Different levels of p53 induced either apoptosis or cell cycle arrest in a doxycycline-regulated hepatocellular carcinoma cell line <Emphasis Type=Italic>in vitro</Emphasis>

Induction of p53 gene expression in cancer cells can lead to both cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. To clarify whether the level of p53 expression determines the apoptotic response of hepatocellullar carcinoma (HCC) cells, we assessed the effect of various levels of expression of p53 gene on a p53-deficient HCC cell line, Hep3B, utilizing a doxycycline (Dox)-regulated inducible p53 expression system. Our results showed that apoptosis was induced in HCC cells with high levels of p53 expression. However, lower level of p53 expression induced only cell cycle arrest but not apoptosis. Bax expression was up-regulated following high levels of p53 expression, while bcl-2 expression was not altered by the level of p53 expression. Moreover, p21 expression was observed in both high and low expression of p53. These results suggest the level of p53 expression could determine if the HCC cells would go into cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. Bax may participate, at least in part, in inducing p53-dependent apoptosis and the induction of p21 alone was able to cause cell cycle arrest but not apoptosis.     

MicroRNA-7 arrests cell cycle in G1 phase by directly targeting CCNE1 in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Growing evidence has demonstrated that the aberrant expression of miRNA is a hallmark of malignancies, indicating the important roles of miRNA in the development and progression of cancer. MiR-7 is considered as a tumor suppressor miRNA in multiple types of cancer. However, the role of miR-7 in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its underlying mechanism remain elusive. In this study, we found that overexpression of miR-7 arrested cell cycle at G1 to S transition in HCC. By combinational use of bioinformatic prediction, reporter assay, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot, we confirmed that CCNE1, an important mediator in G1/S transition is one of new direct target genes of miR-7. Further studies revealed that silencing of CCNE1 recapitulated the effects of miR-7 overexpression, whereas enforced expression of CCNE1 reversed the suppressive effects of miR-7 in cell cycle regulation. Finally, analysis of qRT-PCR showed a reciprocal relationship between miR-7 and CCNE1 in clinical cancer tissues and multiple types of tumor cell lines. These findings indicate that miR-7 exerts tumor-suppressive effects in hepatocarcinogenesis through the suppression of oncogene CCNE1 expression and suggest a therapeutic application of miR-7 in HCC.     

Asparanin A induces G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells

We recently established that asparanin A, a steroidal saponin extracted from Asparagus officinalis L., is an active cytotoxic component. The molecular mechanisms by which asparanin A exerts its cytotoxic activity are currently unknown. In this study, we show that asparanin A induces G₂/M phase arrest and apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. Following treatment of HepG2 cells with asparanin A, cell cycle-related proteins such as cyclin A, Cdk1 and Cdk4 were down-regulated, while p21^WAF1/Cip1 and p-Cdk1 (Thr14/Tyr15) were up-regulated. Additionally, we observed poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage and activation of caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9. The expression ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 was increased in the treated cells, where Bax was also up-regulated. We also found that the expression of p53, a modulator of p21^WAF1/Cip1 and Bax, was not affected in asparanin A-treated cells. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that asparanin A induces cell cycle arrest and triggers apoptosis via a p53-independent manner in HepG2 cells. These data indicate that asparanin A shows promise as a preventive and/or therapeutic agent against human hepatoma.     

Liberation of functional p53 by proteasome inhibition in human papilloma virus-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells promotes apoptosis and cell cycle arrest

Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection represents an emerging risk factor in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). In contrast to HPV-negative HNSCC, most cases of HPV-positive HNSCC encode wild-type p53, although the p53 protein in these cells is rapidly degraded via HPV E6-mediated ubiquitination and subsequent proteasomal degradation. This unique feature of HPV-positive HNSCC has raised hope that liberation of wild-type p53 from the E6 protein may have therapeutic benefit in this disease. Indeed, suppression of E6 expression promotes apoptosis in HPV-positive HNSCC cell lines. However, the role of p53 in mediating this cell death has not been determined. Here, we demonstrate that siRNAs targeting the E6/E7 RNA, or treatment with the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib, resulted in upregulation of functional p53 and p53 gene targets in three HPV-positive HNSCC cell lines, but not in HPV-negative HNSCC cells. Apoptosis induced by E6/E7 siRNA in HPV-positive cells was found to be dependent on p53, while bortezomib-induced cell death was modestly p53-dependent. Treatment with subtoxic doses of bortezomib led to cell cycle arrest in HPV-positive, but not HPV-negative HNSCC cells. Moreover, this cell cycle arrest was mediated by p53 and the cell cycle inhibitor p21, the product of a p53 target gene. Collectively, these findings establish that wild-type p53 encoded by HPV-positive HNSCC cells, once liberated from HPV E6, can play important roles in promoting apoptosis and cell cycle arrest.     

The terminal basal mitosis of chicken retinal Lim1 horizontal cells is not sensitive to cisplatin-induced cell cycle arrest

For proper development, cells need to coordinate proliferation and cell cycle-exit. This is mediated by a cascade of proteins making sure that each phase of the cell cycle is controlled before the initiation of the next. Retinal progenitor cells divide during the process of interkinetic nuclear migration, where they undergo S-phase on the basal side, followed by mitoses on the apical side of the neuroepithelium. The final cell cycle of chicken retinal horizontal cells (HCs) is an exception to this general cell cycle behavior. Lim1 expressing (+) horizontal progenitor cells (HPCs) have a heterogenic final cell cycle, with some cells undergoing a terminal mitosis on the basal side of the retina. The results in this study show that this terminal basal mitosis of Lim1+ HPCs is not dependent on Chk1/2 for its regulation compared to retinal cells undergoing interkinetic nuclear migration. Neither activating nor blocking Chk1 had an effect on the basal mitosis of Lim1+ HPCs. Furthermore, the Lim1+ HPCs were not sensitive to cisplatin-induced DNA damage and were able to continue into mitosis in the presence of γ-H2AX without activation of caspase-3. However, Nutlin3a-induced expression of p21 did reduce the mitoses, suggesting the presence of a functional p53/p21 response in HPCs. In contrast, the apical mitoses were blocked upon activation of either Chk1/2 or p21, indicating the importance of these proteins during the process of interkinetic nuclear migration. Inhibiting Cdk1 blocked M-phase transition both for apical and basal mitoses. This confirmed that the cyclin B1-Cdk1 complex was active and functional during the basal mitosis of Lim1+ HPCs. The regulation of the final cell cycle of Lim1+ HPCs is of particular interest since it has been shown that the HCs are able to sustain persistent DNA damage, remain in the cell cycle for an extended period of time and, consequently, survive for months.     

Downregulation of CCR1 inhibits human hepatocellular carcinoma cell invasion

CC chemokine receptor 1 (CCR1) has an important role in the recruitment of leukocytes to the site of inflammation. The migration and metastasis of tumor cells shares many similarities with leukocyte trafficking, which is mainly regulated by chemokine receptor-ligand interactions. CCR1 is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and tissues with unknown functions. In this study, we silenced CCR1 expression in the human HCC cell line HCCLM3 using artificial microRNA (miRNA)-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) and examined the invasiveness and proliferation of CCR1-silenced HCCLM3 cells and the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity. The miRNA-mediated knockdown expression of CCR1 significantly inhibited the invasive ability of HCCLM3 cells, but had only a minor effect on the cellular proliferation rate. Moreover, CCR1 knockdown significantly reduced the secretion of MMP-2. Together, these findings indicate that CCR1 has an important role in HCCLM3 invasion and that CCR1 might be a new target of HCC treatment.     

Perifosine induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines by blockade of Akt phosphorylation

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common solid cancers, representing the third cause of cancer-related death among cirrhotic patients. Treatment of advanced HCC has become a very active area of research. Perifosine, a new synthetic alkylphospholipid Akt inhibitor, has shown anti-tumor activity by inhibition of Akt phosphorylation. In this study, the effect of perifosine on the cell proliferation and apoptosis in hepatoma cells has been investigated. Cell growth inhibition was detected by MTT assay, cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry, AnnexinV-FITC apoptosis detection kit was used to detect cell apoptosis, and protein expression was examined by Western blotting analysis. Our present studies showed that Akt phosphorylation was inhibited by perifosine in HepG2 and Bel-7402 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Perifosine inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells and Bel-7402 cells in a dose-dependent manner, and arrested cell cycle progression at the G₂ phase. Apoptosis induction became more effective with increasing perifosine concentration. The caspase cascade and its downstream effectors, Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), were also activated simultaneously upon perifosine treatment. The proapoptotic effect of perifosine was in part depending on regulation of the phosphorylation level of ERK and JNK. Perifosine cotreatment substantially increased cytotoxic effects of cisplatin in HepG2 cells. Down-regulating the expression of Bcl-2 and up-regulating the level of Bax may be the potential mechanism for this synergistic effect. Our findings suggest that the small molecule Akt inhibitor perifosine shows substantial anti-tumor activity in human hepatoma cancer cell lines, and is a good candidate for treatment combinations with classical cytostatic compounds in hepatocellular carcinoma.     

Severe hypoxia induces complete antifolate resistance in carcinoma cells due to cell cycle arrest

Antifolates have a crucial role in the treatment of various cancers by inhibiting key enzymes in purine and thymidylate biosynthesis. However, the frequent emergence of inherent and acquired antifolate resistance in solid tumors calls for the development of novel therapeutic strategies to overcome this chemoresistance. The core of solid tumors is highly hypoxic due to poor blood circulation, and this hypoxia is considered to be a major contributor to drug resistance. However, the cytotoxic activity of antifolates under hypoxia is poorly characterized. Here we show that under severe hypoxia, gene expression of ubiquitously expressed key enzymes and transporters in folate metabolism and nucleoside homeostasis is downregulated. We further demonstrate that carcinoma cells become completely refractory, even at sub-millimolar concentrations, to all hydrophilic and lipophilic antifolates tested. Moreover, tumor cells retained sensitivity to the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib and the topoisomerase II inhibitor doxorubicin, which are independent of cell cycle. We provide evidence that this antifolate resistance, associated with repression of folate metabolism, is a result of the inability of antifolates to induce DNA damage under hypoxia, and is attributable to a hypoxia-induced cell cycle arrest, rather than a general anti-apoptotic mechanism. Our findings suggest that solid tumors harboring a hypoxic core of cell cycle-arrested cells may display antifolate resistance while retaining sensitivity to the chemotherapeutics bortezomib and doxorubicin. This study bears important implications for the molecular basis underlying antifolate resistance under hypoxia and its rational overcoming in solid tumors.     

NEDD4 promotes cell growth and motility in hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death worldwide. In China, the situation is even worse as cancer incidence and mortality continue to increase rapidly. Although tremendous progress has been made toward HCC treatments, the benefits for liver cancer patients are still limited. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and develop novel therapeutic methods. Neuronally expressed developmentally downregulated 4 (NEDD4), an E3 ubiquitin ligase, plays a critical role in the development and progression of various types of human cancers. In our study, NEDD4 acts as an oncoprotein in both QGY7703 and SMMC7721 liver cancer cell lines. We found that depletion of NEDD4 by siRNA transfection led to inhibition of cell growth, invasion and migration, and promotion of apoptosis. In contrast, overexpression of NEDD4 via plasmid transfection resulted in facilitated cell proliferation, invasion and migration, and decreased apoptosis. Importantly, we observed that tumor suppressor LATS1, also a core component of Hippo pathway, was negatively regulated by NEDD4 in liver cancer cells. Our findings suggested that NEDD4 may be involved in the HCC progression via regulating LATS1 associated signaling pathway. Therefore, targeting NEDD4-LATS1 signaling could be a potential therapeutic option for HCC treatment.     

Flavonoids from tartary buckwheat induce G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in human hepatoma HepG2 cells

The cytotoxicity and antioxidant activity on human hepa toma cell line HepG2 of three flavonoids homogenous com pounds from tartary buckwheat seeds and bran, namely quercetin, isoquercetin, and rutin, were investigated. The total antioxidant competency detection results indicated that the antioxidant capacity of quercetin was the strongest in a biological response system. A [3-（4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl）-2,5diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay showed that quercetin exhibited the strongest cytotoxic effects against the HepG2 cell line. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that quercetin significantly increased the production of reactive oxygen species, and led to the G2/M phase arrest accom panied by an increase of apoptotic cell death after 48 h of incubation. Quercetininduced cell apoptosis was shown to involve p53 and p21 upregulation, Cyclin D1, Cdk2, and Cdk7 downregulation. These results suggested that the in duction of G2/M arrest, apoptosis, and cell death by quer cetin may associate with increased expression of p53 and p21, decrease of Cyclin D1, Cdk2, and Cdk7 levels, and generation of reactive oxygen species in cells. This study will help to better understand and fully utilize medicinal resources of plant flavonoids.     

N-methylpurine DNA glycosylase inhibits p53-mediated cell cycle arrest and coordinates with p53 to determine sensitivity to alkylating agents

Alkylating agents induce genome-wide base damage, which is repaired mainly by N-methylpurine DNA glycosylase (MPG). An elevated expression of MPG in certain types of tumor cells confers higher sensitivity to alkylation agents because MPG-induced apurinic/apyrimidic (AP) sites trigger more strand breaks. However, the determinant of drug sensitivity or insensitivity still remains unclear. Here, we report that the p53 status coordinates with MPG to play a pivotal role in such process. MPG expression is positive in breast, lung and colon cancers (38.7%, 43.4% and 25.3%, respectively) but negative in all adjacent normal tissues. MPG directly binds to the tumor suppressor p53 and represses p53 activity in unstressed cells. The overexpression of MPG reduced, whereas depletion of MPG increased, the expression levels of pro-arrest gene downstream of p53 including p21, 14-3-3σ and Gadd45 but not proapoptotic ones. The N-terminal region of MPG was specifically required for the interaction with the DNA binding domain of p53. Upon DNA alkylation stress, in p53 wild-type tumor cells, p53 dissociated from MPG and induced cell growth arrest. Then, AP sites were repaired efficiently, which led to insensitivity to alkylating agents. By contrast, in p53-mutated cells, the AP sites were repaired with low efficacy. To our knowledge, this is the first direct evidence to show that a DNA repair enzyme functions as a selective regulator of p53, and these findings provide new insights into the functional linkage between MPG and p53 in cancer therapy.     

lncRNA OSER1-AS1 acts as a ceRNA to promote tumorigenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma by regulating miR-372-3p/Rab23 axis

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are crucial regulators of tumorigenesis and progression in human cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the role of most lncRNAs that are dysregulated in HCC remains to be elucidated. Here, we investigated the role of OSER1-AS1 in the progression of HCC. The results of database and qRT-PCR analysis demonstrated that OSER1-AS1 was highly expressed in HCC tissues and the high expression of OSER1-AS1 was closely associated with larger tumor size, advanced tumor stages, lower disease free survival and overall survival of HCC patients. OSER1-AS1 knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation, invasion and migration of HCC cells, and induced the apoptosis. In addition, the dual luciferase reporter assay directly demonstrated that OSER1-AS1 functioned as a molecular sponge for miR-372-3p to promote Rab23 expression. Moreover, the results of immunohistochemistry and western blot analysis showed that Rab23 was highly expressed in HCC tissues, and the high expression of Rab23 was closely associated with the poor overall survival of HCC patients. Immunofluorescence assay also found the subcellular localization of Rab23 in HCC cells. Rab23 was obviously downregulated in cells that were transfected with miR-372-3p mimics. MiR-372-3p mimics significantly inhibited the proliferation and invasion of HCC cells). Rab23 restoration partially reversed miR-372-3p-induced tumor suppressive effects on HCC cells. In conclusion, we found that OSER1-AS1 acted as a ceRNA to sponge miR-372-3p, thereby positively regulating the Rab23 expression and ultimately acting as a tumor suppressor gene in HCC progression.     

Epigenetic upregulation and functional role of the mitochondrial aspartate/glutamate carrier isoform 1 in hepatocellular carcinoma

Metabolic reprogramming is a common hallmark of cancer cells. Although some biochemical features have been clarified, there is still much to learn about cancer cell metabolism and its regulation. Aspartate-glutamate carrier isoform 1 (AGC1), encoded by SLC25A12 gene, catalyzes an exchange between intramitochondrial aspartate and cytosolic glutamate plus a proton across the mitochondrial membrane, so supplying aspartate to the cytosol. SLC25A12, expressed in brain, heart, and skeletal muscle, is silenced in normal liver. Here, we demonstrate that SLC25A12 gene is reactivated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) HepG2 cell line through histone acetylation and CREB recruitment. Furthermore, SLC25A12 knockdown by small interfering RNA, impairs HepG2 cell proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest. AGC1 sustains HCC cell growth by supplying cytosolic aspartate for nucleotide biosynthesis. In addition, SLC25A12-silenced HCC cells show a strong reduction of cell migration. Overall, we have provided evidence for molecular mechanisms controlling SLC25A12 gene expression in liver and pointing to an important role for AGC1 in HCC.     

MicroRNA-203 leads to G1 phase cell cycle arrest in laryngeal carcinoma cells by directly targeting survivin

Previous studies have shown that miR-203 acts as a tumor-suppressive microRNA in various cancers, but its roles in laryngeal carcinoma are still contradicted. Here, we found that miR-203 inhibited the growth of laryngeal cancer cells and survivin was a direct target of miR-203. Moreover, silencing of survivin recapitulated the effect of miR-203 on cell cycle progression, whereas overexpression of survivin reversed this effect. Additionally, qRT-PCR showed the reciprocal relationship between miR-203 and survivin in laryngeal cancer tissues. These findings indicate that miR-203 inhibits the proliferation of laryngeal carcinoma cells by directly targeting survivin, suggesting its application in anti-cancer therapeutics.     

XBP-1u suppresses autophagy by promoting the degradation of FoxO1 in cancer cells

Autophagy is activated to maintain cellular energy homeostasis in response to nutrient starvation. However, autophagy is not persistently activated, which is poorly understood at a mechanistic level. Here, we report that turnover of FoxO1 is involved in the dynamic autophagic process caused by glutamine starvation. X-box-binding protein-1u (XBP-1u) has a critical role in FoxO1 degradation by recruiting FoxO1 to the 20S proteasome. In addition, the phosphorylation of XBP-1u by extracellular regulated protein kinases1/2 (ERK1/2) on Ser61 and Ser176 was found to be critical for the increased interaction between XBP-1u and FoxO1 upon glutamine starvation. Furthermore, knockdown of XBP-1u caused the sustained level of FoxO1 and the persistent activation of autophagy, leading to a significant decrease in cell viability. Finally, the inverse correlation between XBP-1u and FoxO1 expression agrees well with the expression profiles observed in many human cancer tissues. Thus, our findings link the dynamic process of autophagy to XBP-1u-induced FoxO1 degradation.