antao Li

Keap1: one stone kills three birds Nrf2, IKKβ and Bcl-2/Bcl-xL.

Oxidative stress, implicated in the etiology of cancer, results from an imbalance in the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and cells own antioxidant defenses. As a oxidative stress sensor, Keap1 functions as both an adaptor for Cul3⋅Rbx1 E3 ligase complex mediated degradation of the transcription factor Nrf2, and a master regulator of cytoprotective gene expression. Although Nrf2 is a well known substrate for Keap1, the DGR domain of Keap1 has been reported also to bind other proteins directly or indirectly. IKKβ as positive regulator of NF-κB is also destabilized by Keap1, which resulted in inhibiting NF-κB-derived tumor promotion. In addition, anti-apoptotic Bcl-2/Bcl-xL protein was identified as another substrate for the Keap1-Cul3-E3 ligase complex. Keap1 led to the repression and destabilization of Bcl-2, decreased Bcl-2:Bax heterodimers and facilitated cancer cells apoptosis. Given that Keap1 might function as a tumor suppressor protein to mitigate tumor progression, the different kinds of Keap1 somatic mutations were detected in numerous cancer cells. Therefore, it is important to understand the Keap1-involved signaling cascades. This review primarily focuses on the prevention of tumorigenesis role of Keap1 through negative regulation of three substrates Nrf2, IKKβ and Bcl-2/Bcl-xL, with emphasis on the recent findings indicating the cancer guarder function of Keap1.

Curcumin induces apoptosis through mitochondrial pathway and caspases activation in human melanoma cells

Melanoma is the most malignant skin cancer and is highly resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Curcumin is a component of turmeric, the yellow spice derived from the rhizome of Curcuma longa. It has been demonstrated to modulate multiple cell signaling pathways, including apoptosis, proliferation, angiogenesis and inflammation. In this study, we studied the signaling pathways involved in melanoma cell death after treatment with curcumin using western blotting. Colorimetric assays (MTT) assessed cell viability. Flow cytometry and DNA laddering evaluated cell apoptosis. Fluorescent microscopy was used to evaluate of Hoechst 33342 staining of nuclei. The result demonstrated that curcumin could induce apoptosis and inhibit proliferation in melanoma cells. Curcumin stimulated the expression of pro-apoptotic Bax, and inhibited the activation of anti-apoptotic Mcl-1 and Bcl-2. During curcumin treatment, caspase-8 and Caspase-3 were cleaved in time and dose-dependent manners. Curcumin treatment also altered the expressions of apoptosis associated proteins NF-κB, p38 and p53. Curcumin induced DNA double strand breaks, which were indicated by phosphorylated H2AX. Our data suggested that curcumin could be used as a novel and effective approach for the treatment of melanoma.

Inhibition of autophagy induced by overexpression of mda-7/interleukin-24 strongly augments the antileukemia activity in vitro and in vivo.

Melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7/interleukin-24 (mda-7/IL-24) is a novel candidate of tumor suppressor that can selectively induce apoptosis experimentally in a spectrum of human cancer cells including leukemia cells. However, a recent study suggests that mda-7/IL-24 promotes the survival of chronic lymphocytic leukemia B-cells. In this study, we showed that mda-7/IL-24 was constitutively expressed in leukemia cell lines and primary acute myeloid leukemia samples. Using a conditionally replicating adenovirus expressing mda-7/IL-24 (ZD55-IL-24), we showed that enforced expression of mda-7/IL-24 in leukemia cells induced autophagy, which was triggered by the upregulation of Beclin-1. Immunofluorescence and coimmunoprecipitation studies suggested that mda-7/IL-24 protein interacts with Beclin-1. Class III PI3K/Beclin-1 complex was shown involved in the mda-7/IL-24-induced autophagy. Moreover, autophagy inhibition by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor, wortmannin, resulted in a reduced Beclin-1 expression and autophagosome formation associated with significantly enhanced cell death. Importantly, the combination of ZD55-IL-24 with wortmannin elicited a strongly enhanced antileukemia efficacy in established leukemia xenografts. These results suggest that mda-7/IL-24-induced autophagy in leukemia cells may provide survival advantage and mda-7/IL-24 combined with agents that disrupt autophagy is a promising new strategy for the treatment of leukemia.

Immunoreceptor TIGIT inhibits the cytotoxicity of human cytokine-induced killer cells by interacting with CD155

T cell Ig and ITIM domain (TIGIT) is a newly identified inhibitory receptor expressed on T and natural killer (NK) cells. Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells express CD3 and CD56 molecules, and share functional properties with both NK and T cells. However, it remains unknown whether TIGIT is expressed in CIK cells. Here, we show that TIGIT is expressed by CIK cells and interacts with CD155. By blocking TIGIT using an anti-TIGIT functional antibody, we demonstrate that CIK cells display increased proliferation; higher cytotoxic targeting of tumor cells expressing CD155; and higher expression of interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Furthermore, increases in IFN-γ and cytotoxicity by blockade of TIGIT were reduced by blocking DNAX accessory molecule-1 (DNAM-1) signaling, implying that TIGIT exerts immunosuppressive effects by competing with DNAM-1 for the same ligand, CD155. Our results provide evidence that blockade of TIGIT may be a novel strategy to improve the cytotoxic activity of CIK cells.

MDA-7/IL-24 inhibits Nrf2-mediated antioxidant response through activation of p38 pathway and inhibition of ERK pathway involved in cancer cell apoptosis.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have a crucial role in melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7 (MDA-7)/interleukin-24 (IL-24)-induced cancer cell apoptosis. However, cancer cell has a series of protective mechanisms to resist ROS damage. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) activates antioxidant response element (ARE)-mediated gene expression involved in cellular protection against oxidative stress. As the Nrf2 repressor, Kelch-like ECH-associated protein-1 (Keap1) sequesters Nrf2 in cytoplasm to block Nrf2 nuclear translocation. In the present study, administration of MDA-7/IL-24 by means of tumor-selective replicating adenovirus (ZD55-IL-24) was used to investigate whether ZD55-IL-24 could attenuate Nrf2-mediated oxidative stress response in cancer cell. We found that ZD55-IL-24 effectively strengthened the association between Nrf2 and Keap1 to restrict Nrf2 nuclear translocation, thereby inhibiting ARE-dependent transcriptional response. To evaluate the detailed mechanism underlying the suppression of ZD55-IL-24 on Nrf2-mediated oxidative stress response, we further tested three different mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways in A549 and HeLa cells transfected by ZD55-IL-24. Our data showed that ZD55-IL-24 inhibited extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signal pathway but activated p38 and c-Jun-NH2-kinase (JNK) signal pathways to exert the tumor-specific apoptosis. Moreover, ERK pathway inhibitor U0126 prevented Nrf2 phosphorylation at Ser40 to retard Nrf2 nuclear translocation, thus decreasing antioxidant gene transcription. In contrast, p38 pathway inhibitor SB203580 obviously promoted the dissociation of Nrf2 from Keap1 to promote antioxidant gene transcription. However, JNK pathway had no effect on Nrf2 subcellular localization or the association of Nrf2 with Keap1. Conclusively, our results indicate that ZD55-IL-24 inhibits Nrf2-mediated oxidative stress response not only by activating p38 signal pathway to potentiate the association of Nrf2 and Keap1 but also by suppressing ERK signal pathway to postpone Nrf2 nuclear translocation. Given the ‘dark’ side of Nrf2 on carcinoma cell survival and chemoresistance, our study provides a novel explanation about MDA-7/IL-24-induced cancer-specific apoptosis and therapeutic sensitization through suppression of the cytoprotective system.

A dual-regulated oncolytic adenovirus expressing interleukin-24 sensitizes melanoma cells to temozolomide via the induction of apoptosis

Malignant melanoma is one of the most lethal and aggressive human malignancies. Suppressed apoptosis and extraordinary invasiveness are the distinctive features that contribute to malignant melanoma. The alkylating agent temozolomide (TMZ) is one of the most effective single chemotherapeutic agents for patients with malignant melanoma, but resistance develops quickly and with high frequency. We constructed a dual-regulated oncolytic adenovirus expressing interleukin 24 (IL-24) gene (Ki67-ZD55-IL-24) by utilizing the Ki67 promoter to replace the native viral promoter of E1A gene. We investigated whether a combination of Ki67-ZD55-IL-24-mediated gene virotherapy and chemotherapy using TMZ produces increased cytotoxicity against human melanoma cells via the induction of apoptosis. Our data indicate that this novel strategy thus holds promising potentials for further developing an effective approach to treat malignant melanoma.

p53 regulates Ki-67 promoter activity through p53- and Sp1-dependent manner in HeLa cells

The expression of the human Ki-67 protein, which is strictly associated with cell proliferation, is regulated by a variety of cellular mediators. In this study, we studied the effects of p53 on Ki-67 promoter in HeLa cells using luciferase reporter assay. The results showed that: (1) p53 inhibited Ki-67 promoter activity in a dose-dependent manner, (2) the p53-binding motifs mediated part of the transcriptional repression of Ki-67 promoter through a sequence-specific interaction with p53, (3) p53 was able to repress the Sp1-stimulated Ki-67 promoter activity, and (4) the Sp1-binding sites were responsible for the p53-mediated transcriptional repression of Ki-67 promoter. In conclusion, p53 inhibited Ki-67 promoter activity via p53- and Sp1-dependent pathways, and the interaction between p53 and Sp1 might be involved in the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms.

Enhanced apoptosis-inducing function of MDA-7/IL-24 RGD mutant via the increased adhesion to tumor cells.

Melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7 (mda-7)/interleukin-24 (IL-24) has shown potent tumor cell apoptosis inducing capacity in multiple cancers. However, the apoptosis induction capacity of mda-7/IL-24 was low and directly correlated with the adhesion to tumor cells.Cell adhesion molecule integrin α(v)β(3) expressed on the surface of several types of solid tumor cells, and they bind to arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) which enhanced the adhesion to tumor cells. This rout was exploited to construct a tumor-targeting gene RGD-IL-24 which can express RGD-MDA-7/IL-24 protein that includes the cell adhesive sequence (164)Arg-(165)Gly-(166)Asp (A Glycine residue was inserted into the recombinant MDA-7/IL-24 between Arg164 and Asp165 to form a RGD motif). We successfully got the MDA-7/IL-24 mutant by overlapping polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and evaluated its therapeutic efficacy for tumor cell lines MCF-7, HeLa, HepG2, and normal human lung fibroblast (NHLF) line. And we found that the expression of pCDNA3.1/RGD-IL-24 was same to the expression of pCDNA3.1/IL-24. The RGD-IL-24 enhanced the apoptosis-inducing function in tumor cells, but not in normal cells. In tumor cell lines, the apoptosis-inducing activities of RGD-IL-24 was significantly higher than IL-24 detecting by MTT assay, Annexin V, and Hoechst 33258 analysis. Further, pCDNA3.1/RGD-IL-24 showed a significant increase in the ratio of pro-apoptotic (bax) to anti-apoptotic (bcl-2) proteins in tumor cell lines, but not in NHLF cell line. Together, these results suggest that RGD-IL-24 can enhance the apoptosis of tumor cells and may provide a promising drug in tumor therapy.

Antitumor activities of an oncolytic adenovirus equipped with a double siRNA targeting Ki67 and hTERT in renal cancer cells

RNA interference has been proven to be a powerful tool for gene knockdown. Our previous study demonstrated that a Ki67 shRNA carried by an adenovirus reduced Ki67 expression. In this study, we constructed novel oncolytic adenoviruses in which the Ki67 core promoter drove expression of the E1A gene. These adenoviruses were equipped with either a Ki67 small interfering RNA (siRNA), a human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) siRNA or a double siRNA targeting Ki67 and hTERT. We identified the antitumor activities of oncolytic adenoviruses in 3 renal cancer cell lines, human normal renal tube cell HK-2 and also in nude mice bearing KETR-3-xenografted tumors. Our results showed that these oncolytic adenoviruses, especially Ki67-ZXC2-double siRNA, could effectively induce silencing of the Ki67 and hTERT genes, allow efficient viral replication and induce significant apoptosis of renal cancer cells in vitro and in nude mice. We concluded that a dual siRNA mediated by oncolytic virotherapy could be an effective strategy for cancer gene therapy.

Isolation and identification of renal cell carcinoma-derived peptides associated with GP96.

We determined the possible associated determinants and analyzed whether gp96-associated antigenic peptides can be found in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The gp96-peptide complexes were chromatographically purified from resected tumor tissue of RCC patients. SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis confirmed gp96 using the gp96 monoclonal antibody, and its concentration was measured using BCA. Approximately 20 to 50 μg gp96-peptide complexes was obtained from 1 g RCC tissue. The mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of the eluted peptides included the initial profiling using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight MS. Quadrupole time-of-flight MS combined with the Mascot search engine was used to identify the peptides and find proteins from primary sequence databases. MS analysis results demonstrated that the mass range of peptide associated with gp96 was from 1046.48 to 3501.56 Da. Further research confirmed the sequences of two gp96-associated peptides, namely, LVPLEGWGGNVM and PPVYYVPYVVL. However, the original protein of the two peptides could not be found. The results demonstrated that the gp96-associated peptides are small molecular peptides, and the two peptides are deduced to be RCC-associated peptides. The identified peptides were confirmed to be associated with gp96 using the protocols described above. However, the specificity and relevance of the association to the immunogenicity of gp96 remains to be examined. Further analysis must be accomplished before the findings can be applied in peptide vaccine.