhibited the migration and invasion of TSCC cells in vitro, while ectopic expression of DANCR induced opposite effects. In vivo, the tumor growth and the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2/9 and KLF8 were also blocked by DANCR inhibition. In addition, we found that miR-135-5p directly targeted DANCR, which was negatively correlated with DANCR on TSCC progression. Its inhibition reversed the beneficial effects of DANCR silence on TSCC malignancies. Furthermore, the expression of KLF8 evidently altered by both DANCR and miR-135a-5p. Silencing KLF8 using its specific siRNA showed that KLF8 was responsible for the induction of miR-135a-5p inhibitor on TSCC cell malignancies and MMP-2/9 expression. Conclusions These findings, for the first time, suggest that DANCR plays an oncogenic role in TSCC progression via targeting miR-135a-5p/KLF8 axis, which provides a promising biomarker and treatment approach for preventing TSCC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Lina Zhao ◽  
Xianyu Zhang ◽  
Chunhai Zhang

Astrocytes respond to central nervous system (CNS) insults with varieties of changes, such as cellular hypertrophy, migration, proliferation, scar formation, and upregulation of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression. While scar formation plays a very important role in wound healing and prevents further bleeding by forming a physical barrier, it is also one of key features of CNS injury, resulting in glial scar formation (astrogliosis), which is closely related to treatment resistant epilepsy, chronic pain, and other devastating diseases. Therefore, slowing the astrocytic activation process may give a time window of axonal growth after the CNS injury. However, the underlying mechanism of astrocytic activation remains unclear, and there is no effective therapeutic strategy to attenuate the activation process. Here, we found that methimazole could effectively inhibit the GFAP expression in physiological and pathological conditions. Moreover, we scratched primary cultures of cerebral cortical astrocytes with and without methimazole pretreatment and investigated whether methimazole could slow the healing process in these cultures. We found that methimazole could inhibit the GFAP protein expression in scratched astrocytes and prolong the latency of wound healing in cultures. We also measured the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in these cultures and found that methimazole could significantly inhibit the scratch-induced GFAP upregulation. For the first time, our study demonstrated that methimazole might be a possible compound that could inhibit the astrocytic activation following CNS injury by reducing the ERK phosphorylation in astrocytes.


Author(s):  
Feng Jiang ◽  
Yan Shi ◽  
Hong Lu ◽  
Guojun Li

Armadillo repeat-containing protein 8 (ARMC8) plays an important role in regulating cell migration, proliferation, tissue maintenance, signal transduction, and tumorigenesis. However, the expression pattern and role of ARMC8 in osteosarcoma are still unclear. In this study, our aims were to examine the effects of ARMC8 on osteosarcoma and to explore its underlying mechanism. Our results demonstrated that ARMC8 was overexpressed in osteosarcoma cell lines. Knockdown of ARMC8 significantly inhibited osteosarcoma cell proliferation in vitro and markedly inhibited xenograft tumor growth in vivo. ARMC8 silencing also suppressed the epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) phenotype, as well as inhibited the migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells. Furthermore, knockdown of ARMC8 obviously inhibited the expression of β-catenin, c-Myc, and cyclin D1 in MG-63 cells. In conclusion, this report demonstrates that ARMC8 silencing inhibits proliferation and invasion of osteosarcoma cells. Therefore, ARMC8 may play an important role in the development and progression of human osteosarcoma and may represent a novel therapeutic target in the treatment of osteosarcoma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Chen ◽  
Meijun Li ◽  
Liang Wang

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent malignancies and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Besides, it has been revealed that long non-coding RNA (LncRNA) cancer susceptibility candidate 11 (CASC11) is involved in cancer progression. However, the functional role and underlying mechanism of CASC11 in HCC remains largely unknown. In this context, here, it was found that CASC11 was upregulated in HCC tissues and associated with tumor grades, metastasis, and prognosis of HCC patients. Functionally, CASC11 facilitated HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro, and enhanced tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. Mechanistically, CASC11 associated with and stabilized Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2T (UBE2T) mRNA. To be specific, it decreased UBE2T N6-methyladenosine (m6A) level via recruiting ALKBH5. Moreover, CASC11 inhibited the association between UBE2T mRNA and m6A reader protein YTHDF2. Taken together, our findings demonstrate the epigenetic mechanism of CASC11 in the regulation of UBE2T expression and possibly provide a novel therapeutic target for HCC treatment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Kun Wang ◽  
Qian Wang ◽  
Qinghao Li ◽  
Zhaoqiang Zhang ◽  
Jing Gao ◽  
...  

Glioblastoma is a highly invasive primary malignant tumor of the central nervous system. Cannabinoid analogue WIN 55,212-2 (WIN) exhibited a novel anticancer effect against human tumors. However, the anticancer potential and underlying mechanism of WIN against human glioma remain unclear. Herein, the anticancer efficiency and mechanism of WIN in U251 human glioma cells were investigated. The results showed that WIN dose-dependently inhibited U251 cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro. WIN treatment also effectively suppressed U251 tumor spheroids growth ex vivo. Further studies found that WIN induced significant apoptosis as convinced by the caspase-3 activation and release of cytochrome C. Mechanism investigation revealed that WIN triggered ROS-mediated DNA damage and caused dysfunction of VEGF-AKT/FAK signal axis. However, ROS inhibition effectively attenuated WIN-induced DNA damage and dysfunction of VEGF-AKT/FAK signal axis and eventually improved U251 cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Taken together, our findings validated that WIN had the potential to inhibit U251 cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and induce apoptosis by triggering ROS-dependent DNA damage and dysfunction of VEGF-AKT/FAK signal axis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Pan ◽  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Benseng Tang ◽  
Li Jing ◽  
Bing Qiu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Recently, it has been demonstrated that circular RNA (circRNA) contributes to the production and progression in human cancer. However, the specific function and underlying mechanism of circ_0028171 in osteosarcoma (OS) still remain largely unclear and require to be investigated. Methods In our study, we confirmed differentially expressed circRNAs by microarray analysis in normal bone cells vs. OS cell lines. The expression of circ-0028171 in OS was measured by qRT-PCR. Nuclear-cytoplasmic fractionation was employed to identify the localization of circ-0028171, and RNase R and actinomycin D treatment were used to prove its circular characteristic. In vitro experiments, such as CCK-8 method, cell count, cell colony formation, transwell migration and invasion assays, and in vivo tumor models were adopted to evaluate the effect of circ_0028171. Further, luciferase reporter, RIP and RNA pull-down assays were conducted to confirm the binding sites of circ_0028171 with miR-218-5p. Results We found that circ_0028171 displayed a remarkably higher expression in both OS tissues and cell lines. Circ_0028171 mainly located in the cytoplasm as a stable cyclic transcript. Knockdown of circ_0028171 suppressed OS tumor growth in vitro and in vivo, while up-regulated circ_0028171 remarkably enhanced cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities in OS. Several mechanistic experiments revealed that circ_0028171 served as a sponge of miR-218-5p to increase IKBKB expression. Conclusions our research reveals that circ_0028171 might promote the malignant behavior of OS tissues through miR-218-5p/IKBKB axis, which could be a potential novel marker for early diagnosis of OS.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e14631-e14631
Author(s):  
Hongyi Liu ◽  
Yuchi Liu ◽  
Hong Xiao ◽  
Mengjie Zhao ◽  
Yong Xiao

e14631 Background: Phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) has been detected overexpressed in many malignancies and usually correlated with increased tumorigenesis and poor survival. Our previous study revealed that PGK1 significantly up-regulated and positively correlated with cofilin-1 (CFL1) expression in radioresistant astrocytomas samples. However, the further mechanism remains unknown. Methods: In the present study, functional interactions among PGK1, chronophin (CIN) and CFL1 were analyzed by co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence experiments. Transfection of shRNA and pcDNA3.1-plasmid were respectively utilized to silence and overexpress PGK1 or CIN in both normal glioma cells (U251 and U373) and estabilshed radioresistant (RR-U251 and RR-U373) cells. The effect of PGK1 on CIN and CFL1 expression levels was investigated with Western-blot method; while the effect of PGK1 or CIN on radiosensitivity of glioma cells was evaluated using cell viability, migration and invasion assays after irradiation. Results: Cell proliferation, migration and invasion abilities significantly increased in RR-U251 and RR-U373 cells compared with those of normal cells, indicating the successful establishment of RR-glioma cell models. Laser confocal experiment in vitro showed the colocalization of PGK1 and CIN. Meanwhile, PGK1 specifically and directly combined with CIN, while did not interplay with CFL1. Elevated PGK1 expression level was observed in radioresistant cells compared with that of normal cells. The western blot analysis showed that CFL1 and CIN levels were positively correlated with the PGK1 expression in both normal and radioresistant cells. The proliferation, migration and invasion capabilities significantly decreased in PGK1-silenced and CIN-silenced glioma cells, indicating the improvement of the radiosensitivity of radioresistant cells. Conclusions: Our research implied the effect of CIN-mediated PGK1 regulation on CFL1 level, thereby altering the migration and invasion abilities in nomal and notably radioresistant glioma cells. These findings clarify a novel underlying mechanism of radioresistance in glioma cells and provide valid basis for further explorations concerning radiotherapy.


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