Effects of Cinnamaldehyde on the Viability and Expression of Chemokine Receptor Genes in Temozolomide-treated Glioma Cells

Cinnamaldehyde induces apoptosis and enhances anti-colorectal cancer activity via covalent binding to HSPD1

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignant tumor with high morbidity and mortality rates worldwide. Although surgical resection and adjuvant radiotherapy/chemotherapy are the mainstays of CRC treatment, the efficacy is unsatisfactory due to several limitations, including high drug resistance. Accordingly, there is a dire need for new drugs or a novel combination approach to treat this patient population. Herein, we found that cinnamaldehyde (CA) could exert an antitumor effect in HCT-116 cell lines. Target fishing, molecular imaging, and live-cell tracing using an alkynyl-CA probe revealed that the heat shock 60 kDa protein 1 (HSPD1) protein was the target of CA. The covalent binding of CA with HSPD1 altered its stability. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that CA could induce cell apoptosis by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and enhanced anti-CRC activity both in vitro and in vivo. Meanwhile, CA combined with different chemotherapeutic agents was beneficial to patients resistant to anti-CRC drug therapy.

Inhibitory effect of temozolomide on apoptosis induction of cinnamaldehyde in human glioblastoma multiforme T98G cell line

Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults. Temozolomide (TMZ) is an FDA-approved drug used to treat this type of cancer. Cinnamaldehyde (CIN) is a derivative of cinnamon extract and makes up 99% of it. The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro combined effect of CIN and TMZ on human glioblastoma multiforme T98G cell line viability. In this study, we used 3-(4,5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tertazolium bromide (MTT) method to evaluate the extent of IC50, acridine orange, Giemsa and Hoechst staining to evaluate the manner of apoptosis and the Western blotting method to examine the expression change of apoptotic proteins. Our results show that TMZ has an inhibitory effect on CIN when both used in combination at concentrations of 300 and 100 μM (P<0.05) and has a cytotoxic effect when used alone at the same concentrations (P<0.05). The western blotting result showed that TMZ at concentrations of 2,000 and 1,000 μM significantly increased Bax expression and decreased Bcl2 expression (P<0.05), indicating that TMZ induced apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway. However, CIN had no effect on Bax and Bcl2 expressions, thus causing apoptosis from another pathway. Also, the Bax:Bcl2 expression ratio at concentrations combined was lower than that for TMZ 1,000 μM and higher than that for CIN 150 and 100 μM (P<0.05), which confirms the inhibitory effect of TMZ on CIN. From the present study, we conclude that TMZ in combination with CIN has an inhibitory effect on increasing the cytotoxicity rate.

Trans-cinnamaldehyde protects against phenylephrine-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy through the CaMKII/ERK pathway

BACKGROUND

Trans-cinnamaldehyde (TCA) is one of the main pharmaceutical ingredients of Cinnamomum cassia Presl, which has been shown to have therapeutic effects on a variety of cardiovascular diseases. This study was carried out to characterize and reveal the underlying mechanisms of the protective effects of TCA against cardiac hypertrophy.

METHODS

We used phenylephrine (PE) to induce cardiac hypertrophy and treated with TCA in vivo and in vitro. In neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs), RNA sequencing and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were carried out to identify potential pathways of TCA. Then, the phosphorylation and nuclear localization of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) and extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) were detected. In adult mouse cardiomyocytes (AMCMs), calcium transients, calcium sparks, sarcomere shortening and the phosphorylation of several key proteins for calcium handling were evaluated. For mouse in vivo experiments, cardiac hypertrophy was evaluated by assessing morphological changes, echocardiographic parameters, and the expression of hypertrophic genes and proteins.

RESULTS

TCA suppressed PE-induced cardiac hypertrophy and the phosphorylation and nuclear localization of CaMKII and ERK in NRCMs. Our data also demonstrate that TCA blocked the hyperphosphorylation of ryanodine receptor type 2 (RyR2) and phospholamban (PLN) and restored Ca2+ handling and sarcomere shortening in AMCMs. Moreover, our data revealed that TCA alleviated PE-induced cardiac hypertrophy in adult mice and downregulated the phosphorylation of CaMKII and ERK.

CONCLUSION

TCA has a protective effect against PE-induced cardiac hypertrophy that may be associated with the inhibition of the CaMKII/ERK pathway.

Regulatory roles of phytochemicals on circular RNAs in cancer and other chronic diseases

As novel non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), circular RNAs (circRNAs) play an essential role in the pathogenesis of many chronic diseases, and the regulation of these functional molecules has become a research hotspot gradually. Within the past decade, phytochemicals were reported to regulate the expression of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) in various chronic diseases, and more recently, most studies focus on the regulatory roles of phytochemicals on circRNAs. Abnormal expression of circRNAs has been identified in chronic diseases like cancer, heart failure, depression and atherosclerosis, and numerous studies have revealed the modulation of circRNAs by phytochemicals including berberine, celastrol, cinnamaldehyde, curcumin, et al. The expression of circRNAs, such as circSATB2 and circFOXM1, were modulated by phytochemicals, and these regulations further affected cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion, autophagy, chemosensitivity, radiosensitivity and other biological processes. Mechanismly, the circRNAs mainly functioned as miRNA sponge, subsequently affecting miRNA-mediated regulation of target genes and related cell signaling pathways. In this review, we summarized the impact of phytochemicals on circRNAs expression and biological function, and discussed the mechanisms underlying phytochemicals regulating circRNAs in cancer and other chronic diseases.