Oridonin Enhances the Anti-Metastasis Effect of Oxaliplatinliplatin on Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastasis

Oridonin suppresses gastric cancer SGC-7901 cell proliferation by targeting the TNF-alpha/androgen receptor/TGF-beta signalling pathway axis

Statistics provided by GLOBOCAN list gastric cancer as the sixth most common, with a mortality ranking of third highest for the year 2020. In China, a herb called Rabdosia rubescens (Hemsl.) H.Hara, has been used by local residents for the treatment of digestive tract cancer for hundreds of years. Oridonin, the main ingredient of the herb, has a curative effect for gastric cancer, but the mechanism has not been previously clarified. This study mainly aimed to investigate the role of TNF-alpha/Androgen receptor/TGF-beta signalling pathway axis in mediating the proliferation inhibition of oridonin on gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells. MTT assay, cell morphology observation assay and fluorescence assay were adopted to study the efficacy of oridonin on cell proliferation. The network pharmacology was used to predict the pathway axis regulated by oridonin. Western blot assay was adopted to verify the TNF-α/Androgen receptor/TGF-β signalling pathway axis regulation on gastric cancer by oridonin. The results showed Oridonin could inhibit the proliferation of gastric cancer cells, change cell morphology and cause cell nuclear fragmentation. A total of 11signaling pathways were annotated by the network pharmacology, among them, Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) signalling pathway, androgen receptor (AR) signalling pathway and transforming growth factor (TGF-β) signalling pathway account for the largest proportion. Oridonin can regulate the protein expression of the three signalling pathways, which is consistent with the results predicted by network pharmacology. These findings indicated that oridonin can inhibit the proliferation of gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells by regulating the TNF-α /AR /TGF-β signalling pathway axis.

Extracellular Vesicles and the Inflammasome: An Intricate Network Sustaining Chemoresistance

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane enclosed spherical particles devoted to intercellular communication. Cancer-derived EVs (Ca-EVs) are deeply involved in tumor microenvironment remodeling, modifying the inflammatory phenotype of cancerous and non-cancerous residing cells. Inflammation plays a pivotal role in initiation, development, and progression of many types of malignancies. The key feature of cancer-related inflammation is the production of cytokines that incessantly modify of the surrounding environment. Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) is one of the most powerful cytokines, influencing all the initiation-to-progression stages of many types of cancers and represents an emerging critical contributor to chemoresistance. IL-1β production strictly depends on the activation of inflammasome, a cytoplasmic molecular platform sensing exogenous and endogenous danger signals. It has been recently shown that Ca-EVs can activate the inflammasome cascade and IL-1β production in tumor microenvironment-residing cells. Since inflammasome dysregulation has been established as crucial regulator in inflammation-associated tumorigenesis and chemoresistance, it is conceivable that the use of inflammasome-inhibiting drugs may be employed as adjuvant chemotherapy to counteract chemoresistance. This review focuses on the role of cancer-derived EVs in tuning tumor microenvironment unveiling the intricate network between inflammasome and chemoresistance.