Complement regulatory protein CD46 promotes bladder cancer metastasis through activation of MMP9.

CD46, a transmembrane protein known for protecting cells from complement­mediated damage, is frequently dysregulated in various types of cancer. Its overexpression in bladder cancers safeguards the cancer cells against both complement and antibody­mediated cytotoxicity. The present study explored a new role of CD46 in facilitating cancer cell invasion and metastasis, examining its regulatory effect on matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) and their effect on the metastatic capability of bladder cancer cells. Specifically, CD46 alteration positively influenced MMP9 expression, but not MMP2, in several bladder cancer cell lines. Furthermore, CD46 overexpression triggered phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and protein kinase B (AKT), leading to enhanced activator protein 1 (AP­1) activity via c­Jun upregulation. The inhibition of p38 or AKT pathways attenuated the CD46­induced MMP9 and AP­1 upregulation, indicating that the promotion of MMP9 by CD46 involved activating both p38 MAPK and AKT. Functionally, the upregulation of MMP9 by CD46 translated to increased migratory and invasive capabilities of bladder cancer cells, as well as enhanced in vivo metastasis. Overall, the present study revealed a novel role for CD46 as a metastasis promoter through MMP9 activation in bladder cancers and highlighted the regulatory mechanism of CD46­mediated MMP9 promotion via p38 MAPK and AKT activation.

Triptolide, a Cancer Cell Proliferation Inhibitor, Causes Zebrafish Muscle Defects by Regulating Notch and STAT3 Signaling Pathways.

Triptolide is a natural compound in herbal remedies with anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative properties. We studied its effects on critical signaling processes within the cell, including Notch1 and STAT3 signaling. Our research showed that triptolide reduces cancer cell proliferation by decreasing the expression of downstream targets of these signals. The levels of each signal-related protein and mRNA were analyzed using Western blot and qPCR methods. Interestingly, inhibiting one signal with a single inhibitor alone did not significantly reduce cancer cell proliferation. Instead, MTT assays showed that the simultaneous inhibition of Notch1 and STAT3 signaling reduced cell proliferation. The effect of triptolide was similar to a combination treatment with inhibitors for both signals. When we conducted a study on the impact of triptolide on zebrafish larvae, we found that it inhibited muscle development and interfered with muscle cell proliferation, as evidenced by differences in the staining of myosin heavy chain and F-actin proteins in confocal fluorescence microscopy. Additionally, we noticed that inhibiting a single type of signaling did not lead to any significant muscle defects. This implies that triptolide obstructs multiple signals simultaneously, including Notch1 and STAT3, during muscle development. Chemotherapy is commonly used to treat cancer, but it may cause muscle loss due to drug-related adverse reactions or other complex mechanisms. Our study suggests that anticancer agents like triptolide, inhibiting essential signaling pathways including Notch1 and STAT3 signaling, may cause muscle atrophy through anti-proliferative activity.

Comparison of Trends in Blood Pressure and the Prevalence of Obesity Among Korean and American Adolescents: A 12-Years Cross-sectional Study.

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to explore recent trends in the prevalence of pediatric elevated blood pressure and hypertension (HTN) in Korea and the United States, applying the new HTN reference values for adolescents. METHODS: This study analyzed 17 339 (8755 Korean and 8584 American) adolescents aged 10 to 17 who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, respectively, between 2005 and 2016. HTN was defined using percentile-based reference values for non-overweight adolescents from 7 nations, and obesity was defined by body mass index (BMI) based on country-specific growth charts. All analyses were stratified by sex and year-over-year changes were evaluated by calculating the p for trend. RESULTS: Systolic blood pressure showed a statistically meaningful upward trend in Korean boys and girls, while diastolic blood pressure did not show any significant changes. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels declined among United States boys and girls. The prevalence of elevated blood pressure and HTN remained similar in Korean adolescents, but declined in both sexes among United States adolescents. BMI increased in both sexes among Korean adolescents, although the overweight and obesity rates stayed the same. No significant trends were found in any obesity indices among United States adolescents. The prevalence of elevated blood pressure and HTN by obesity level was higher among Korean adolescents than among their United States peers in both sexes, and the gap became higher at more severe levels of obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the strong correlation between obesity and HTN, recent trends in the prevalence of HTN and obesity among Korean and United States adolescents were strikingly different. Follow-up studies are necessary to determine why the prevalence of HTN was more than twice as high among Korean adolescents than among their United States counterparts.

Zinc Inhibits Expression of Androgen Receptor to Suppress Growth of Prostate Cancer Cells.

The prostate gland contains a high level of intracellular zinc, which is dramatically diminished during prostate cancer (PCa) development. Owing to the unclear role of zinc in this process, therapeutic applications using zinc are limited. This study aimed to clarify the role of zinc and its underlying mechanism in the growth of PCa. ZnCl2 suppressed the proliferation of androgen receptor (AR)-retaining PCa cells, whereas it did not affect AR-deficient PCa cells. In LNCaP and TRAMP-C2 cells, zinc downregulated the expression of AR in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. Zinc-mediated AR suppression accordingly inhibited the androgen-mediated transactivation and expression of the androgen target, prostate specific antigen (PSA). This phenomenon resulted from facilitated protein degradation, not transcriptional control. In studies using mice bearing TRAMP-C2 subcutaneous tumors, the intraperitoneal injection of zinc significantly reduced tumor size. Analyses of both xenograft tumors and normal prostates showed reduced expression of AR and increased cell death. Considering the significant loss of intracellular zinc and the dominant growth-modulating role of AR during PCa development, loss of zinc may be a critical step in the transformation of normal cells to cancer cells. This study provides the underlying mechanism by which zinc functions as a PCa suppressor, and forms the foundation for developing zinc-mediated therapeutics for PCa.

Targeting CD46 Enhances Anti-Tumoral Activity of Adenovirus Type 5 for Bladder Cancer.

CD46 is generally overexpressed in many human cancers, representing a prime target for CD46-binding adenoviruses (Ads). This could help to overcome low anti-tumoral activity by coxsackie-adenoviral receptor (CAR)-targeting cancer gene therapy viruses. However, because of scarce side-by-side information about CAR and CD46 expression levels in cancer cells, mixed observations of cancer therapeutic efficacy have been observed. This study evaluated Ad-mediated therapeutic efficacy using either CAR-targeting Ad5 or CD46-targeting Ad5/35 fiber chimera in bladder cancer cell lines. Compared with normal urothelia, bladder cancer tissue generally overexpressed both CAR and CD46. While CAR expression was not correlated with disease progression, CD46 expression was inversely correlated with tumor grade, stage, and risk grade. In bladder cancer cell lines, expression levels of CD46 and CAR were highly correlated with Ad5/35- and Ad5-mediated gene transduction and cytotoxicity, respectively. In a human EJ bladder cancer xenograft mouse model, with either overexpressed or suppressed CD46 expression levels, Ad5/35-tk followed by ganciclovir (GCV) treatment significantly affected tumor growth, whereas Ad5-tk/GCV had only minimal effects. Overall, our findings suggest that bladder cancer cells overexpress both CAR and CD46, and that adenoviral cancer gene therapy targeting CD46 represents a more suitable therapy option than a CAR-targeting therapy, especially in patients with low risk bladder cancers.

Efficacy of CD46-targeting chimeric Ad5/35 adenoviral gene therapy for colorectal cancers.

CD46 is a complement inhibitor membrane cofactor which also acts as a receptor for various microbes, including species B adenoviruses (Ads). While most Ad gene therapy vectors are derived from species C and infect cells through coxsackie-adenovirus receptor (CAR), CAR expression is downregulated in many cancer cells, resulting inefficient Ad-based therapeutics. Despite a limited knowledge on the expression status of many cancer cells, an increasing number of cancer gene therapy studies include fiber-modified Ad vectors redirected to the more ubiquitously expressed CD46. Since our finding from tumor microarray indicate that CD46 was overexpressed in cancers of the prostate and colon, fiber chimeric Ad5/35 vectors that have infection tropism for CD46 were employed to demonstrate its efficacy in colorectal cancers (CRC). CD46-overexpressed cells showed a significantly higher response to Ad5/35-GFP and to Ad5/35-tk/GCV. While CRC cells express variable levels of CD46, CD46 expression was positively correlated with Ad5/35-mediated GFP fluorescence and accordingly its cell killing. Injection of Ad5/35-tk/GCV caused much greater tumor-suppression in mice bearing CD46-overexpressed cancer xenograft compared to mock group. Analysis of CRC samples revealed that patients with positive CD46 expression had a higher survival rate (p=0.031), carried tumors that were well-differentiated, but less invasive and metastatic, and with a low T stage (all p<0.05). Taken together, our study demonstrated that species B-based adenoviral gene therapy is a suitable approach for generally CD46-overexpressed CRC but would require careful consideration preceding CD46 analysis and categorizing CRC patients.

Cloning of the xylose reductase gene of Candida milleri.

The entire nucleotide sequence of the xylose reductase (XR) gene in Candida milleri CBS8195 sourdough yeast was determined by degenerate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genome walking. The sequence analysis revealed an open-reading frame of 981 bp that encoded 326 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 36.7 kDa. The deduced amino acid sequence of XR of C. milleri was 64.7% homologous to that of Kluyveromyces lactis. The cloned XR gene was expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the resulting recombinant S. cerevisiae strain produced xylitol from xylose, indicating that the C. milleri XR introduced into S. cerevisiae is functional. An enzymatic activity assay and semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR revealed that the expression of CmXR was induced by xylose.