Human HOX Proteins Use Diverse and Context-Dependent Motifs to Interact with TALE Class Cofactors

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Hydogen peroxide-dependent photocytotoxicity by phloxine B,a xanthene-type food colorant

Background

Phloxine B (PhB; 2′,4′,5′,7′-tetrabromo-4,5,6,7-tetrachloro-fluorescein), an artificial xanthene colorant, has been used as a red coloring agent in drugs and cosmetics as well as foods in some countries. However, little effort has been devoted to the study of this colorant as a potentially useful medicinal agent.

Methods

We investigated the daily light-induced photocytotoxicity of PhB in two human leukemia cells, HL-60 and Jurkat, and its underlying mechanisms by in vitro experiments using antioxidants.

Reuslts and conclusions

PhB inhibited cell proliferation more preferentially to HL-60 cells than to Jurkat cells. Co-treatment of catalase completely blocked the photocytotoxicity by PhB in HL-60 cells, whereas the effect of histidine was only partial, suggesting that hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), rather than singlet oxygen, might be a prerequisite for the PhB-induced HL-60 cell death. Actually, PhB produced a significant amount of H₂O₂ in the media as well as in the cells in concentration- and light-dependent manners. Furthermore, methionine, a hypochlorous acid (HOCl) scavenger, also significantly attenuated the cytotoxicity in HL-60 cells, but not in Jurkat cells, indicating the involvement of myeloperoxidase (MPO)-dependent hypohalous acid formation during the photocytotoxicity. In vitro experiments revealed that halogenated tyrosine was generated from the reaction of bovine serum albumin with PhB and HL-60 cell lysate. The present findings suggested that PhB induced a differential photodynamic action in the MPO-containing leukemia cells through an H₂O₂-dependent mechanism.

General significance

Our findings provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the PhB-induced apoptosis and also evaluated PhB as a promising PDT agent.     

Mutually exclusive antiproliferative effect of cell line-specific HOX inhibition in epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines: SKOV-3 vs RMUG-S

We aimed to discover cell line-specific overexpressed HOX genes responsible for chemoresistance and to identify the mechanisms behind HOX-induced cell line-specific chemoresistance in EOC. Ten HOX genes and eight EOC cell lines were tested for any cell line-specific overexpression that presents a mutually exclusive pattern. Cell viability was evaluated after treatment with cisplatin and/or siRNA for cell line-specific overexpressed HOX genes. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for HOXB9 was performed in 84 human EOC tissues. HOXA10 and HOXB9 were identified as cell line-specific overexpressed HOX genes for SKOV-3 and RMUG-S, respectively. Inhibiting the expression of cell line-specific HOX genes, but not of other HOX genes, significantly decreased cell viability. In SKOV-3 cells, cell viability decreased to 46.5% after initial 10 µM cisplatin treatment; however, there was no further decrease upon additional treatment with HOXA10 siRNA. In contrast, cell viability did not significantly decrease upon cisplatin treatment in RMUG-S cells, but decreased to 65.5% after additional treatment with HOXB9 siRNA. In both cell lines, inhibiting cell line-specific HOX expression enhanced apoptosis but suppressed the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers such as vimentin, MMP9, and Oct4. IHC analysis showed that platinum-resistant cancer tissues more frequently had high HOXB9 expression than platinum-sensitive cancer tissues. HOXB9, which is overexpressed in RMUG-S but not in SKOV-3 cells, appeared to be associated with cell line-specific platinum resistance in RMUG-S. Inhibiting HOXB9 overexpression in RMUG-S cells may effectively eliminate platinum-resistant ovarian cancer cells by facilitating apoptosis and inhibiting EMT.     

血浆HOTAIR在冠状动脉粥样硬化性心脏病的表达及诊断价值

目的:检测血浆HOX转录反义RNA(HOTAIR)表达水平,并初步探讨血浆HOTAIR作为冠状动脉粥样硬化性心脏病(CAD)标志物的诊断价值。方法:CAD患者和非CAD患者分别作为本研究的疾病组和对照组,血标本来自重庆大坪医院心内科介入室(2013年1月-9月)。运用实时荧光定量聚合酶链反应(q RT-PCR)分别检测疾病组和对照组各100例血浆HOTAIR水平,同时对上述血浆HOTAIR的表达值绘制受试者工作特征(ROC)曲线,并计算ROC曲线下面积(AUC)。结果:与对照组(0.25±0.10)相比,HOTAIR在CAD患者血浆(0.80±0.30)中表达显著升高(P0.05);ROC曲线分析表明,AUC为0.776,Cut-off值为0.55时,诊断CAD的灵敏度为75%,特异度为80%。结论:冠状动脉粥样硬化性心脏病患者血浆HOTAIR水平升高,血浆HOTAIR可作为诊断冠状动脉粥样硬化性心脏病的独立生物标志物。