Cordycepin induces human lung cancer cell apoptosis by inhibiting nitric oxide mediated ERK/Slug signaling pathway.

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule and a component of the inflammatory cascade. Besides, it is also involved in tumorigenesis. Aberrant upregulation and activation of the ERK cascade by NO often leads to tumor cell development. However, the role of ERK inactivation induced by the negative regulation of NO during apoptosis is not completely understood. In this study, treatment of A549 and PC9 human lung adenocarcinoma cell lines with cordycepin led to a reduction in their viability. Analysis of the effect of cordycepin treatment on ERK/Slug signaling activity in the A549 cell line revealed that LPS-induced inflammatory microenvironments could stimulate the expression of TNF-α, CCL5, IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8 and upregulate NO, phospho-ERK (p-ERK), and Slug expression. In addition, constitutive expression of NO was observed. Cordycepin inhibited LPS-induced stimulation of iNOS, NO, p-ERK, and Slug expression. L-NAME, an inhibitor of NOS, inhibited p-ERK and Slug expression. It was also found that cordycepin-mediated inhibition of ERK downregulated Slug, whereas overexpression of ERK led to an upregulation of Slug levels in the cordycepin-treated A549 cells. Inhibition of Slug by siRNA induced Bax and caspase-3, leading to cordycepin-induced apoptosis. Cordycepin-mediated inhibition of ERK led to a reduction in phospho-GSK3ß (p-GSK3ß) and Slug levels, whereas LiCl, an inhibitor of GSK3ß, upregulated p-GSK3ß and Slug. Overall, the results obtained indicate that cordycepin inhibits the ERK/Slug signaling pathway through the activation of GSK3ß which, in turn, upregulates Bax, leading to apoptosis of the lung cancer cells.

Cordycepin induces apoptosis by caveolin-1-mediated JNK regulation of Foxo3a in human lung adenocarcinoma.

Forkhead transcription factor (Foxo3a) is a downstream effector of JNK-induced tumor suppression. However, it is not clear whether the caveolin-1 (CAV1)-mediated JNK/Foxo3a pathway is involved in cancer cell apoptosis. We found that cordycepin upregulates CAV1 expression, which was accompanied by JNK phosphorylation (p-JNK) and subsequent Foxo3a translocation into the nucleus, resulting in the upregulation of Bax protein expression. Furthermore, we found that CAV1 overexpression upregulated p-JNK, whereas CAV1 siRNA downregulated p-JNK. Additionally, SP600125, a specific JNK inhibitor, significantly increased Foxo3a phosphorylation, which downregulated Foxo3a translocation into the nucleus, indicating that CAV1 mediates JNK regulation of Foxo3a. Foxo3a siRNA downregulated Bax protein and attenuated A549 apoptosis, indicating that the CAV1-mediated JNK/Foxo3a pathway induces the apoptosis of A549 lung cancer cells. Cordycepin significantly decreased tumor volume in nude mice. Taken together, these results indicate that cordycepin promotes CAV1 upregulation to enhance JNK/Foxo3a signaling pathway activation, inducing apoptosis in lung cancer cells, and support its potential as a therapeutic agent for lung cancer.

Cordycepin promotes apoptosis by modulating the ERK-JNK signaling pathway via DUSP5 in renal cancer cells.

Constitutive activation of extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK)-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling commonly occurs in tumors. The activation of ERK promotes cell proliferation, whereas that of JNK induces cell apoptosis. However, the apoptotic mechanism of ERK-JNK signaling in cancer is not well understood. Recently, we identified that apoptosis and activation of the JNK signaling pathway were induced after cordycepin treatment in human renal cancer, suggesting that JNK signaling might contribute to TK-10 cell apoptosis. We investigated the apoptotic effects of cordycepin by evaluating the activation of the ERK-JNK signaling pathway in renal cancer TK-10 cells. We found that cordycepin downregulated ERK and DUSP5, upregulated phosphorylated-JNK (p-JNK), and induced apoptosis. Moreover, we showed that siRNA-mediated inhibition of ERK downregulated DUSP5, whereas ERK overexpression upregulated DUSP5, and that DUSP5 knockdown by siRNA upregulated p-JNK. The JNK-specific inhibitor SP600125 upregulated nuclear translocation of ß-catenin, and downregulated Dickkopf-1 (Dkk1), which has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of Wnt signaling. Dkk1 knockdown by siRNA upregulated nuclear ß-catenin, suggesting the involvement of the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. DUSP5 overexpression in TK-10 cells decreased p-JNK and increased nuclear ß-catenin. The decreased Bax activation markedly protected against cordycepin-induced apoptosis. Bax subfamily proteins induced apoptosis through caspase-3. Taken together, we show that JNK signaling activation by cordycepin mediated ERK inhibition, which might have induced Bax translocation and caspase-3 activation via regulation of DUSP5 in TK-10 cells, thereby promoting the apoptosis of TK-10 cells. Targeting ERK-JNK signaling via the apoptotic effects of cordycepin could be a potential therapeutic strategy to treat renal cancer.

Caveolin-1-dependent and -independent uPAR signaling pathways contribute to ganglioside GT1b induced early apoptosis in A549 lung cancer cells.

Urokinase receptor interacts with α5ß1-integrin and enhances cancer cell proliferation and metastasis. Activation of α5ß1-integrin requires caveolin-1 and is regulated by uPAR, which upregulates persistently the activated ERK necessary for tumor growth. In this study, we show that the ganglioside GT1b induces proapoptotic signaling through two uPAR-ERK signaling pathways in A549 lung cancer cells. GT1b downregulated the expression of α5ß1 integrin, caveolin-1, fibronectin, FAK, and ERK, whereas GT1b upregulated the expression of p53 and uPAR, suggesting GT1b mediated depletion of caveolin-1 in uPAR-expressing A549 cells also disrupts uPAR/integrin complexes, resulting in downregulation of fibronectin-α5ß1-integrin-ERK signaling. Following p53 siRNA treatment, FAK and ERK expression was recovered, meaning the presence of reentry uPAR-FAK-ERK signaling pathway. These findings reveal that GT1b is involved in both caveolin-1-dependent uPAR-α5ß1-integrin-ERK signaling and caveolin-1-independent uPAR-FAK-ERK signaling. These results suggest a novel function of GT1b as a dual regulator of ERK by modulating caveolin-1 and p53.