RESUMO
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most aggressive primary brain tumor due to the lack of effective therapeutic drugs. Cancer therapy targeting programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) or programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) is of revolutionary. However, the role of intrinsic PD-L1, which determines immune-therapy outcomes, remains largely unclear. Here we demonstrated an oncogenic role of PD-L1 via binding and activating Ras in GBM cells. RNA-sequencing transcriptome data revealed that PD-L1 significantly altered gene expression enriched in cell growth/migration/invasion pathways in human GBM cells. PD-L1 overexpression and knockout or knockdown demonstrated that PD-L1 promoted GBM cell proliferation and migration in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, PD-L1 prominently activated epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in a MEK/Erk- but not PI3K/Akt-dependent manner. Further, we identified intracellular interactions of PD-L1 and H-Ras, which led to Ras/Erk/EMT activation. Finally, we demonstrated that PD-L1 overexpression promoted while knockdown abolished GBM development and invasion in orthotopic GBM models of rodents. Taken together, we found that intracellular PD-L1 confers GBM cell malignancy and aggressiveness via binding Ras and activating the downstream Erk-EMT signaling. Thus, these results shed important insights in improving efficacy of immune therapy for GBM as well as other malignant tumors.
Assuntos
Antígeno B7-H1/metabolismo , Transição Epitelial-Mesenquimal , Glioblastoma/metabolismo , Sistema de Sinalização das MAP Quinases , Animais , Antígeno B7-H1/genética , MAP Quinases Reguladas por Sinal Extracelular/genética , MAP Quinases Reguladas por Sinal Extracelular/metabolismo , Glioblastoma/genética , Glioblastoma/patologia , Humanos , Gelo , Masculino , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Camundongos Nus , Fosfatidilinositol 3-Quinases/genética , Fosfatidilinositol 3-Quinases/metabolismo , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-akt/metabolismo , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas p21(ras)/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas p21(ras)/metabolismo , Ratos , Ratos Sprague-DawleyRESUMO
Cerebral ischemia causes severe cell death or injury including axon breakdown or retraction in the brain. Axon regeneration is crucial for the functional recovery of injured neurons or brains after ischemia/reperfusion (I/R); however, this process has been proved extremely difficult in adult brains and there is still no effective therapy for it. Here we reported that neuroglobin (Ngb), a novel oxygen-binding or sensor protein existing predominantly in neurons or brains, functions as a driving factor for axon regeneration during I/R. Ngb was upregulated and accumulated in growth cones of ischemic neurons in primary cultures, rat, and human brains, correlating positively to the elevation of axon-regeneration markers GAP43, neurofilament-200, and Tau-1. Ngb overexpression promoted while Ngb knockdown suppressed axon regeneration as well as GAP43 expression in neurons during oxygen-glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/Re). By using specific pharmacological inhibitors, we identified p38 MAPK as the major downstream player of Ngb-induced axon regeneration during OGD/Re. Mechanistically, Ngb directly bound to and activated p38 in neurons upon OGD/Re. Serial truncation and point mutation of Ngb revealed that the 7-105 aa fragment of Ngb was required and the oxygen-binding site (His64) of Ngb was the major regulatory site for its p38 interaction/activation. Finally, administration of exogenous TAT-Ngb peptides significantly enhanced axon regeneration in cultured neurons upon OGD/Re. Taken together, Ngb promotes axon regeneration via O2-Ngb-p38-GAP43 signaling during I/R. This novel mechanism suggests potential therapeutic applications of Ngb for ischemic stroke and other related axonopathy.
Assuntos
Axônios/fisiologia , Isquemia Encefálica/enzimologia , Regeneração Nervosa , Neuroglobina/metabolismo , Oxigênio/metabolismo , Traumatismo por Reperfusão/enzimologia , Proteínas Quinases p38 Ativadas por Mitógeno/metabolismo , Animais , Sítios de Ligação , Membrana Celular/metabolismo , Ativação Enzimática , Glucose/deficiência , Humanos , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Peptídeos/metabolismo , Ligação Proteica , Regulação para CimaRESUMO
Piperlongumine (PL), a natural alkaloid isolated from longer pepper plants, is recently found to be a potent selective anti-cancer compound. We first tested its anti-cancer effects on bladder cancer, the fifth most common and aggressive cancer worldwide, to further explore the therapeutic spectrum and molecular mechanisms of PL. PL significantly suppressed bladder cancer cell proliferation, the transition of G2/M phase to next phase, migration/invasion in vitro and bladder cancer growth/development in vivo. PL markedly elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the administration of antioxidants abolished PL induced cell proliferation inhibition, G2/M phase arrest and migration suppression on bladder cancer cells. In vivo studies demonstrated that PL inhibited epithelial mesenchymal transition with profoundly decreased level of Slug, ß-catenin, ZEB1 and N-Cadherin. Further, we first reported PL effects on cytoskeleton with prominently reduced lamellipodia formation and decreased F-actin intensity in bladder cancer cells. Taken together, our results first revealed that PL suppressed bladder cancer proliferation and migration in vivo and in vitro, suggesting novel mechanism underlying PL's anti-cancer effect and providing a new anticancer drug strategy for bladder cancer therapy.
Assuntos
Antineoplásicos Fitogênicos/farmacologia , Dioxolanos/farmacologia , Neoplasias da Bexiga Urinária/tratamento farmacológico , Actinas/metabolismo , Alcaloides/farmacologia , Animais , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Movimento Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Proliferação de Células/efeitos dos fármacos , Transição Epitelial-Mesenquimal/efeitos dos fármacos , Feminino , Humanos , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos BALB C , Camundongos Nus , Invasividade Neoplásica/prevenção & controle , Espécies Reativas de Oxigênio/metabolismo , Transdução de Sinais/efeitos dos fármacos , Neoplasias da Bexiga Urinária/metabolismo , Neoplasias da Bexiga Urinária/patologia , Ensaios Antitumorais Modelo de XenoenxertoRESUMO
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive brain tumor with a median survival time of only 14 months after treatment. It is urgent to find new therapeutic drugs that increase survival time of GBM patients. To achieve this goal, we screened differentially expressed genes between long-term and short-term survived GBM patients from Gene Expression Omnibus database and found gene expression signature for the long-term survived GBM patients. The signaling networks of all those differentially expressed genes converged to protein binding, extracellular matrix and tissue development as revealed in BiNGO and Cytoscape. Drug repositioning in Connectivity Map by using the gene expression signature identified repaglinide, a first-line drug for diabetes mellitus, as the most promising novel drug for GBM. In vitro experiments demonstrated that repaglinide significantly inhibited the proliferation and migration of human GBM cells. In vivo experiments demonstrated that repaglinide prominently prolonged the median survival time of mice bearing orthotopic glioma. Mechanistically, repaglinide significantly reduced Bcl-2, Beclin-1 and PD-L1 expression in glioma tissues, indicating that repaglinide may exert its anti-cancer effects via apoptotic, autophagic and immune checkpoint signaling. Taken together, repaglinide is likely to be an effective drug to prolong life span of GBM patients.
Assuntos
Carbamatos/farmacologia , Carbamatos/uso terapêutico , Glioblastoma/tratamento farmacológico , Piperidinas/farmacologia , Piperidinas/uso terapêutico , Animais , Carbamatos/administração & dosagem , Sobrevivência Celular/efeitos dos fármacos , Modelos Animais de Doenças , Relação Dose-Resposta a Droga , Glioblastoma/metabolismo , Glioblastoma/patologia , Humanos , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Piperidinas/administração & dosagem , Relação Estrutura-Atividade , Células Tumorais CultivadasRESUMO
Mammalian 14-3-3 isoforms exist predominantly in the brain and are heavily involved in neurological diseases. However, the isoform-specific role of 14-3-3 proteins in the brain remains largely unclear. Here, we investigated the role of 14-3-3 isoforms in rat brains after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion. 14-3-3ß, η, γ and ζ but not ε or τ were selectively upregulated in cerebral cortical neurons after ischemia-reperfusion (I/R). Selectively, 14-3-3ß, γ and ζ were translocated from cytoplasm into the nuclei of neurons after I/R. 14-3-3 bound to p65 and suppressed p65 expression in N2a cells. In the brain, 14-3-3 could either colocalize with p65 in the nuclei of neurons or segregate from p65 expression in cortical neurons after I/R. All evidence together suggests that 14-3-3 isoforms are differentially induced to enter into the nuclei of neurons after I/R, which might regulate NFκB signaling directly or indirectly. Since 14-3-3 proteins are essential for cell survival and NFκB is a key transcriptional factor, our data suggest that the 14-3-3/p65 signaling pathway might be a potential therapeutic target for stroke.
Assuntos
Proteínas 14-3-3/fisiologia , Isquemia Encefálica/metabolismo , NF-kappa B/fisiologia , Traumatismo por Reperfusão/metabolismo , Transdução de Sinais/fisiologia , Proteínas 14-3-3/farmacologia , Animais , Isquemia Encefálica/patologia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Camundongos , Ligação Proteica/fisiologia , Isoformas de Proteínas/farmacologia , Isoformas de Proteínas/fisiologia , Ratos , Traumatismo por Reperfusão/patologia , Transdução de Sinais/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common and the third most deadly malignant tumor worldwide. Hypoxia and related oxidative stress are heavily involved in the process of HCC development and its therapies. However, direct and accurate measurement of oxygen concentration and evaluation of hypoxic effects in HCC prove difficult. Moreover, the hypoxia-mediated mechanisms in HCC remain elusive. Here, we summarize recent major evidence of hypoxia in HCC lesions shown by measuring partial pressure of oxygen (pO2), the clinical importance of hypoxic markers in HCC, and recent advances in hypoxia-related mechanisms and therapies in HCC. For the mechanisms, we focus mainly on the roles of oxygen-sensing proteins (i.e., hypoxia-inducible factor and neuroglobin) and hypoxia-induced signaling proteins (e.g., matrix metalloproteinases, high mobility group box 1, Beclin 1, glucose metabolism enzymes, and vascular endothelial growth factor). With respect to therapies, we discuss mainly YQ23, sorafenib, 2-methoxyestradiol, and celastrol. This review focuses primarily on the results of clinical and animal studies.