The anti-tumor activities of Neferine on cell invasion and oxaliplatin sensitivity regulated by EMT via Snail signaling in hepatocellular carcinoma

Neferine inhibits proliferation, migration and invasion of U251 glioma cells by down-regulation of miR-10b

BACKGROUND

Glioma is a common brain tumor, which is a serious threat to the life and health of human with high mortality rate. Recently, neferine (NEF) has been reported to play an important role in various cancers. In the study, we aimed to investigate the effect of NEF on human glioma cell line U251.

METHODS

U251 cells were pre-treated with different concentrations of NEF, and then CCK-8, BrdU, flow cytometry and transwell assays were used to test cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion. Subsequently, the expression vectors of miR-10b mimic and miR-10b inhibitor were transfected into U251 cells, and the relative expression of miR-10b was examined by qRT-PCR. The main proteins of CyclinD1/p53/p16, pro-Caspase-3/-9, cleaved-Caspase-3/-9, MMP-9, Vimentin, PTEN/PI3K/AKT and p38MAPK signal pathways were determined by western blot assay.

RESULTS

NEF significantly suppressed cell proliferation, and induced apoptosis, as well as regulated CyclinD1, p53, p16 and cleaved-Caspase-3/-9 expressions in U251 cells. Moreover, NEF inhibited cell migration, invasion and decreased MMP-9 and Vimentin expression in U251 cells. Additionally, miR-10b expression was down-regulated in NEF-stimulated cells, and overexpression of miR-10b reversed the regulatory effects of NEF on U251 cells proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis. Additionally, we found that PTEN was a direct target of miR-10b in U251 cells. Besides, NEF deactivated PTEN/PI3K/AKT and p38MAPK signal pathways by down-regulation of miR-10b in U251 cells.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggested that NEF exerted anti-tumor effect by down-regulation of miR-10b and deactivation of PTEN/PI3K/AKT and p38MAPK signal pathways in glioma cells. These findings might provide a novel therapeutic strategy for glioma.

Lamp2 inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition by suppressing Snail expression in HCC

Lysosomal associated membrane protein 2 (Lamp2) influences a broad range of physiological and pathological processes. However, little is known about the role of Lamp2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) metastasis. This study found that Lamp2 expression was significantly lower in HCC tissues than in adjacent nontumor tissues (ANTs), and its expression level correlated with HCC metastasis. Low Lamp2 expression was significantly correlated with the AFP serum level (> 20 ng/Ml, P = 0.024), capsular formation (absent, P = 0.024), and microvascular invasion (present, P < 0.001), and low expression of Lamp2 indicated a poor prognosis in HCC. LowLamp2 expression was an independent and significant risk factor for recurrence-free survival (RFS; P < 0.001) and overall survival (OS; P < 0.001) in HCC. In this study, we demonstrated that Lamp2 overexpression inhibited cell motility and invasiveness in vitro and inhibited lung metastasis in vivo. In addition, Lamp2 could reverse the EMT program. Lamp2 silencing by siRNA in HCC cell lines enhanced the expression of mesenchymal markers and decreased the expression of epithelial markers. Consistent with these findings, Lamp2 overexpression had the opposite effects. Mechanistically, we found that Lamp2 could suppress Snail expression, upregulate E-cadherin, and inhibit HCC cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).Together, these findings suggest that Lamp2 attenuates EMT by suppressing Snail expression in HCC.

Isoviolanthin Extracted from Dendrobium officinale Reverses TGF-β1-Mediated Epithelial⁻Mesenchymal Transition in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells via Deactivating the TGF-β/Smad and PI3K/Akt/mTOR Signaling Pathways

Dendrobium officinale is a precious medicinal herb and health food, and its pharmacological actions have been studied and proved. However, the mechanisms by which its active flavonoid glycosides affect epithelial⁻mesenchymal transition (EMT) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, such as HepG2 and Bel-7402 cells, have not been previously investigated. Therefore, we investigated whether isoviolanthin extracted from the leaves of Dendrobium officinale inhibits transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-induced EMT in HCC cells. In this study, the physicochemical properties and structure of isoviolanthin were identified by HPLC, UV, ESIMS, and NMR and were compared with literature data. HCC cells were pretreated with 10 ng/mL TGF-β1 to induce EMT and then treated with isoviolanthin. Herein, we found that isoviolanthin exhibited no cytotoxic effects on normal liver LO2 cells but notably reduced the migratory and invasive capacities of TGF-β1-treated HCC cells. Additionally, isoviolanthin treatment decreased matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and -9 levels, and remarkably altered the expression of EMT markers via regulating the TGF-β/Smad and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathways; Western blot analysis confirmed that the effects of the inhibitors SB431542 and LY294002 were consistent with those of isoviolanthin. These findings demonstrate the potential of isoviolanthin as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of advanced-stage metastatic HCC.

Alpha B-crystallin promotes the invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer via NF-κB-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Alpha B‐crystallin (CRYAB) is overexpressed in a variety of cancers. However, little is known about its specific function and regulatory mechanism in gastric cancer. Here, we first explore the role of CRYAB in gastric cancer progression and metastasis. The expression of CRYAB was determined by western blot and immunohistochemistry in gastric cancer tissues. Besides, methods including stably transfected against CRYAB into gastric cancer cells, western blot, migration and invasion assays in vitro and metastasis assay in vivo were also conducted. The expression of CRYAB is up‐regulated in gastric cancer tissues compared with matched normal tissues. High expression level of CRYAB is closely correlated with cancer metastasis and shorter survival time in patients with gastric cancer. Additionally, CRYAB silencing significantly suppresses epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT), migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, whereas CRYAB overexpression dramatically reverses these events. Mechanically, CRYAB facilitates gastric cancer cells invasion and metastasis via nuclear factor‐κ‐gene binding (NF‐κB)‐regulated EMT. These findings suggest that CRYAB expression predicts a poor prognosis in patients with gastric cancer. Besides, CRYAB contributes to gastric cancer cells migration and invasion via EMT, mediated by the NF‐κB signalling pathway, thus possibly providing a novel therapeutic target for gastric cancer.

The Circular RNA hsa_circ_0001445 Regulates the Proliferation and Migration of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and May Serve as a Diagnostic Biomarker

Circular RNAs (circRNA), a class of noncoding RNAs, have been found to be involved in various diseases. Here, the expression levels of the circRNA hsa_circ_0001445 in 73 pairs of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and adjacent nontumor tissues were investigated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Our data demonstrate that the hsa_circ_0001445 levels were significantly decreased in HCC tissues (P < 0.001) and markedly associated with the number of tumor foci (P = 0.014). Furthermore, in vitro approaches showed that overexpression of hsa_circ_0001445 promoted apoptosis and inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion of HCC-derived cells, suggesting that hsa_circ_0001445 might be involved in the development of HCC. In addition, we found that the plasma hsa_circ_0001445 transcription levels in HCC patients were lower than those in cirrhosis (P < 0.001) and hepatitis B (P < 0.001) patients as well as in healthy controls (P < 0.001). In fact, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that plasma hsa_circ_0001445 could be a fairly accurate marker to distinguish HCC cases from healthy controls as well as patients with cirrhosis or hepatitis B.

Expression of miR-149-3p inhibits proliferation, migration, and invasion of bladder cancer by targeting S100A4

MicroRNAs play key roles during various crucial cell processes, such as proliferation, migration, and invasion. In addition, microRNAs have been shown to possess oncogenic and tumor suppressive functions in human cancers. Increasing evidence has clarified that miR-149-3p, a novel cancer-related microRNA, plays an important role in suppression of proliferation, migration, and invasion; however, the effect and mechanisms underlying the miR-149-3p effect in bladder cancer (BCa) remain unclear. In the current study we found that the increased expression of miR-149-3p significantly suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion ability in BCa. The suppressive effect was related to S100A4. A further investigation showed that miR-149-3p negatively regulated S100A4, as verified by the luciferase reporter assay. Furthermore, our study showed that S100A4 mediated the anti-metastatic effects of miR-149-3p on proliferation, migration, and invasion of BCa cells. Analysis of a xenograft mouse model showed that miR-149-3p expression significantly decreased tumor growth by targeting S100A4. Taken together, these data indicate that S100A4 promotes cell growth, migration, and invasion and can by reversed by miR-149-3p in BCa.

Dihydroartemisinin inhibits EMT induced by platinum-based drugs via Akt-Snail pathway

Artemisinin and its derivatives exhibit a high activity against a range of cancer cell types both in vitro and in vivo. In clinical practice, platinum-based anti-cancer chemotherapy is widely used to treat tumors. However, a large proportion of patients receiving these treatments will relapse because of metastasis and drug resistance. The purpose of this study is to explore the combinational anti-metastatic effect of platinum-based drugs and dihydroartemisinin (DHA). Both DDP and oxaliplatin (OXA) at low doses could induce epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in HCC. Meanwhile, co-administration of DHA could enhance DDP and OXA chemosensitivity in HCC and reverse drug resistance. DHA reversed the morphological changes induced by DDP or OXA and reversed the changes in EMT biomarkers induced by DDP and OXA in HCC in vitro and in vivo via AKT–Snail signaling. DHA significantly increased platinum-based drug sensitivity and suppressed EMT induced by platinum-based drugs via AKT–Snail signaling in HCC. DHA is expected to become the new adjuvant for chemotherapy.

Microenvironment of a tumor-organoid system enhances hepatocellular carcinoma malignancy-related hallmarks

Organ-like microenviroment and 3-dimensional (3D) cell culture conformations have been suggested as promising approaches to mimic in a micro-scale a whole organ cellular functions and interactions present in vivo. We have used this approach to examine biologic features of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. In this study, we demonstrate that hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, fibroblasts, endothelial cells and extracellular matrix can generate organoid-like spheroids that enhanced numerous features of human HCC observed in vivo. We show that the addition of non-parenchymal cells such as fibroblast and endothelial cells is required for spheroid formation as well as the maintenance of the tissue-like structure. Furthermore, HCC cells cultured as spheroids with non-parenchymal cells express more neo-angiogenesis-related markers (VEGFR2, VEGF, HIF-α), tumor-related inflammatory factors (CXCR4, CXCL12, TNF-α) and molecules-related to induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (TGFβ, Vimentin, MMP9) compared with organoids containing only HCC cells. These results demonstrate the importance of non-parenchymal cells in the cellular composition of HCC organoids. The novelty of the multicellular-based organotypic culture system strongly supports the integration of this approach in a high throughput approach to identified patient-specific HCC malignancy and accurate anti-tumor therapy screening after surgery.

CPEB4 promotes cell migration and invasion via upregulating Vimentin expression in breast cancer

Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein 4 (CPEB4) is a member of CPEB family which is overexpressed in variety of cancers. However, the biological role and regulatory mechanism of CPEB4 in cancers remain unknown. Here, we first investigate the role of CPEB4 in breast cancer progression and metastasis. The expression of CPEB4 is elevated in breast cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. Furthermore, high expression levels of CPEB4 is associated with tumor metastasis in breast cancer patients. Ectopic expression of CPEB4 dramatically promotes EMT, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells, while silencing CPEB4 expression significantly reduces these events. Mechanically, overexpression of CPEB4 upregulates Vimentin expression and silencing Vimentin expression blocks CPEB4-induced migration and invasion of breast cancer cells. These results implicate the potential role of CPEB4 and Vimentin in breast cancer metastasis, which is further confirmed by the finding that there is a physical interaction between the two proteins. Altogether, our results provide a novel insight into CPEB4 in regulating breast cancer progression and metastasis.

Expression of Clonorchis sinensis GIIIsPLA2 protein in baculovirus-infected insect cells and its overexpression facilitating epithelial-mesenchymal transition in Huh7 cells via AKT pathway

Although prior studies confirmed that group III secretory phospholipase A₂ of Clonorchis sinensis (CsGIIIsPLA₂) had stimulating effect on liver fibrosis by binding to LX-2 cells, large-scale expression of recombinant protein and its function in the progression of hepatoma are worth exploring. Because of high productivity and low lipopolysaccharides (LPS) in the Sf9-baculovirus expression system, we firstly used this system to express the coding region of CsGIIIsPLA₂. The molecular weight of recombinant CsGIIIsPLA₂ protein was about 34 kDa. Further investigation showed that most of the recombinant protein presented intracellular expression in Sf9 insect cell nucleus and could be detected only into cell debris, which made the protein purification and further functional study difficult. Therefore, to study the role of CsGIIIsPLA₂ in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression, CsGIIIsPLA₂ overexpression Huh7 cell model was applied. Cell proliferation, migration, and the expression level of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related molecules (E-cadherin, N-cadherin, α-catenin, Vimentin, p300, Snail, and Slug) along with possible mechanism were measured. The results indicated that CsGIIIsPLA₂ overexpression not only inhibited cell proliferation and promoted migration and EMT but also enhanced the phosphorylation of AKT in HCC cells. In conclusion, this study supported that CsGIIIsPLA₂ overexpression suppressed cell proliferation and induced EMT through the AKT pathway.