ABSTRACT
Neuroinflammation is important in the pathogenesis and development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the AD brain, microglial activation and upregulation of pro-inflammatory mediators both induce amyloid beta (Aß) accumulation. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling have been implicated in AD development through their effects on neuroinflammation and microglial activation. The bee venom soluble phospholipase A2 (bv-sPLA2) enzyme is known to exert anti-inflammatory and anti-immune effects. Here, we investigated the inhibitory effects of bv-sPLA2 on memory deficiency in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced mouse model of AD. We examined whether bv-sPLA2 (0.02, 0.2, and 2 mg/kg by i.p. injection three times for 1 week) could inhibit neuroinflammation and memory impairment in LPS-treated mice (250 µg/kg by i.p. injection daily for 1 week). We also assessed the effects of bv-sPLA2 administration (0.01, 0.1, and 1 µg/ml) on LPS (1 µg/ml)-treated microglial BV-2 cells. In the LPS-injected mouse brain, sPLA2 treatment rescued memory dysfunction and decreased Aß levels, through the downregulation of amyloidogenic proteins, and decreased the expression of inflammatory proteins and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, the LPS-mediated increase in inflammatory protein expression was attenuated bv-sPLA2 treatment in BV-2 cells. Treatment with bv-sPLA2 also downregulated signaling by NF-κB, which is considered to be an important factor in the regulation of neuroinflammatory and amyloidogenic responses, both in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, co-treatment with NF-κB (5 µM) and bv-sPLA2 (0.1 µg/ml) exerted more marked anti-inflammatory effects, compared to bv-sPLA2 treatment alone. These results indicate that bv-sPLA2 inhibits LPS-induced neuroinflammation and amyloidogenesis via inhibition of NF-κB.
ABSTRACT
Parkin, a critical gene of Parkinson's disease, is involved in the development of numerous cancers. However, the effect of parkin deficiency on melanoma growth and metastasis has not been reported. We showed that the tumor size and number of surface lung metastases, and expression of tumor growth and metastasis marker proteins were significantly lower in parkin-KO mice than those observed in non-transgenic controls. In an in vitro study, we also showed that parkin siRNA inhibited cell growth and migration of B16F10 and SK-Mel-28â¯cells. Parkin-specific ubiquitination of mitofusin-2 (MFN2) was decreased in tumors and metastasized lung tissues of parkin-KO mice. Moreover, we showed that parkin directly binds and ubiquitinates MFN2. Knockdown of MFN2 decreased the expression of Bax and apoptotic cell death, but increased that of Bcl2 and apoptotic cancer cell death. However, these effects were reversed by knockdown of parkin. Conversely, inhibitory effects on melanoma growth and migration of parkin siRNA were reversed by MFN2 siRNA. These data indicate that melanoma development was inhibited in parkin-KO mice through maintaining of MFN2 level by inhibition of ubiquitinating ability of parkin.
Subject(s)
GTP Phosphohydrolases/metabolism , Lung Neoplasms/secondary , Lung Neoplasms/therapy , Melanoma/drug therapy , Mitochondrial Proteins/metabolism , RNA, Small Interfering/administration & dosage , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/antagonists & inhibitors , Animals , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Movement/drug effects , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic/drug effects , Gene Knockout Techniques/methods , Gene Regulatory Networks/drug effects , Humans , Lung Neoplasms/genetics , Lung Neoplasms/metabolism , Melanoma/genetics , Melanoma/metabolism , Mice , RNA, Small Interfering/pharmacology , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/genetics , Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases/metabolism , Ubiquitination/drug effects , Xenograft Model Antitumor AssaysABSTRACT
We evaluated the synergistic antibacterial effect in combination with the chitosan-ferulic acid conjugate (CFA) and ß-lactam antibiotics, such as ampicillin, penicillin, and oxacillin, against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) indices. CFA clearly reversed the antibacterial activity of ampicillin, penicillin, and oxacillin against MRSA in the combination mode. Among these antibiotics, the combination of oxacillin-CFA resulted in a ∑FICmin range of 0.250 and ∑FICmax of 0.563, suggesting that the oxacillin-CFA combination resulted in an antibacterial synergy effect against MRSA. In addition, we determined that CFA inhibited the mRNA expression of gene mecA and the production of PBP2a, which is a key determinant for ß-lactam antibiotic resistance, in a dosedependent manner. Thus, the results obtained in this study supported the idea on the antibacterial action mechanism that oxacillin will restore the antibacterial activity against MRSA through the suppression of PBP2a production by CFA.