Distinct H2O2concentration promotes proliferation of tumour cells after transient oxygen/glucose deprivation

Advances in antitumor nanomedicine based on functional metal-organic frameworks beyond drug carriers

Nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted widespread interest due to their unique properties including a tunable porous structure, high drug loading capacity, structural diversity, and outstanding biocompatibility. MOFs have been extensively explored as drug nanocarriers in biotherapeutics. However, by harnessing the functionality of ligands and metal ions or clusters in MOFs, the applications of MOFs can be extended beyond drug delivery vehicles. Based on the intrinsic properties of the components of MOFs (e.g. magnetic moments of metal ions and fluorescence of ligands), different imaging modes can be achieved with varied MOFs. With careful design of the composition of MOFs (e.g. modification of organic linkers), they can respond to tumor microenvironments to realize on-demand treatment. By incorporating porphyrin-based ligands (photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy) or high-Z metal ions (radiosensitizers for radiotherapy) into the scaffold of MOFs, MOFs themselves can act as anticancer therapeutic agents. In this review, we highlight the application of MOFs from the above-mentioned aspects and discuss the prospects and challenges for using MOFs in stimuli-responsive imaging-guided antitumor therapy.

The mitochondrial phospholipid cardiolipin is involved in the regulation of T-cell proliferation

Challenge of the immune system with antigens induces a cascade of processes including activation of naïve T cells, induction of proliferation, differentiation into effector cells and finally contraction via apoptosis. To meet the dynamic requirements of an adequate immune response, T cells must metabolically adapt to actual situations by switching between catabolic and anabolic metabolism. In this context mitochondria are hubs of metabolic regulation. The phospholipid cardiolipin (CL) is crucial for the structural and functional integrity and, thus, the metabolism of mitochondria. The aim of this study was to verify a possible interrelationship between T cell proliferation and CL composition. For this purpose, we adjusted the proliferation of peripheral human T cells from volunteers by stimulation with different concentrations of the mitogen phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), inhibition with Cyclosporin A (CsA) and exposure of cells to different free fatty acids and subsequently analysed the composition of CL by LC/MS/MS spectroscopy. All of the treatments had significant effects on CL composition. Correlation analysis of the proliferation rate and CL composition revealed that only the amount of incorporated palmitoleic acid and the content of tetralinoleoyl-CL are significantly associated with the proliferation rate. This observation is strongly suggestive of a regulatory function of these particular CL components/species in the process of T cell proliferation. As CL is crucially involved in mitochondrial function one can speculate that changes in CL composition contribute to vital mitochondria-dependent adaptations of energy metabolism in T cells during immune response.

Genetic oxidative stress variants and glioma risk in a Chinese population: a hospital-based case-control study

BACKGROUND

The oxidative stress mechanism is of particular interest in the pathogenesis of glioma, given the high rate of oxygen metabolism in the brain. Potential links between polymorphisms of antioxidant genes and glioma risk are currently unknown. We therefore investigated the association between polymorphisms in antioxidant genes and glioma risk.

METHODS

We examined 16 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of 9 antioxidant genes (GPX1, CAT, PON1, NQO1, SOD2/MnSOD, SOD3, and NOS1*2*3) in 384 glioma and 384 control cases in a Chinese hospital-based case-control study. Genotypes were determined using the OpenArray platform, which employs the chip-based Taq-Man genotyping technology. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated using unconditional logistic regression.

RESULTS

Using single-locus analysis, we identified four SNPs (SOD2 V16A, SOD3 T58A, GPX1 -46 C/T, and NOS1 3'-UTR) that were significantly associated with the risk of glioma development. To assess the cumulative effects, we performed a combined unfavourable genotype analysis. Compared with the reference group that exhibited no unfavourable genotypes, the medium- and high-risk groups exhibited a 1.86-fold (95% CI, 1.30-2.67) and a 4.86-fold (95% CI, 1.33-17.71) increased risk of glioma, respectively (P-value for the trend < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

These data suggest that genetic variations in oxidative stress genes might contribute to the aetiology of glioma.

Hypoxia, Mn-SOD and H(2)O(2) regulate p53 reactivation and PRIMA-1 toxicity irrespective of p53 status in human breast cancer cells

Hypoxia is part of the tumor microenvironment favoring cancer resistance to chemotherapy mediated by mutations in the tumor suppressor p53 gene (TP53), or by conformational wt TP53 dysfunction. Since it is important to suppress tumor adaptation to hypoxia, irrespective of p53 status, we compared the efficacy of nutlin-3 which prevents MDM2-wt p53 interactions and PRIMA-1 which promotes mutant p53 reactivation and induction of massive apoptosis, under normoxia and hypoxia, against (a) SKBR3 breast carcinoma harboring a mutant p53R175H and over-expressing erbB2; and (b) genetically matched breast cancer ERα positive MCF-7 cells harboring either wt p53 or mutant p53 R175H. Under normoxia, PRIMA-1 was active against breast cancer cells harboring mutant p53. However, hypoxia further increased the susceptibility of mutant p53 breast cancer SKBR3 cells to lower PRIMA-1 levels, possibly through oxidative stress since this was counteracted by N-acetylcysteine. When using MCF-7 cells over-expressing mutant p53, PRIMA-1 synergized with exogenous peroxidase to increase apoptosis concomitantly with induction of PUMA and Mn-SOD, under normoxia. Wt p53 MCF-7 cells responded to hypoxia by increasing superoxide dismutase and their reactivity with the PAb240 antibody, known to recognize conformationally-inactive p53. This correlated with sensitization of wt p53 MCF-7 cells to PRIMA-1 but not to nutlin-3. PRIMA-1 toxicity against normoxic wt p53 MCF-7 cells was also decreased by Mn-SOD over-expression or when added with the glutathione antagonist, buthionine sulfoximine. This report shows for the first time that hypoxia increases PRIMA-1 toxicity in human breast cancer cells, partly by modulating p53 conformation and by inducing superoxide turnover. Our results suggest that PRIMA-1 may help to prevent hypoxia-mediated tumor chemoresistance.

Endogenous reactive oxygen species are essential for proliferation of neural stem/progenitor cells

It is widely thought that accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) causes injury to cells. In this study, we investigated the effect of endogenous ROS on the proliferation of neural stem/progenitor cells derived from the hippocampus of embryonic mice. The cells were treated with free radical-scavenging agents [3-methyl-1-phenyl-2-pyrazolin-5-one (edaravone) or 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine 1-oxyl (tempol)], an NADPH oxidase inhibitor (apocynin), catalase, a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor [N(omega)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (L-NAME)] or a peroxynitrite generator (SIN-1) during the culture period. Edaravone and tempol had the ability to decrease endogenous ROS in the cells exposed for periods from 1 to 24h, with attenuation of the proliferation activity of the cells during culture. Apocynin and L-NAME were also effective in attenuating cell proliferation but not cellular damage. Conversely, SIN-1 was capable of promoting the proliferation activity. However, catalase had no effect on the proliferation activity of the cells during culture. Furthermore, tempol significantly decreased the level of NFkappaB p65, phospho-cyclic AMP response element-binding protein, and beta-catenin within the nucleus of the cells. These data suggest that endogenous ROS and nitric oxide are essential for the proliferation of embryonic neural stem/progenitor cells.

DDPH ameliorated oxygen and glucose deprivation-induced injury in rat hippocampal neurons via interrupting Ca2+ overload and glutamate release

Our previous work has demonstrated that DDPH (1-(2, 6-dimethylphenoxy)-2-(3, 4-dimethoxyphenylethylamino) propane hydrochloride), a competitive alpha(1)-adrenoceptor antagonist, could improve cognitive deficits, reduce histopathological damage and facilitate synaptic plasticity in vivo possibly via increasing NR2B (NMDA receptor 2B) expression and antioxidation of DDPH itself. The present study further evaluated effects of DDPH on OGD (Oxygen and glucose deprivation)-induced neuronal damage in rat primary hippocampal cells. The addition of DDPH to the cultured cells 12 h before OGD for 4 h significantly reduced neuronal damage as determined by MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay and LDH (lactate dehydrogenase) release experiments. The effects of DDPH on intracellular calcium concentration were explored by Fura-2 based calcium imaging techniques and results showed that DDPH at the dosages of 5 microM and 10 microM suppressed the increase of intracellular calcium ([Ca(2+)](i)) stimulated by 50 mM KCl in Ca(2+)-containing extracellular solutions. However, DDPH couldn't suppress the increase of [Ca(2+)](i) induced by both 50 microM glutamate in Ca(2+)-containing extracellular solutions and 20 microM ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) in Ca(2+)-free solution. These results indicated that DDPH prevented [Ca(2+)](i) overload in hippocampal neurons by blocking Ca(2+) influx (voltage-dependent calcium channel) but not Ca(2+) mobilization from the intracellular Ca(2+) store in endoplasm reticulum (ER). We also demonstrated that DDPH could decrease glutamate release when hippocampal cells were subjected to OGD. These observations demonstrated that DDPH protected hippocampal neurons against OGD-induced damage by preventing the Ca(2+) influx and decreasing glutamate release.