The activation of asparagine synthetase by the transcription factor FOXM1 plays a pivotal role in the initiation and progression of ESCC.

This study explores the role of the transcription factor FOXM1 in the initiation and progression of oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Our findings reveal that FOXM1 is highly expressed in ESCC and correlates with the prognosis of the disease. The relationship between FOXM1 and asparagine synthetase (ASNS) is investigated, and the study demonstrates that FOXM1 activates ASNS, impacting the tumour stemness of ESCC. In this study, we reveal the association between FOXM1 and ESCC development, as well as FOXM1's promotion of migration and proliferation in ESCC cells. The study also highlights FOXM1's regulation of ASNS transcription and the functional role of ASNS in ESCC metastasis and growth. Furthermore, the study explores the impact of FOXM1 and ASNS on ESCC stemness and their potential implications for chemotherapy resistance.

ELF4 contributes to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma growth and metastasis by augmenting cancer stemness via FUT9.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) commonly has aggressive properties and a poor prognosis. Investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying the progression of ESCC is crucial for developing effective therapeutic strategies. Here, by performing transcriptome sequencing in ESCC and adjacent normal tissues, we find that E74-like transcription factor 4 (ELF4) is the main upregulated transcription factor in ESCC. The results of the immunohistochemistry show that ELF4 is overexpressed in ESCC tissues and is significantly correlated with cancer staging and prognosis. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ELF4 could promote cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and stemness by in vivo assays. Through RNA-seq and ChIP assays, we find that the stemness-related gene fucosyltransferase 9 ( FUT9) is transcriptionally activated by ELF4. Meanwhile, ELF4 is verified to affect ESCC cancer stemness by regulating FUT9 expression. Overall, we first discover that the transcription factor ELF4 is overexpressed in ESCC and can promote ESCC progression by transcriptionally upregulating the stemness-related gene FUT9.

Homeobox A7 promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression through C-C motif chemokine ligand 2-mediated tumor-associated macrophage recruitment.

Homeobox A7 (HOXA7) plays essential roles in multiple malignancies and was reported to be overexpressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, its functions in the ESCC tumor microenvironment remain to be explored. In this study, we showed that HOXA7 was overexpressed in ESCC among HOXA family members and correlated with tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) infiltration both in The Cancer Genome Atlas database and ESCC clinical samples. Moreover, transactivation of C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) by HOXA7 was identified (real-time quantitative PCR [RT-qPCR], western blot analysis, ELISA, and ChIP-qPCR), which was detected to drive chemotaxis and M2 polarization of macrophages both in vitro (Transwell assay) and in vivo (xenograft tumors models). In addition, CCL2 triggers macrophage expression of epidermal growth factor (EGF) (RT-qPCR and ELISA), which promotes tumor proliferation and metastasis by activating its receptor EGFR. In addition, EGF-induced ESCC cell proliferation and migration can be abrogated by HOXA7 knockdown (CCK-8 proliferation assay, EdU fluorescence, and Transwell assay). These results indicate a novel mechanistic role of HOXA7 in the cross-talk between ESCC and TAMs, which could be an underlying therapeutic target for ESCC.

The construction of Fe-porphyrin nanozymes with peroxidase-like activity for colorimetric detection of glucose.

As a type of nanomaterials with enzyme-mimetic catalytic properties, nanozymes have attracted wide concern in biological detection. H2O2 was the characteristic product of diverse biological reactions, and the quantitative analysis for H2O2 was an important way to detect disease biomarkers, such as acetylcholine, cholesterol, uric acid and glucose. Therefore, there is of great significance for developing a simple and sensitive nanozyme to detect H2O2 and disease biomarkers by combining with corresponding enzyme. In this work, Fe-TCPP MOFs were successfully prepared by the coordination between iron ions and porphyrin ligands (TCPP). In addition, the peroxidase (POD) activity of Fe-TCPP was proved, in detail, Fe-TCPP could catalyze H2O2 to produce ·OH. Herein, glucose oxidase (GOx) was chosen as the model to build cascade reaction by combining Fe-TCPP to detect glucose. The results indicated glucose could be detected by this cascade system selectively and sensitively, and the limit of detection of glucose was achieved to 0.12 µM. Furthermore, a portable hydrogel (Fe-TCPP@GEL) was further established, which encapsulated Fe-TCPP MOFs, GOx and TMB in one system. This functional hydrogel could be applied for colorimetric detection of glucose by coupling with a smartphone easily.

Establishment of a novel signature to predict prognosis and immune characteristics of pancreatic cancer based on necroptosis-related long non-coding RNA.

BACKGROUND: Necroptosis plays an important role in tumorigenesis and tumour progression. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been proven to be regulatory factors of necroptosis in various tumours. However, the real role of necroptosis-related lncRNAs (NRLs) and their potential to predict the prognosis of pancreatic cancer (PC) remain largely unclear. The goal of this study was to identify NRLs and create a predictive risk signature in PC, explore its prognostic predictive performance, and further assess immunotherapy and chemotherapy responses. METHODS: RNA sequencing data, tumour mutation burden (TMB) data, and clinical profiles of 178 PC patients were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. NRLs were identified using Pearson correlation analysis. Then, patients were divided into the training set and the validation set at a 1:1 ratio. Subsequently, Cox and LASSO regression analyses were conducted to establish a prognostic NRL signature in the training set and validation set. The predictive efficacy of the 5-NRL signature was assessed by survival analysis, nomogram, Cox regression, clinicopathological feature correlation analysis, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Furthermore, correlations between the risk score (RS) and immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoint molecules, somatic gene mutations, and anticancer drug sensitivity were analysed. Finally, we used quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to validate the 5-NRLs. RESULTS: A 5-NRL signature was established to predict the prognosis of PC, including LINC00857, AL672291.1, PTPRN2-AS1, AC141930.2, and MEG9. The 5-NRL signature demonstrated a high degree of predictive power according to ROC and Kaplan‒Meier curves and was revealed to be an independent prognostic risk factor via stratified survival analysis. Nomogram and calibration curves indicated the clinical adaptability of the signature. Immune-related pathways were linked to the 5-NRL signature according to enrichment analysis. Additionally, immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoint molecules, somatic gene mutations and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of chemotherapeutic agents were significantly different between the two risk subgroups. These results suggested that our model can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of immunotherapy and chemotherapy, providing a potential new strategy for treating PC. CONCLUSIONS: The novel 5-NRL signature is helpful for assessing the prognosis of PC patients and improving therapy options, so it can be further applied clinically.

ETV5 overexpression promotes progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by upregulating SKA1 and TRPV2.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is notorious for the rapid progression especially early tumor metastasis due to the unclear mechanism. Recently, ETV5 attracts much attention for its potential role as an oncogenic transcription factor involved in multiple cancers. However, no one reported the mechanism behind the association between ETV5 expression and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression. In this study, we found that ETV5 was upregulated in ESCC both from online database and our ESCC tissues and ETV5 was associated with tumor staging and prognosis. Knockdown of ETV5 or its downstream genes SKA1 and TRPV2 significantly suppress ESCC cells migration and invasion, respectively. Additionally, in vivo study showed knockdown of ETV5 inhibited tumor metastasis. Further experiments unveiled ETV5 could transcriptionally upregulate the expression of SKA1 and TRPV2 and further activate MMPs in ESCC progression. In conclusion, ETV5 was associated with ESCC tumor staging and ESCC prognosis clinically. ETV5 promoted metastasis of ESCC by activating MMPs through augmenting the transcription of SKA1 and TRPV2. ETV5 was likely to be a novel oncogene and therapeutic target in ESCC.

Organ-Sparing Pancreatectomy for Benign or Low-Grade Malignant Pancreatic Tumors: A Single-Center Experience with 101 Consecutive Patients.

BACKGROUND Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) and distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy (DPS) are considered the standard procedures for pancreatic lesions. However, long-term metabolic consequences of PD and DPS applied for benign or low-grade malignant tumors need to be addressed. This study aimed to investigate the short- and long-term outcomes of organ-sparing pancreatectomy for benign or low-grade malignant pancreatic tumors in our institution. MATERIAL AND METHODS The clinical data of 101 patients with benign or low-grade malignant pancreatic tumors who underwent organ-sparing pancreatectomy from January 2009 to September 2021 were retrospectively analyzed, including 40 tumor enucleations (EN), 22 central pancreatectomies (CP), 25 spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomies (SPDP), 7 pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomies (PPPD) and 7 duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resections (DPPHR). RESULTS The mean operative time, intraoperative blood loss, and length of hospital stay were 182.9±74.6 min, 191.9±127.8 mL, and 11.6±8.1 days, respectively. EN had the shortest operative time, while DPPHR had the longest operative time. The mean intraoperative blood loss of DPPHR and PPPD was significantly greater than the others (all P<0.05). The length of hospital stay of PPPD was longest. The overall morbidity was 33.6%. The reoperation rate was 1.0% and there was no mortality. The incidence of pancreatic endocrine insufficiency and exocrine insufficiency were 5.9% and 6.9%, respectively. None patients had tumor recurrence during the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS Organ-sparing pancreatectomy is associated with acceptable perioperative risk and postoperative complications and better long-term outcomes in the aspects of preservation of function and curability in benign or low-grade malignant pancreatic tumors.

Development of a nomogram to predict surgical site infection after closed comminuted calcaneal fracture.

BACKGROUND: Compared with open comminuted calcaneal fractures, less emphasis is placed on postoperative surgical site infection (SSI) of closed comminuted calcaneal fractures. This study aimed to identify the risk factors associated with SSI and build a nomogram model to visualize the risk factors for postoperative SSI. METHODS: We retrospectively collected patients with closed comminuted calcaneal fractures from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University database from 2017 to 2020. Risk factors were identified by logistics regression analysis, and the predictive value of risk factors was evaluated by ROC (receiver operating characteristic curve). Besides, the final risk factors were incorporated into R4.1.2 software to establish a visual nomogram prediction model. RESULTS: The high-fall injury, operative time, prealbumin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and cystatin-C were independent predictors of SSI in calcaneal fracture patients, with OR values of 5.565 (95%CI 2.220-13.951), 1.044 (95%CI 1.023-1.064), 0.988 (95%CI 0.980-0.995), 1.035 (95%CI 1.004-1.067) and 0.010 (95%CI 0.001-0.185) (Ps < 0.05). Furthermore, ROC curve analysis showed that the AUC values of high-fall injury, operation time, prealbumin, AST, cystatin-C, and their composite indicator for predicting SSI were 0.680 (95%CI 0.593-0.766), 0.756 (95%CI 0.672-939), 0.331 (95%CI 0.243-0.419), 0.605 (95%CI 0.512-0.698), 0.319 (95%CI 0.226-0.413) and 0.860 (95%CI 0.794-0.926), respectively (Ps < 0.05). Moreover, the accuracy of the nomogram to predict SSI risk was 0.860. CONCLUSIONS: Our study findings suggest that clinicians should pay more attention to the preoperative prealbumin, AST, cystatin C, high-fall injury, and operative time for patients with closed comminuting calcaneal fractures to avoid the occurrence of postoperative SSI. Furthermore, our established nomogram to assess the risk of SSI in calcaneal fracture patients yielded good accuracy and can assist clinicians in taking appropriate measures to prevent SSI.

Enhanced expression of asparagine synthetase under glucose-deprived conditions promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma development.

Background: Cancer cells survive and develop under nutrient deficient microenvironment caused by low blood supply. Although anaerobic metabolism could function through the enhanced uptake of glucose, other mechanisms of tolerance to glucose deficient conditions might be required. Materials and Methods: Expression of asparagine synthetase (ASNS) under normal glucose and glucose-deprived conditions was examined. Cancer cell proliferation and migration were evaluated by in vitro and in vivo assays. In addition, the relationship between ASNS expression and cancer stages was also analyzed. Results: Expression of ASNS was enhanced under glucose deficient conditions. In vitro assays indicated that ASNS could promote the proliferation and migration abilities of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cells under glucose deficient condition. In mechanism, 2 critical effectors during nutrient deprivation, NRF2 and ATF4, were upregulated and demonstrated to promote ASNS expression. Clinically, high level of ASNS was significantly associated with ESCC with advanced stages and metastasis. In vivo, ASNS could promote tumor growth and metastasis in mouse xenograft models. Conclusion: This study uncovered that glucose deprivation induces the overexpression of ASNS in ESCC cells, which in turn causes cancer cell tolerance to nutrient stress and promotes cancer development. The illustration of the mechanism sheds deep insight on how cell biology was regulated in response to the conditions of limited nutrient availability.

A triazole-conjugated benzoxazone induces reactive oxygen species and promotes autophagic apoptosis in human lung cancer cells.

Numerous approaches suggested that compounds with conjugated triazole moieties or benzoxazone pharmacores are effective to antagonize proliferation of human tumors. The current study reported that a synthetic triazole-conjugated benzoxazone, 4-((5-benzyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol-3-yl)-methyl)-7-methoxy-2H-benzo[b][1,4]-oxazin-3(4H)-one (BTO), inhibited growth rates of human non-small cell lung cancer cells. The cytotoxicity can be enhanced with increasing drug concentrations. More evidence supported that the induced reactive oxygen species lead to ultimate apoptotic cell death by recruiting autophagy. The mechanistic pathway as elucidated involved tumor suppressor p53 activation and LC3-1 conversion followed by PARP and procaspase-3 cleavage. Autophagy inhibition reverted apoptotic death and restored cell viabilities. BTO suppressed the development of A549 cell xenograft tumors by activating autophagy and apoptosis simultaneously. As an efficient tumor growth inhibitor with relatively small molecular weight, BTO is a viable addition to the existing list of lung cancer treatment.

High-Level Prokaryotic Expression and Purification of Death Domain Superfamily with MBP Tag.

BACKGROUND: Death domain superfamily are compact structural motifs that play critical roles in many biological processes including inflammation and apoptosis. Due to mediating protein-protein interactions, these death domains have a high tendency to form oligomers and are notoriously difficult to deal with when overexpressed in vitro. In this study, we found that maltose binding protein (MBP) is very effective in improving the behavior of many death domain superfamily members. METHODS: In order to achieve high-level expression of death domain superfamily in E. coli, we designed two MBPtagged expression vectors based on a pET30a backbone: one with a short flexible noncleavable linker, the other with a TEV cleavage site. Soluble protein was purified from cell lysate by HisTrapTM IMAC column and Superdex-200 gel filtration column. RESULTS: We tested seven targets of death domain superfamily, including two PYDs, three CARDs, and two DDs; for all of these, it is challenging to obtain recombinant protein without a tag. We expressed and purified these death domain proteins successfully as soluble and highly purified protein with both vectors. Among them, two proteins were crystallized successfully. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that both recombinant MBP expression vectors significantly enhanced production. In addition, MBP tagged recombinant proteins can sometimes produce crystals. This strategy may be applied to other challenging proteins.

Design, Synthesis, and Cytotoxic Analysis of Novel Hederagenin⁻Pyrazine Derivatives Based on Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis.

Hederagenin (He) is a novel triterpene template for the development of new antitumor compounds. In this study, 26 new He⁻pyrazine derivatives were synthetized in an attempt to develop potent antitumor agents; they were screened for in vitro cytotoxicity against tumor and non-tumor cell lines. The majority of these derivatives showed much stronger cytotoxic activity than He. Remarkably, the most potent was compound 9 (half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) was 3.45 ± 0.59 µM), which exhibited similar antitumor activities against A549 (human non-small-cell lung cancer) as the positive drug cisplatin (DDP; IC50 was 3.85 ± 0.63 µM), while it showed lower cytotoxicity on H9c2 (murine heart myoblast; IC50 was 16.69 ± 0.12 µM) cell lines. Compound 9 could induce the early apoptosis and evoke cell-cycle arrest at the synthesis (S) phase of A549 cells. Impressively, we innovatively introduced the method of cluster analysis modeled as partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) into the structure⁻activity relationship (SAR) evaluation, and SAR confirmed that pyrazine had a profound effect on the antitumor activity of He. The present studies highlight the importance of pyrazine derivatives of He in the discovery and development of novel antitumor agents.

Oleanolic Acid-amino Acids Derivatives: Design, Synthesis, and Hepatoprotective Evaluation In Vitro and In Vivo.

Activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) are the main extracellular matrix (ECM)-producing cells in the injured liver and the key mediators of liver fibrosis; they also promote the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the acidic extracellular microenvironment of HCC, HSCs are activated to promote the migration of HCC cells. It is worth attempting to alter the weak acidic microenvironment to promote activated HSC apoptosis to treat liver fibrosis and liver cancer. In the present study, a series of novel OA-amino acids analogues were designed and synthesized to introduce different amino acids in the 3-hydroxyl of OA using the ester condensation reaction to enhance hydrophilicity, alkalinity, and biological activity. We found that OA-lysine derivative (3g) could improve the hydrophilic of OA and induce HSCs apoptosis via inducing MMP depolarization and increasing intracellular Ca2+ levels. Additionally, 3g displayed a better hepatoprotective effect than OA (20 mg/kg, intragastric administration) against the acute liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in mice. The results suggested that basic amino acids (lysine) could effectively enhance OA's hydrophilicity, alkalinity, and hepatoprotective activity in vitro and in vivo, which might be likely associated with increasing bioavailability and altering an extracellular weak acidic microenvironment with further verification. Therefore, the OA-lysine derivative (3g) has the potential to be developed as an agent with hepatoprotective activity.

Novel Neuroprotective Lead Compound Ligustrazine Derivative Mass Spectrometry Fragmentation Rule and Metabolites in Rats by LC/LTQ-Orbitrap MS.

The neuroprotective evaluation of ligustrazine derivatives has become a research focus all over the world. A novel ligustrazine derivative, (3,5,6-Trimethylpyrazin-2-yl)methyl(E)-3-(4-((3,5,6-trimethylpyrazin-2-l)methoxy)phenyl)acrylate (T-CA), has shown protective effects against CoCl2-induced neurotoxicity in a differentiated PC12 cell model and middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model in our previous studies. However, nearly none of the parent drugs existed after rapid metabolism due to uncertain reasons. Thus, the fragmentation regularities of mass spectra, and metabolites, of T-CA in rats were examined using liquid chromatography-electrospray ionizationion trap mass spectrometry (LC/LTQ-Orbitrap MS) in this research. The main fragment ion, mass spectrum characteristics, and the structural information were elucidated. When compared with a blank sample, we identified five kinds of T-CA metabolites, including three phase I metabolites and two phase II metabolites. The results showed that the metabolic pathways of T-CA in rats via oral administration were hydrolysis (ether bond rupture, ester bond rupture), oxidation, reduction, glucose aldehyde acidification, etc. In addition, three main metabolites were synthesized and their structures were identified by superconducting high-resolution NMR and high-resolution mass spectroscopy (HR-MS). The neuroprotective activity of these metabolites was validated in a PC12 cell model. One of the metabolites (M2) showed significant activity (EC50 = 9.67 µM), which was comparable to the prototype drug T-CA (EC50 = 7.97 µM). The current study provides important information for ligustrazine derivatives, pertaining to the biological conversion process in vivo.

Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Ligustrazine-Flavonoid Derivatives as Potential Anti-Tumor Agents.

In the clinic some anti-tumor drugs have shown damage to normal blood vessels, which could lead to vascular diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the effects of anti-tumor drugs on normal blood vessels at the beginning of the drug design process. In this study, ligustrazine (TMP) and flavonoids were selected as raw materials. Sixteen novel TMP-flavonoid derivatives were designed and synthesized. Interestingly, compounds 14 and 16 were obtained by hydrolysis of a dihydroflavone to a chalcone under alkaline conditions. The cytotoxicity of the TMP-flavonoid derivatives was evaluated on five human tumor cell lines and one classical type of normal endothelial cell lines (HUVEC-12) by an MTT assay. Part of the derivatives showed better anti-tumor activities than the corresponding raw materials. Among them, compound 14 exhibited the closest activity to the positive control against the Bel-7402 cell line (IC50 = 10.74 ± 1.12 µM; DDP IC50 = 6.73 ± 0.37 µM) and had no toxicity on HUVEC-12 (IC50 > 40 µM). Subsequently, fluorescence staining and flow cytometry analysis indicated that compound 14 could induce apoptosis of Bel-7402 cell lines. Moreover, the structure-activity relationships of these derivatives were briefly discussed.

A potent indolylquinoline alleviates growth of human lung cancer cell tumorspheres.

To fight cancer at its roots by targeting cancer stem cells is a promising approach for therapy. Previously, an indolylquinoline derivative, 3-((7-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-methyl)-2-methylquinoline (EMMQ), was reported effectively inhibiting the growth of lung cancer cells through impairment of cellular mitochondria functions. To address more on drug efficiency, the study further exploited if EMMQ can impede the propagation of tumorspheres stemmed from non-small cell lung cancer cells. EMMQ inhibited proliferation of spheroids in culture. In animal models, administration of the drug attenuated the spheroid tumorigenicity. The activated apoptosis alleviated growth of xenograft tumors in immune-deficient mice as established by the enriched tumorspheres. More evidence suggested that the reduced stemness of the spheroid tumors is attributed to apoptotic death. The findings supported that EMMQ is an eligible approach to eradicate the minor but tumorigenic lung cancer tumorspheres.

Origin and Formation Mechanism Investigation of Compound Precipitation from the Traditional Chinese Prescription Huang-Lian-Jie-Du-Tang by Isothermal Titration Calorimetry.

Previous studies have shown that compounds in the form of precipitate (CFP) from Huang-Lian-Jie-Du-Tang (HLJDT) were stable, and the CFP content reached 2.63% of the whole decoction and had good neuroprotective effects. However, there has been no research on their specific source. In this study, it was found that HLJDT CFP mainly came from the reaction of Scutellaria baicalensis and Coptis chinensis by studying the separated prescription components (accounting for 81.33% of HLJDT CFP). Unlike previous studies on HLJDT CFP, in this research the chemical composition of Scutellaria baicalensis-Coptis chinensis (SB-CC) CFP was identified by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MSn), which further proved that the main source of HLJDT CFP was Scutellaria baicalensis-Coptis chinensis CFP compared with previous HLJDT CFP studies. To explain the reaction mechanism between the decoctions of Scutellaria baicalensis and Coptis chinensis, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) was used to analyze their binding heat and the thermodynamic parameters (ΔH, ΔS, ΔG, n, Ka) of the reaction between baicalin and berberine, which are the main components of Scutellaria baicalensis and Coptis chinensis, respectively. The results showed that the reaction between decoctions of Scutellaria baicalensis and Coptis chinensis was exothermic and the reaction between baicalin and berberine was a spontaneous and enthalpy-driven chemical reaction, the binding ratio being 1:1. In addition, HLJDT CFP (EC50 = 14.71 ± 0.91 µg/mL) and SB-CC CFP (EC50 = 6.11 ± 0.12 µg/mL) showed similar protective activities on PC12 cells injured by cobalt chloride (CoCl2). This study provided a new angle to research on the main chemical components and therapeutic values of CFP in Traditional Chinese Medicine compounds.

An Overview of Structurally Modified Glycyrrhetinic Acid Derivatives as Antitumor Agents.

Glycyrrhetinic Acid (GA), a triterpenoid aglycone component of the natural product glycyrrhizinic acid, was found to possess remarkable anti-proliferative and apoptosis-inducing activity in various cancer cell lines. Though GA was not as active as other triterpenes, such as betulinic acid and oleanolic acid, it could trigger apoptosis in tumor cells and it can be obtained easily and cheaply, which has stimulated scientific interest in using GA as a scaffold to synthesize new antitumor agents. The structural modifications of GA reported in recent decades can be divided into four groups, which include structural modifications on ring-A, ring-C, ring-E and multiple ring modifications. The lack of a comprehensive and recent review on this topic prompted us to gather more new information. This overview is dedicated to summarizing and updating the structural modification of GA to improve its antitumor activity published between 2005 and 2016. We reviewed a total of 210 GA derivatives that we encountered and compiled the most active GA derivatives along with their activity profile in different series. Furthermore, the structure activity relationships of these derivatives are briefly discussed. The included information is expected to be of benefit to further studies of structural modifications of GA to enhance its antitumor activity.

An indolylquinoline derivative promotes apoptosis in human lung cancer cells by impairing mitochondrial functions.

A number of effective anti-cancer drugs contain either indole or quinoline group. Compounds fused indole and quinoline moieties altogether as indolylquinoline were rarely reported as anti-cancer agents. We reported here that a synthetic indolylquinoline derivative, 3-((7-ethyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-methyl)-2-methylquinoline (EMMQ), inhibited the growth of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells in dose- and time-dependent manners. The cytotoxicity was mediated through apoptotic cell death that began with mitochondrial membrane potential interruption and DNA damage. EMMQ caused transient elevation of p53 that assists in cytochrome c release, cleavage of downstream PARP and procaspase-3 and mitochondria-related apoptosis. The degree of apoptotic cell death depends on the status of tumor suppressor p53 of the target cells. H1299 cells with stable ectopic expression of p53 induced cytotoxicity by disrupting mitochondria functions that differed with those transfected with mutant p53. Knocking-down of p53 attenuated drug effects. EMMQ suppressed the growth of A549 tumor cells in xenograft tumors by exhibiting apoptosis characteristics. Given its small molecular weight acting as an effective p53 regulator in NSCLC cells, EMMQ could be an addition to the current list of lung cancer treatment.

The collective nuclear migration of p53 and phosphorylated S473 of Akt during ellipticine-mediated apoptosis in human lung epithelial cancer cells.

Topoisomerase II inhibitor ellipticine effectively suppressed the growth of human non-small-cell-lung-cancer (NSCLC) epithelial cells. Previously, we reported the drug activity was consummated through parallel nucleus migration of p53 and Akt in A549 cells. While inducing cell death, the drug activity was proved related to autophagy through phosphorylated Akt at S473. In addition, ellipticine induced cytotoxicity in p53-null H1299 cells with stable expression of ectopic p53. In this work, we further demonstrated that dominant-negative Akt (S473A) or p53 shRNA inhibited ellipticine-mediated translocalization of p53 and Akt and attenuated apoptotic cell death in A549 cells. The presence of p53 predates ellipticine-mediated apoptotic cell death, assists in nucleus translocation of phosphorylated Akt and activation of autophagy pathway. Growth inhibition through collaborating p53 and phosphorylated Akt(473) in lung epithelial cancer cells provided a new perspective of the topoisomerase inhibitor as an effective cancer therapy agent.