Osteopontin stimulates preneoplastic cellular proliferation through activation of the MAPK pathway

Alterations in the microenvironment collaborate with cell autonomous mutations during the transformation process. Indeed, cancer-associated fibroblasts and senescent fibroblasts stimulate tumorigenesis in xenograft models. Because senescent fibroblasts accumulate with age, these findings suggest that they contribute to age-related increases in tumorigenesis. Previously we showed that senescence-associated stromal-derived osteopontin contributes to preneoplastic cell growth in vitro and in xenografts, suggesting that it impacts neoplastic progression. Analysis of fibroblasts within premalignant and malignant skin lesions ranging from solar/actinic keratosis to squamous cell carcinoma revealed they express osteopontin. Given the stromal expression of osteopontin, we investigated how osteopontin impacts preneoplastic cell growth. We show that osteopontin promotes preneoplastic keratinocyte cellular proliferation and cell survival through the CD44 cell receptor and activation of the MAPK pathway. These data suggest that stromal-derived osteopontin impacts tumorigenesis by stimulating preneoplastic cell proliferation thus allowing expansion of initiated cells in early lesions.     

Armepavine oxalate induces cell death on CCRF-CEM leukemia cell line through an apoptotic pathway

Drug-induced cell death can occur as a result of DNA damage, which in turn may lead to the reduction of bcl-2 expression and activation of caspase-3 expression. In the present study, we investigated the effect of armepavines and atherosperminine on the cell survival rate and expression of bcl-2 and caspase-3 in CCRF-CEM cells. Our data have revealed that armepavine oxalate reduced the survival rate of CCRF-CEM cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner by MTT assay. However, no significant effects of armepavine MeI and atherosperminine N-oxide on the survival rate of the CCRF-CEM cell were observed. Armepavine oxalate-induced cell death was considered to be apoptotic on the basis of observed formation of the DNA ladder and the typical apoptotic morphological change by Hoechst 33258 staining. The expression of bcl-2 protein in CCRF-CEM cells treated with 30 microM armepavine oxalate was significantly decreased in western blotting analysis. In contrast, the expression of active caspase-3 in the cells was increased by armepavine oxalate in a dose-dependent manner. These findings indicate the involvement of bcl-2 and caspase-3 in the apoptotic process of CCRF-CEM cells induced by armepavine oxalate. The increased expression of active caspase-3 as well as decreased expression of bcl-2 support the assumption the armepavine oxalate-treated cells may be capable to complete the entire apoptotic process ending in cell fragmentation.     

Dihydroartemisinin induces apoptosis in human gastric cancer cell line BGC-823 through activation of JNK1/2 and p38 MAPK signaling pathways

Dihydroartemisinin (DHA), a semi-synthetic derivative of artemisinin, is associated with a broad range of biological properties including antitumor activity. However, the effect of DHA on gastric cancer has not been clearly clarified. The aim of this study was to investigate the role and mechanism of DHA in human gastric cancer cell line BGC-823. Cell viability was assessed by MTT assay. Cell apoptosis was analyzed with flow cytometry. The expressions of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) and their phosphorylated forms as well as apoptosis related proteins were examined by western blot analysis. The results demonstrated that DHA inhibited cell viability of BGC-823 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. DHA treatment upregulated the expression of Bax, cleaved caspase-3 and -9, and degraded form of PARP, and downregulated the Bcl-2 expression and Bcl-2/Bax ratio. Meanwhile, DHA increased the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK1/2 and p38 MAPK. Synthetic inhibitors of JNK1/2 or p38 MAPK kinase activity, but not inhibitor of ERK1/2, significantly abolished the DHA-induced activation of caspase-3 and -9. In vivo tumor-suppression assay further indicated that DHA displayed significant inhibitory effect on BGC-823 xenografts in tumor growth. These results indicate that DHA induces apoptosis of BGC-823 cells through JNK1/2 and p38 MAPK signaling pathways and DHA could serve as a potential additional chemotherapeutic agent for treatment of gastric cancer.     

NGF withdrawal induces apoptosis in CESS B cell line through p38 MAPK activation and Bcl-2 phosphorylation

The sIgG(+) lymphoblastoid B cell line CESS spontaneously produces a high amount of NGF and expresses both high affinity (p140(Trk-A)) and low affinity (p75(NTR)) NGF receptors. Blocking NGF signals with neutralizing antibodies or specific Trk-A inhibitors induces a rapid phosphorylation of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein, followed by caspase activation, and apoptotic death of CESS cells. Bcl-2 phosphorylation in several sites within a approximately 60 aa "loop" domain of protein is known to regulate its antiapoptotic function. Accordingly, CESS cells expressing the loop deletional mutant cDNA constructs Bcl-2 Delta40-91 were completely resistant to apoptosis induced by NGF withdrawal, indicating that Bcl-2 phosphorylation is a critical event. NGF withdrawal induces p38 MAPK, but not JNK, activation in CESS cells, and SB203580, a specific inhibitor of p38 MAPK, is able to prevent both Bcl-2 phosphorylation and apoptosis, indicating that p38 MAPK is the enzyme responsible for these events.     

Thymosin alpha1 suppresses proliferation and induces apoptosis in human leukemia cell lines

Thymosin alpha1 (Talpha1), a 28-amino acid peptide, is a well-known immune system enhancer for the treatment of various diseases. In the present investigation, the effects of Talpha1 on the proliferation and apoptosis of human leukemia cell lines (HL-60, K562 and K562/ADM) were studied. The proliferation was significantly depressed after 96 h of treatment with Talpha1, and obvious signs of apoptosis, i.e., cell morphology, nuclei condensation and Annexin V binding, were observed thereafter. Moreover, the up-regulation of Fas/Apol (CD95) and decrease in bcl-2 anti-apoptotic gene expression were observed in apoptotic cells. The expression and the function of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) can be slightly inhibited by Talpha1. It is noteworthy that K562 and K562/ADM were more sensitive than HL-60 cells when subjected to Talpha1. Furthermore, HepG-2, the human hepatoma cell line, displayed significant less sensitivity to Talpha1 than all the human leukemia cell lines. D-Tubocurarine (TUB), a nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) antagonist, significantly antagonized the inhibition effects induced by Talpha1, whereas atropine, a muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist, did not exhibit such effects. All the results indicate that Talpha1 was able to significantly suppress proliferation and induce apoptosis in human leukemia cell lines.     

Cordyceps sinensis mycelium extract induces human premyelocytic leukemia cell apoptosis through mitochondrion pathway

This study was to identify the signaling pathways for the induction of HL-60 cell apoptosis by Cordyceps sinensis mycelium extract (CSME). CSME at 25 mug/ml induced nuclear fragmentation and DNA degradation, two hallmark events of apoptosis, in the HL-60 cells within 12-24 hrs of treatment. Concomitantly, several major events in the mitochondrial signal pathway occurred, including the loss of MTP (DeltaPsi(m)), cytochrome c release into the cytoplasm, the decrease in Bcl-2 protein level, the translocation of Bax protein from cytoplasm into mitochondria, and the activation of caspase-2, -3, and -9, but caspase-8, the initiator caspase in the death receptor pathway, was not activated. These results suggest that CSME induces apoptosis in HL-60 cell through the mitochondrial pathway rather than the death receptor pathway.     

The expression and activation of ERK/MAPK pathway in human esophageal cancer cell line EC9706

While there have been more and more studies concerning mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) signaling pathways, which control many cellular complex programmes, such as cell proliferation, differentiation, cell death and embryogenesis. However, few studies are carried out about expression and activation of classical MAPKs, extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 (ERK1/2) in human esophageal cancer cell line. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the expression and activation of ERK1/2 in human esophageal cancer cell line EC9706 and human normal esophageal epithelial cell line Heepic, which is as control. This study showed that ERK1/2 was transiently phosphorylated both in EC9706 and Heepic, the kinetics of which were slightly different. To further study the ERK/MAPK signaling pathway in EC9706 and Heepic cell line, U0126 a kind of specific inhibitor of MEK was used. This study showed that U0126 can block the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in a short time, the complete inhibition concentration for EC9706 and Heepic cell line is 50 and 20 ??M, respectively. Incidentally, to further investigate the different roles of ERK1 and ERK2, vector-based short hairpin interference vectors targeted on ERK1/2 was constructed. Moreover, the effective interference target sequence was screened out in a transient transfection manner. MTT experiment showed that ERK2 is more important than ERK1 in the proliferation of EC9706 cells.     

8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine induces senescence-like changes in KG-1, human acute myelocytic leukemia cell line

8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine (oh⁸dG) treatment induced senescence-like changes in KG-1 cells, a human acute myelocytic leukemia cell line. The oh⁸dG-treated cells stained positive for senescence associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-galactosidase) and had enlarged cell shape, both of which are senescence indexes. The oh⁸dG-treated cells were also cell growth inhibited and arrested at G₁ in the cell cycle. The accumulation of cdk (cyclin dependent kinase) inhibitors, such as p16, p21, and p27, also implies that cellular senescence was induced in oh⁸dG-treated cells. However, these changes were not accompanied by cell differentiation or telomerase activity. Taken together, we conclude that oh⁸dG treatment of KG-1 cells induces cellular senescence.     

Interleukin-1 directly regulates hormone-dependent human breast cancer cell proliferation in vitro

Direct in vitro effects of IL-1 on hormone-dependent (MCF-7 and ZR-75-B) and independent (HS-578-T and MDA-231) human breast cancer cell proliferation were investigated in short-term and long-term cell cultures. For short-term (48 h) studies [3H]thymidine uptake was used as an index of proliferation, while for long-term (12 day) cultures actual cell numbers were determined. Initial studies, conducted with MCF-7 cells, demonstrated that both forms of recombinant human IL-1 (alpha and beta) at 10(-11) M inhibited [3H]thymidine uptake by MCF-7 by 70%, and by day 7 of the long-term study alpha and beta IL-1 at 10(-11) M inhibited MCF-7 cell growth by 80%. IL-1, while inhibiting the growth of another hormone-dependent breast cancer cell line; ZR-75-B, had no effect on the hormone-independent cell lines MDA-231 and HS-578-T. The differing proliferative responses of the hormone-dependent and independent cells to IL-1 may, in part, be due to the expression of IL-1 receptors on these cells, in that MCF-7 cells express IL-1 receptors [dissociation constant (Kd) = 2.0 x 10(-10) M; receptor density = 2,500 sites per cell and mol wt = 80,000] while the hormone-independent MDA-231 cells do not.     

Interleukin 15 induces the signals of epidermal proliferation through ERK and PI 3-kinase in a human epidermal keratinocyte cell line,HaCaT

Interleukin 15 (IL-15) is a potent stimulator of proliferation and an inhibitor of apoptosis in lymphocytes. We attempted to elucidate the mechanism of IL-15 function in HaCaT keratinocytes. We found that 5-bromo-2(')-deoxyuridine incorporation increased in a dose-dependent manner with IL-15. This was blocked by MEK inhibitor U0126 or PI 3-K inhibitor LY294002. ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation by IL-15 were detected in a dose- and time-dependent manner. U0126 and LY294002 abolished ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation, respectively. DNA fragmentation and Annexin V binding accompanied by UVB-induced apoptosis were reduced by 30-50% with IL-15. Taken together, IL-15 induced cellular proliferation and had an anti-apoptotic effect on keratinocytes, in which ERK1/2 and Akt phosphorylation played crucial roles. The signal transduction pathways of IL-15 in keratinocytes were partially elucidated; they share a substantial part with growth signals induced by EGF. These results suggest a therapeutic approach to inflammatory skin diseases by controlling these signals.     

Stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha induces astrocyte proliferation through the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 pathway

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), the ligand of the CXCR4 receptor, is a chemokine involved in chemotaxis and brain development that also acts as co-receptor for HIV-1 infection. We previously demonstrated that CXCR4 and SDF-1alpha are expressed in cultured type-I cortical rat astrocytes, cortical neurones and cerebellar granule cells. Here, we investigated the possible functions of CXCR4 expressed in rat type-I cortical astrocytes and demonstrated that SDF-1alpha stimulated the proliferation of these cells in vitro. The proliferative activity induced by SDF-1alpha in astrocytes was reduced by PD98059, indicating the involvement of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1/2) in the astrocyte proliferation induced by CXCR4 stimulation. This observation was further confirmed showing that SDF-1alpha treatment selectively activated ERK1/2, but not p38 or stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (SAPK/JNK). Moreover, both astrocyte proliferation and ERK1/2 phosphorylation, induced by SDF-1alpha, were inhibited by pertussis toxin (PTX) and wortmannin treatment indicating the involvement of a PTX sensitive G-protein and of phosphatidyl inositol-3 kinase in the signalling of SDF-1alpha. In addition, Pyk2 activation represent an upstream components for the CXCR4 signalling to ERK1/2 in astrocytes. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating a proliferative effect for SDF-1alpha in primary cultures of rat type-I astrocytes, and showing that the activation of ERK1/2 is responsible for this effect. These data suggest that CXCR4/SDF-1 should play an important role in physiological and pathological glial proliferation, such as brain development, reactive gliosis and brain tumour formation.     

Leukotactin-1/CCL15 induces cell migration and differentiation of human eosinophilic leukemia EoL-1 cells through PKCδ activation

Leukotactin-1 (Lkn-1)/CCL15 is a CC chemokine that binds to the CCR1 and CCR3. Lkn-1 functions as an essential factor in the migration of monocytes, lymphocytes, and neutrophils. Although eosinophils express both receptors, the role of Lkn-1 in immature eosinophils remains to be elucidated. In this present study, we investigated the contribution of the CCR1-binding chemokines to chemotactic activity and in the differentiation in the human eosinophilic leukemia cell line EoL-1. Lkn-1 induced the stronger migration of EoL-1 cells than other CCR1-binding chemokines such as RANTES/CCL5, MIP-1α/CCL3 and HCC-4/CCL16. Lkn-1-induced chemotaxis was inhibited by pertussis toxin, an inhibitor of G_i/G_o protein; U73122, an inhibitor of phospholipase C and rottlerin, an inhibitor of protein kinase C delta (PKCδ). Lkn-1 increased PKCδ activity, which was partially blocked by the pertussis toxin and U73122. Lkn-1 enhanced the butyric acid-induced differentiation via PKCδ after binding to the increased CCR1 because Lkn-1 caused EoL-1 cells to change morphologically into mature eosinophil-like cells. Likewise, Lkn-1 increased the expression of both eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) and the major basic protein (MBP). PKCδ activation due to Lkn-1 is involved in migration, as well as the butyric acid-induced differentiation. This finding contributes to an understanding of CC chemokines in eosinophil biology and to the development of novel therapies for the treatment of eosinophilic disorders. This study suggests the pivotal roles of Lkn-1 in the regulation of the movement and development of eosinophils.     

Apelin-13 induces ERK1/2 but not p38 MAPK activation through coupling of the human apelin receptor to the Gi2 pathway

Apelin signaling to the family of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), such as extracellular-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) and p38 MAPK, through the coupling of apelin receptor (APJ) to G-protein, mediates important pathophysiological responses. Although apelin fragments have been reported to induce ERK1/2 activation through G_i-protein, the intracellular pathways by which APJ activates these MAPKs are only partially understood. Here, using stably transfected human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) cells overexpressing human APJ (HEK293-apelinR), we showed that apelin-13 signaling leads to ERK1/2 and p38 MAPK pathways through APJ activation. It was found in HEK293-apelinR cells that ERK1/2 activation was initiated by apelin-13 at 5 min, with the peak of activation occurring at 15 min, and a return to the basal level within 60 min. The activation of ERK1/2 appeared to be dose-dependent with a significant activation being observed at 10 nM apelin-13 and maximal activation at 100 nM. However, phosphorylated-p38 MAPK was not detected in HEK293-apelinR cells treated with apelin-13. We also shown that the apelin-13-induced ERK1/2 activation requires a coupling with pertussis toxin-sensitive G-protein, and that overexpression of dominant-negative G_i2 completely inhibits the apelin-13-induced ERK1/2 activation. In addition, treatment with apelin-13 resulted in a concentration-dependent reduction of forskolin-stimulated cAMP production. It is therefore suggested that apelin-13 activates ERK1/2 but not p38 MAPK, which involves the coupling of APJ to the G_i2 cascade. In conclusion, the ERK1/ 2, but not p38 MAPKpathway is activated by apelin-13 through coupling of human APJ to G_i2-protein, which contributes to cellular responses.     

Phosphorylation of myofibrillogenesis regulator-1 activates the MAPK signaling pathway and induces proliferation and migration in human breast cancer MCF7 cells

Myofibrillogenesis regulator-1 (MR-1) has been characterized as a tumor promoter in many cancers. However, its mechanism of action has not been fully elucidated. Here, we report that MR-1 is overexpressed in human breast cancer cells and participates in tumor promotion in human breast cancer MCF7 cells by activating the ERK1/2 signaling pathway. MR-1 interacts with MEK1/2 and ERK1, and its N-terminal sequence plays a major role in promoting the MEK/ERK cascade. Furthermore, six phosphorylation sites of MR-1 were identified, and phosphorylation at S46 was shown to be critical for the activation of MEK/ERK. Therefore, our findings suggest that MR-1 functions as a tumor promoter in MCF7 cells by activating the MEK/ERK signaling.     

Inhibition of MAPK activity, cell proliferation, and anchorage-independent growth by N-Ras antisense in an N-ras-transformed human cell line

Mammalian ras genes encode a family of plasma membrane-bound proteins that function as intermediates in signal transduction pathways involved in cell growth and differentiation. Ras oncogene is frequently involved in neoplastic transformation of different cellular histotypes. In this study, we tested the ability of antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotides (AS-ODN) that have mixed phosphodiester/phosphorothioate backbone, targeted against human N-Ras, to inhibit N-ras gene expression and to specifically interfere with the Ras-dependent activity of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in two human cell lines carrying an endogenous N-ras mutated allele at codon 61. Three AS-ODN that inhibit basal MAPK activity have been identified. Moreover, AS-ODN treatment resulted in potent antiproliferative effects in cell culture and great inhibition of N-ras mRNA levels in one of two cell lines. These studies suggest that antisense molecules, targeted against N-Ras, could be of considerable value as a tool to study the N-Ras-specific transduction pathway.