Dihydroartemisinin abolishes cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in vivo

Dihydroartemisinin (DHA), a derivative of artemisinin which is primarily used to treat malaria in clinic, also confers protective effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced nephrotoxicity. While, the activities of DHA in cisplatin (CDDP)-caused nephrotoxicity are elusive. To investigate the role and underlying mechanism of DHA in CDDP-induced nephrotoxicity. Mice were randomly separated into four groups: normal, CDDP, and DHA (25 and 50 mg/kg were orally injected 1 h before CDDP for consecutive 10 days). All mice except the normal were single injected intraperitoneally with CDDP (22 mg/kg) for once on the 7th day. Combined with quantitative proteomics and bioinformatics analysis, the impact of DHA on renal cell apoptosis, oxidative stress, biochemical indexes, and inflammation in mice were investigated. Moreover, a human hepatocellular carcinoma cells xenograft model was established to elucidate the impact of DHA on tumor-related effects of CDDP. DHA reduced the levels of creatinine (CREA) (p < 0.01) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (p < 0.01), reversed CDDP-induced oxidative, inflammatory, and apoptosis indexes (p < 0.01). Mechanistically, DHA attenuated CDDP-induced inflammation by inhibiting nuclear factor κB p65 (NFκB p65) expression, and suppressed CDDP-induced renal cell apoptosis by inhibiting p63-mediated endogenous and exogenous apoptosis pathways. Additionally, DHA alone significantly decreased the tumor weight and did not destroy the antitumor effect of CDDP, and did not impact AST and ALT. In conclusion, DHA prevents CDDP-triggered nephrotoxicity via reducing inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis. The mechanisms refer to inhibiting NFκB p65-regulated inflammation and alleviating p63-mediated mitochondrial endogenous and Fas death receptor exogenous apoptosis pathway.

Andrographolide anti-proliferation and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma through LncRNA MIR22HG regulation

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment is a major challenge. Although andrographolide (Andro) has an anti-proliferation effect on HCC, its underlying mechanism is not yet elucidated, and whether Andro can inhibit HCC metastasis has not been reported. The present study aimed to clarify whether Andro inhibits SK-Hep-1 cell proliferation and HCC metastasis, and the mechanisms. The results showed that Andro significantly reduced the survival of HCC cells and tumor weight and volume in tumor-bearing nude mice. Andro also triggered apoptosis of HCC cells and upregulated MIR22HG, Cleaved Caspase 9/7/3 expression levels, and downregulated BCL-2 mRNA, BCL-2 expression levels. Knockdown of MIR22HG or overexpression of HuR attenuated the effects of Andro on the signal transduction of mitochondrial apoptotic pathway and proliferation ability in HCC cells. Moreover, Andro significantly reduced the invasive ability of the cells and the level of HCC cell lung metastasis, upregulated miR-22-3p expression level and downregulated HMGB1 and MMP-9 expression levels. MIR22HG or miR-22-3p knockdown attenuated the effects of Andro on the signaling of HMGB1/MMP-9 pathway and invasive ability in HCC cells, while the overexpression of HMGB1 attenuated the inhibitory effects of Andro on the MMP-9 expression level and invasive ability in HCC cells. Thus, the regulation of MIR22HG-HuR/BCL-2 and MIR22HG/HMGB1 signaling pathways is involved in the anti-HCC proliferation and metastasis effects of Andro. This study provided a new pharmacological basis for Andro in HCC treatment and, for the first time, identified a natural product molecule capable of positively regulating MIR22HG, which has a robust biological function.