Polyphyllin I alleviates inflammatory injury in mice with gestational diabetes through AMPK pathway.

Our study aimed to detect the effects of polyphyllin I (PPI) on relieving gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and the possible mechanism. A mouse model of GDM was constructed. The effects of PPI on GDM mice were evaluated by detecting blood glucose, insulin level, glucose tolerance test, and insulin tolerance test. The inflammation response in GDM and GDM+PPI group were evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The effect of PPI on the offspring of GDM mice was analyzed. In addition, immunoblot assays were performed to investigate the effects of PPI on the AMPK pathway. We found that PPI improved diabetes-related symptoms and decreased serum inflammatory response in GDM mice. In addition, we also found that PPI reduced the tissue damage of GDM mice. We noticed that PPI alleviated inflammatory injury in GDM mice through targeting AMPK pathway. Our findings showed that PPI has the potential to be explored as the drug for GDM treatment.

Survivin status affects prognosis and chemosensitivity in epithelial ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to explore the clinical significance of survivin expression in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and the effect of survivin small hairpin RNA (shRNA) on survivin expression, apoptosis, and chemosensitivity in the human ovarian cancer cell line OVCAR3. METHODS: A retrospective review of 90 consecutive EOC patients with a median follow-up time of 51 months was conducted. Survivin expression was examined by immunohistochemistry. OVCAR3 cells were transfected in vitro with survivin shRNA. Survivin mRNA expression levels were detected using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Flow cytometry was applied to determine survivin protein expression levels and cell apoptotic rates. The MTT method was used to examine the effects of survivin shRNA on chemosensitivity in OVCAR3 cells. RESULTS: Positive cytoplasmic expression of survivin was associated with advanced International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage, nonmucinous type, high grade, and recurrence. Positive survivin expression was also associated with platinum resistance (r = 0.306, P = 0.003). Statistical results indicated that FIGO stage (hazard rate = 1.649, P = 0.047) and cytoplasmic expression of survivin (hazard rate = 1.734, P = 0.010) were independent prognostic factors. Survivin mRNA and protein levels were lower in OVCAR3S (ovarian cancer cells transfected with a survivin recombinant vector) cells at 24 hours after transfection as compared with controls. The flow cytometric analysis revealed that survivin shRNA induced accumulation of cells in the G0/Gl phase, with a decrease in G2/M phase cells following 24 hours of culture as compared with a nontransfected group (P < 0.01). Furthermore, survivin shRNA increased the sensitivity of OVCAR3 cells to paclitaxel 15-fold (P < 0.05), whereas it had no significant effect on cisplatin (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In addition to FIGO stage, cytoplasmic survivin protein expression is an independent molecular marker for predicting EOC prognosis. Sequence-specific shRNA targeting survivin can effectively suppress survivin expression, enhance apoptosis, and increase the sensitivity of ovarian cancer cells to paclitaxel but not to cisplatin.

Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor dinaciclib potently synergizes with cisplatin in preclinical models of ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is one of the most lethal of woman cancers, and its clinical therapeutic outcome currently is unsatisfied. Dinaciclib, a novel small molecule inhibitor of CDK1, CDK2, CDK5 and CDK9, is assessed in clinical trials for the treatment of several types of cancers. In this study, we investigated the anticancer effects and mechanisms of dinaciclib alone or combined with cisplatin in ovarian cancer. Dinaciclib alone actively induced cell growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis with the increased intracellular ROS levels, which were accompanied by obvious alterations of related proteins such as CDKs, Cyclins, Mcl-1, XIAP and survivin. Pretreatment with N-acety-L-cysteine significantly blocked ROS generation but only partially rescued apoptosis triggered by dinaciclib. Moreover, the combination of dinaciclib with cisplatin synergistically promoted cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and inhibited the subcutaneous xenograft growth of ovarian cancer in nude mice. Altogether, dinaciclib potently synergizes with cisplatin in preclinical models of ovarian cancer, indicating this beneficial combinational therapy may be a promising strategy for treatment of ovarian cancer.

Volasertib suppresses tumor growth and potentiates the activity of cisplatin in cervical cancer.

Volasertib (BI 6727), a highly selective and potent inhibitor of PLK1, has shown broad antitumor activities in the preclinical and clinical studies for the treatment of several types of cancers. However, the anticancer effect of volasertib on cervical cancer cells is still unknown. In the present study, we show that volasertib can markedly induce cell growth inhibition, cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and apoptosis with the decreased protein expressions of PLK1 substrates survivin and wee1 in human cervical cancer cells. Furthermore, volasertib also enhances the intracellular reactive oxidative species (ROS) levels, and pretreated with ROS scavenger N-acety-L-cysteine totally blocks ROS generation but partly reverses volasertib-induced apoptosis. In addition, volasertib significantly potentiates the activity of cisplatin to inhibit the growth of cervical cancer in vitro and in vivo. In brief, volasertib suppresses tumor growth and potentiates the activity of cisplatin in cervical cancer, suggesting the combination of volasertib and cisplatin may be a promising strategy for the treatment of patients with cervical cancer.

Piperlongumine induces apoptosis and synergizes with cisplatin or paclitaxel in human ovarian cancer cells.

Piperlongumine (PL), a natural alkaloid from Piper longum L., possesses the highly selective and effective anticancer property. However, the effect of PL on ovarian cancer cells is still unknown. In this study, we firstly demonstrate that PL selectively inhibited cell growth of human ovarian cancer cells. Furthermore, PL notably induced cell apoptosis, G2/M phase arrest, and accumulation of the intracellular reactive oxidative species (ROS) in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Pretreatment with antioxidant N-acety-L-cysteine could totally reverse the PL-induced ROS accumulation and cell apoptosis. In addition, low dose of PL/cisplatin or paclitaxel combination therapies had a synergistic antigrowth effect on human ovarian cancer cells. Collectively, our study provides new therapeutic potential of PL on human ovarian cancer.