Cellular Oncology最新文献

Pancreatic ductal metaplasia (PDM) is the transformation of potentially various types of cells in the pancreas into ductal or ductal-like cells, which eventually replace the existing differentiated somatic cell type(s). PDM is usually triggered by and manifests its ability to adapt to environmental stimuli and genetic insults. The development of PDM to atypical hyperplasia or dysplasia is an important risk factor for pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA). Recent studies using genetically engineered mouse models, cell lineage tracing, single-cell sequencing and others have unraveled novel cellular and molecular insights in PDM formation and evolution. Those novel findings help better understand the cellular origins and functional significance of PDM and its regulation at cellular and molecular levels. Given that PDM represents the earliest pathological changes in PDA initiation and development, translational studies are beginning to define PDM-associated cell and molecular biomarkers that can be used to screen and detect early PDA and to enable its effective intervention, thereby truly and significantly reducing the dreadful mortality rate of PDA. This review will describe recent advances in the understanding of PDM biology with a focus on its underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms, and in biomarker discovery with clinical implications for the management of pancreatic regeneration and tumorigenesis.

Purpose: Oxaliplatin is one of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of various cancers, including gastric cancer. It has, however, a narrow therapeutic index due to its toxicity and the occurrence of drug resistance. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop novel therapies to potentiate the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of oxaliplatin. Piperlongumine (PL), an alkaloid isolated from Piper longum L., has recently been identified as a potent agent against cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. In the present study, we investigated whether PL can potentiate the antitumor effect of oxaliplatin in gastric cancer cells.

Methods: Cellular apoptosis and ROS levels were analyzed by flow cytometry. Thioredoxin reductase 1 (TrxR1) activity in gastric cancer cells or tumor tissues was determined using an endpoint insulin reduction assay. Western blotting was used to analyze the expression levels of the indicated proteins. Nude mice xenograft models were used to test the effects of PL and oxaliplatin combinations on gastric cancer cell growth in vivo.

Results: We found that PL significantly enhanced oxaliplatin-induced growth inhibition in both gastric and colon cancer cells. Moreover, we found that PL potentiated the antitumor effect of oxaliplatin by inhibiting TrxR1 activity. PL combined with oxaliplatin markedly suppressed the activity of TrxR1, resulting in the accumulation of ROS and, thereby, DNA damage induction and p38 and JNK signaling pathway activation. Pretreatment with antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) significantly abrogated the combined treatment-induced ROS generation, DNA damage and apoptosis. Importantly, we found that activation of the p38 and JNK signaling pathways prompted by PL and oxaliplatin was also reversed by NAC pretreatment. In vivo, we found that PL combined with oxaliplatin significantly suppressed tumor growth in a gastric cancer xenograft model, and effectively reduced the activity of TrxR1 in tumor tissues. Remarkably, we found that PL attenuated body weight loss evoked by oxaliplatin treatment.

Conclusions: Our data support a synergistic effect of PL and oxaliplatin and suggest that application of its combination may be more effective for the treatment of gastric cancer than oxaliplatin alone.

Purpose: Exosomes play important roles in intercellular communication through signaling pathways affecting tumor microenvironment modulation and tumor proliferation, including those in glioblastoma (GBM). As yet, however, limited studies have been conducted on the inhibitory effect of human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell (hBMSC)-derived exosomes on GBM development. Therefore, we set out to assess the role of hBMSC secreted exosomes, in particular those carrying microRNA-34a (miR-34a), in the development of GBM.

Methods: Microarray-based expression analysis was employed to identify differentially expressed genes and to predict miRNAs regulating MYCN expression. Next, hBMSCs were transfected with a miR-34a mimic or inhibitor after which exosomes were isolated. Proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion and temozolomide (TMZ) chemosensitivity of exosome-exposed GBM cells (T-98G, LN229 and A-172) were measured in vitro. The mechanism underlying MYCN regulation was investigated using lentiviral transfections. The in vivo inhibitory effect of exosomal miR-34a was measured in nude mice xenografted with GBM cells through subcutaneous injection of hBMSCs with an upregulated miR34a content.

Results: We found that poorly-expressed miR-34a specifically targeted and negatively regulated the expression of MYCN in GBM cells. In addition we found that miR-34a was delivered to T-98G, LN229 and A-172 GBM cells via hBMSC-derived exosomes. Exogenous overexpression of miR-34a in hBMSC-derived exosomes resulted in inhibition of GBM cell proliferation, invasion, migration and tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo, while promoting the chemosensitivity of GBM cells to TMZ by silencing MYCN.

Conclusions: From our data we conclude that hBMSC-derived exosomes overexpressing miR-34a may be instrumental for the therapeutic targeting and clinical management of GBM.