Short hairpin RNA targeting autotaxin reduces human gastric carcinoma AGS cell proliferative, migratory and invasive capabilities in vitro and causes tumor regression in vivo

Metabolomics and integrated network pharmacology analysis reveal SNKAF decoction suppresses cell proliferation and induced cell apoptisis in hepatocellular carcinoma via PI3K/Akt/P53/FoxO signaling axis

BACKGROUND

There is no comprehensive treatment method for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); hence, research and development are still focused on systemic therapies, including drugs. Sinikangai fang (SNKAF) decoction, a classic Chinese herbal prescription, has been widely used to treat liver cancer. However, there is no research on its core active component and target.

METHODS

Mouse models were established to measure the anticancer effect of SNKAF decoction on HCC. Further, we investigated the effect of SNKAF decoction on inhibition of hepatoma cells proliferation using cell viability, cloning and invasion assays in vitro. The components of SNKAF were collected from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) database and TCM@Taiwan database. Metabolomic analysis was used to identify the potential genes and pathways in HCC treated with SNKAF decoction. Then, the expression of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), Akt, P53, FoxO proteins of the potential signal pathways were detected using Western blot.

RESULTS

The animal experiments showed that SNKAF decoction inhibited tumor growth (P < 0.05) and induced no weight loss in the mice. In vitro data showed that HCCLM3 and MHCC97H cell proliferation was inhibited by SNKAF serum in a time- and concentration dependent manner. Further combined analysis network pharmacology with metabonomics showed that 217 target genes overlapped. The core target genes included BCL2, MCL1, Myc, PTEN, gsk3b, CASP9, CREB1, MDM2, pt53 and CCND1. Cancer-associated pathways were largely involved in SNKAF mechanisms, including P53, FoxO, and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways, which are closely related to induced-tumor cell apoptosis. In addition, Western bolt verified that 10% SNKAF serum significantly affected the main proteins of PI3K/Akt/P53/FoxO signaling pathway in both cell lines.

CONCLUSION

SNKAF decoction-containing serum inhibited HCCLM3 and MHCC97H cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and induced-tumor cell apoptosis in-vivo. We confirmed that SNKAF decoction is a promising alternative treatments for HCC patients.

The critical role and potential target of the autotaxin/lysophosphatidate axis in pancreatic cancer

Autotaxin, an ecto-lysophospholipase D encoded by the human ENNP2 gene, is expressed in multiple tissues, and participates in numerous critical physiologic and pathologic processes including inflammation, pain, obesity, embryo development, and cancer via the generation of the bioactive lipid lysophosphatidate. Overwhelming evidences indicate that the autotaxin/lysophosphatidate signaling axis serves key roles in the numerous processes central to tumorigenesis and progression, including proliferation, survival, migration, invasion, metastasis, cancer stem cell, tumor microenvironment, and treatment resistance by interacting with a series of at least six G-protein-coupled receptors (LPAR1-6). This review provides an overview of the autotaxin/lysophosphatidate axis and collates current knowledge regarding its specific role in pancreatic cancer. With a deeper understanding of the critical role of the autotaxin/lysophosphatidate axis in pancreatic cancer, targeting autotaxin or lysophosphatidate receptor may be a potential and promising strategy for cancer therapy.

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) signalling in cell migration and cancer invasion: a focussed review and analysis of LPA receptor gene expression on the basis of more than 1700 cancer microarrays

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a ubiquitously present signalling molecule involved in diverse cellular processes such as cell migration, proliferation and differentiation. LPA acts as an autocrine and/or paracrine signalling molecule via different G-protein-coupled LPA receptors (LPARs) that trigger a broad range of intracellular signalling cascades, especially the RHOA pathway. Mounting evidence suggests a crucial role of the LPA/LPAR-axis in cancer cell metastasis and promising studies are underway to investigate the therapeutic potential of LPAR-antagonists. This review summarises current knowledge on how LPA promotes cytoskeletal remodelling to enhance the migratory and invasive properties of cells, which may ultimately contribute to cancer metastasis. Furthermore, we provide comprehensive transcriptome analyses of published microarrays of more than 350 normal tissues and more than 1700 malignant tissues to define the expression signatures of LPARs and the LPA-generating enzymes autotaxin (ATX) and lipase member 1 (LIPI). These analyses demonstrate that ATX is highly expressed in a variety of carcinomas and sarcomas, whereas LIPI is almost exclusively overexpressed in highly aggressive Ewing's sarcomas, which underscores the potential contribution of LPA in metastatic disease. In addition, these analyses show that different cancer entities display distinct expression signatures of LPARs that distinguish them from one another. Finally, we discuss current approaches to specifically target the LPA/LPAR circuits in experimental cancer therapy.

Autotaxin inhibitors: a patent review

INTRODUCTION

Autotaxin (ATX) is a lysophospholipase D enzyme that hydrolyzes lysophosphatidylcholine to lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and choline. LPA is a bioactive lipid mediator that activates several transduction pathways, and is involved in migration, proliferation and survival of various cells. Thus, ATX is an attractive medicinal target.

AREAS COVERED

The aim of this review is to summarize ATX inhibitors, reported in patents from 2006 up to now, describing their discovery and biological evaluation.

EXPERT OPINION

ATX has been implicated in various pathological conditions, such as cancer, chronic inflammation, neuropathic pain, fibrotic diseases, etc. Although there is an intensive effort on the discovery of potent and selective ATX inhibitors in order to identify novel medicinal agents, up to now, no ATX inhibitor has reached clinical trials. However, the use of ATX inhibitors seems an attractive strategy for the development of novel medicinal agents, for example anticancer therapeutics.