Shinobu Ohnuma

Peripheral CB1 cannabinoid receptor blockade improves cardiometabolic risk in mouse models of obesity.

Obesity and its metabolic consequences are a major public health concern worldwide. Obesity is associated with overactivity of the endocannabinoid system, which is involved in the regulation of appetite, lipogenesis, and insulin resistance. Cannabinoid-1 receptor (CB1R) antagonists reduce body weight and improve cardiometabolic abnormalities in experimental and human obesity, but their therapeutic potential is limited by neuropsychiatric side effects. Here we have demonstrated that a CB1R neutral antagonist largely restricted to the periphery does not affect behavioral responses mediated by CB1R in the brains of mice with genetic or diet-induced obesity, but it does cause weight-independent improvements in glucose homeostasis, fatty liver, and plasma lipid profile. These effects were due to blockade of CB1R in peripheral tissues, including the liver, as verified through the use of CB1R-deficient mice with or without transgenic expression of CB1R in the liver. These results suggest that targeting peripheral CB1R has therapeutic potential for alleviating cardiometabolic risk in obese patients.

Cell surface Lactobacillus plantarum LA 318 glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) adheres to human colonic mucin

Aims:  To characterize the adhesion molecule of Lactobacillus plantarum LA 318 that shows high adhesion to human colonic mucin (HCM).

Discovering Natural Product Modulators to Overcome Multidrug Resistance in Cancer Chemotherapy

Multidrug resistance caused by the overexpression of ABC drug transporters is a major obstacle in clinical cancer chemotherapy. For several years, it appeared that direct inhibition of ABC transporters would be the cheapest and most efficient way to combat this problem. Unfortunately, progress in finding a potent, selective inhibitor to modulate ABC transporters and restore drug sensitivity in multidrug-resistant cancer cells has been slow and challenging. Candidate drugs should ideally be selective, potent and relatively non-toxic. Many researchers in recent years have turned their attention to utilizing natural products as the building blocks for the development of the next generation of inhibitors, especially after the disappointing results obtained from inhibitors of the first three generations at the clinical trial stage. The first step is to discover natural substances (distinct from the first three generation inhibitors) that are potent, selective and relatively non-toxic in order to be used clinically. Here, we present a brief overview of the prospect of using natural products to modulate the function of ABC drug transporters clinically and their impact on human physiology and pharmacology.

The phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor vardenafil is a potent inhibitor of ABCB1/P-glycoprotein transporter.

One of the major causes of chemotherapy failure in cancer treatment is multidrug resistance (MDR) which is mediated by the ABCB1/P-glycoprotein. Previously, through the use of an extensive screening process, we found that vardenafil, a phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE-5) inhibitor significantly reverses MDR in ABCB1 overexpressing cancer cells, and its efficacy was greater than that of tadalafil, another PDE-5 inhibitor. The present study was designed to determine the reversal mechanisms of vardenafil and tadalafil on ABC transporters-mediated MDR. Vardenafil or tadalafil alone, at concentrations up to 20 µM, had no significant toxic effects on any of the cell lines used in this study, regardless of their membrane transporter status. However, vardenafil when used in combination with anticancer substrates of ABCB1, significantly potentiated their cytotoxicity in ABCB1 overexpressing cells in a concentration-dependent manner, and this effect was greater than that of tadalafil. The sensitivity of the parenteral cell lines to cytotoxic anticancer drugs was not significantly altered by vardenafil. The differential effects of vardenafil and tadalafil appear to be specific for the ABCB1 transporter as both vardenafil and tadalafil had no significant effect on the reversal of drug resistance conferred by ABCC1 (MRP1) and ABCG2 (BCRP) transporters. Vardenafil significantly increased the intracellular accumulation of [3H]-paclitaxel in the ABCB1 overexpressing KB-C2 cells. In addition, vardenafil significantly stimulated the ATPase activity of ABCB1 and inhibited the photolabeling of ABCB1 with [125I]-IAAP. Furthermore, Western blot analysis indicated the incubation of cells with either vardenafil or tadalafil for 72 h did not alter ABCB1 protein expression. Overall, our results suggest that vardenafil reverses ABCB1-mediated MDR by directly blocking the drug efflux function of ABCB1.

siRNA-mediated knockdown against CDCA1 and KNTC2, both frequently overexpressed in colorectal and gastric cancers, suppresses cell proliferation and induces apoptosis

Ndc80 has been shown to play an important role in stable microtubule-kinetochore attachment, chromosome alignment, and spindle checkpoint activation in mitosis. It is composed of two heterodimers, CDCA1-KNTC2 and SPC24-SPC25. Overexpression of CDCA1 and KNTC2 is reported to be associated with poor prognosis in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC), and siRNA-mediated knockdown against CDCA1 or KNTC2 has been found to inhibit cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis in NSCLC, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer and glioma. Therefore, CDCA1 and KNTC2 can be considered good candidates for molecular target therapy as well as diagnosis in some cancers. However, the role of the Ndc80 complex in colorectal and gastric cancers (CRC and GC) still remains unclear. In the present study, we used qRT-PCR to evaluate the expression levels of CDCA1, KNTC2, SPC24 and SPC25 in CRC and GC and employed siRNA-mediated knockdown to examine cell proliferation and apoptosis. mRNA overexpression of these four genes was observed in CRCs and GCs when compared with the corresponding normal mucosae. Additionally, the expression levels of tumor/normal ratios of CDCA1, KNTC2, SPC24 and SPC25 correlated with each other in CRCs. MTT assays revealed that cell growths after the siRNA-mediated knockdown of either CDCA1 or KNTC2 were significantly suppressed, and flow cytometry analyses revealed significant increases of the subG1 fractions after knockdown against both genes. Our present results suggest that expressional control of component molecules of Ndc80 can be utilized for molecular target therapy of patients with CRC and GC.

Kuguacin J isolated from Momordica charantia leaves inhibits P-glycoprotein (ABCB1)-mediated multidrug resistance.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major factor in the failure of chemotherapy in cancer patients. Resistance to chemotherapy has been correlated to the overexpression of ABC drug transporters including P-glycoprotein (P-gp) that actively efflux chemotherapeutic drugs from cancer cells. Our previous study showed that bitter melon (Momordica charantia) leaf extract (BMLE) was able to reverse the MDR phenotype by increasing the intracellular accumulation of chemotherapeutic drugs. In the present study, bioguided fractionation was used to identify the active component(s) of BMLE that is able to modulate the function of P-gp and the MDR phenotype in a human cervical carcinoma cell line (KB-V1). We found that kuguacin J, one of the active components in BMLE, increased sensitivity to vinblastine and paclitaxel in KB-V1 cells. A flow cytometry assay indicated that kuguacin J inhibits the transport function of P-gp and thereby significantly increases the accumulation of rhodamine 123 and calcein AM in the cells. These results were confirmed by [³H]-vinblastine transport assay. Kuguacin J significantly increases intracellular [³H]-vinblastine accumulation and decreased the [³H]-vinblastine efflux in the cells. Kuguacin J also inhibited the incorporation of [¹²⁵I]-iodoarylazidoprazosin into P-gp in a concentration-dependent manner, indicating that kuguacin J directly interacts with the drug-substrate-binding site on P-gp. These results indicate that kuguacin J modulates the function of P-gp by directly interacting at the drug-substrate-binding site, and it appears to be an effective inhibitor of P-gp activity in vitro and thus could be developed as an effective chemosensitizer to treat multidrug-resistant cancers.

Orthotopic implantation mouse model and cDNA microarray analysis indicates several genes potentially involved in lymph node metastasis of colorectal cancer

In colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, metastasis to the regional lymph node (LN) is an important first step in the dissemination of cancers. To identify the genes possibly involved in LN metastasis of CRC, we analyzed LN metastases in an orthotopic implantation mouse model with 22 CRC cell lines using Matrigel, an extracellular matrix protein derived from mice sarcoma, and combined the data with gene expression profiles of cDNA microarray of those cell lines. With this implantation analysis, the incidence of LN metastasis was 60% in 228 orthotopically implanted mice and varied from 100% to 0% among the cell lines. KM12c and Clone A showed LN metastasis in all orthotopically implanted mice, but DLD‐1, HCT‐8, and SW948 did not show LN metastases at all. In contrast, the incidence of liver and lung metastasis in 22 CRC cell lines was 13% and 1%, respectively. Combining those data with cDNA microarray in vitro, we isolated 636 genes that were differentially expressed depending on the incidence of LN metastasis. Among those genes, the expression level of ring finger protein 125 (RNF125), previously known as an E3 ubiquitin ligase in T cell activation, was significantly different between primary tumors in Stage III CRC patients with LN metastasis and Stage II patients without LN metastasis. In conclusion, the orthotopic implantation mice model with Matrigel was useful, and we isolated candidate genes such as RNF125 that possibly play an important role in LN metastasis of CRC cells. (Cancer Sci 2008; 99: 711–719)

Biochemical mechanism of modulation of human P-glycoprotein by stemofoline.

The resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs by cancer cells is considered to be one of the major obstacles for success in the treatment of cancer. A major mechanism underlying this multidrug resistance is the overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), resulting in insufficient drug delivery to the tumor sites. A previous study has shown that stemofoline, an alkaloid isolated from Stemona burkillii, could enhance the sensitivity of chemotherapeutics in a synergistic fashion. In the present study, we have focused on the effect of stemofoline on the modulation of P-gp function in a multidrug resistant human cervical carcinoma cell line (KB-V1). The effects of stemofoline on a radiolabeled drug, [(3)H]-vinblastine, and fluorescent P-gp substrates, rhodamine 123 and calcein-AM accumulation or retention were investigated to confirm this finding. Stemofoline could increase the accumulation or retention of radiolabeled drugs or fluorescent P-gp substrates in a dose-dependent manner. For additional studies on drug-P-gp binding, P-gp ATPase activity was stimulated by stemofoline in a concentration-dependent manner. More evidence was offered that stemofoline inhibits the effect on photoaffinity labeling of P-gp with [(125)I]-iodoarylazidoprazosin in a concentration-dependent manner. These data indicate that stemofoline may interact directly with P-gp and inhibit P-gp activity, whereas stemofoline has no effect on P-gp expression. Taken together, the results exhibit that stemofoline possesses an effective MDR modulator, and may be used in combination with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs to reverse MDR in cancer cells.

Cancer-associated splicing variants of the CDCA1 and MSMB genes expressed in cancer cell lines and surgically resected gastric cancer tissues

BACKGROUND Alternative splicing is a molecular mechanism by which different combinations of exons can be alternatively spliced to produce different mRNA isoforms. Recently, several databases have been published to predict the alternative splicing of mRNA; cancer-specific alternative splicing has also been predicted with these databases. Those variants may be potentially useful targets for cancer therapy, however, the accuracy and veracity of these databases have yet to be confirmed. METHODS In this study, we analyzed 17 genes by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) that were predicted to have cancer-specific alternative splicing by using the splicing database, the Alternative Splicing Annotation Project (ASAP) by Lee et al, between 38 cancer cell lines from various organs and 9 corresponding normal tissues. By designing 2 types of primer sets for RT-PCR including (1) primers flanking the alternatively spliced exons and (2) primers spanning the exon/exon junctions, cancer-associated splicing variants were investigated. RESULTS The alternatively splicing events were detected in 15 of 17 genes (88%); 35 of 43 variants (81%) were detected successfully with RT-PCR. Among these variants, M-RIP, HYAL2, CDCA1, and MSMB genes showed differential expressions between cancer cell lines and corresponding normal tissues. Furthermore, RT-PCR with surgically resected gastric cancer tissues (diffuse type, 6; intestinal type, 4) confirmed that 2 variants of CDCA1 were upregulated in cancer tissues, whereas both variants of MSMB were expressed predominantly in normal tissues. CONCLUSION Alternative splicing variants, especially in CDCA1, were detected in this study and may be potentially useful as diagnostic markers and/or novel targets for anticancer therapy.

New screening methods for probiotics with adhesion properties to sialic acid and sulphate residues in human colonic mucin using the Biacore assay.

To determine the relationship between adhesive ability of probiotics and acidic residues in human colonic mucin, we developed a new screening method using Biacore to evaluate adherence of bacteria before and after sialic acid or sulphate residues were blocked or removed from mucin.