YINGHUA LUO^1,#, YU ZHANG^2,#, TONG ZHANG^2,#, YANNAN LI², HUI XUE², JINGLONG CAO², WENSHUANG HOU², JIAN LIU², YUHE CUI², TING XU², CHENGHAO JIN^2,3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.5, pp. 965-975, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.027729 - 10 April 2023

Abstract Marine collagen peptides (MCPs) are natural products prepared by hydrolyzing marine collagen protein through a variety of chemical methods or enzymes. MCPs have a range of structures and biological activities and are widely present in marine species. MCPs also have a small molecular weight, are easily modified, and absorbed by the body. These properties have attracted great interest from researchers studying antioxidant, anti-tumor, and anti-aging activities. MCPs of specific molecular weights have significant anti-tumor activity and no toxic side effects. Thus, MCPs have the potential use as anti-cancer adjuvant drugs. Free radicals produced by oxidation More >

YU ZHANG^1,2, XI’AN ZHOU^1,2, CHUNYAN ZHANG^1,2, DENGNI LAI⁵, DONGBO LIU^1,3,4, YANYANG WU^1,2,3,4,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.4, pp. 859-868, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.026429 - 08 March 2023

Abstract Background: Hyperglycemia is a typical symptom of diabetes. High glucose induces apoptosis of islet β cells. While autophagy functions in cytoprotection and autophagic cell death. The interaction between autophagy and apoptosis is important in the modulation of the function of islet β cells. Vitamin B3 can induce autophagy and inhibit islet β apoptosis.Method: The mechanism of vitamin B3-mediated protective effect on the function of islet β cells was explored by the method of western blot, immunofluorescence and flow cytometry.Results: In the present study, high glucose stress increased the apoptosis rate, while vitamin B3 reduced the apoptosis rate.… More >

HONGMEI WU^#, DI LI^#, YUANYUAN HUANG, RUYUAN LIU, XIAONIAN ZHU^*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.3, pp. 485-491, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.026049 - 03 January 2023

Abstract Autophagy is an important metabolic process. It facilitates the recycling of intracellular substances by removing, degrading, and recycling damaged organelles, proteins, and lipids in lysosomal vacuoles and plays an important role in maintaining cellular homeostasis. Protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) is a key serine/threonine phosphatase and one of the main cell cycle regulatory enzymes. As PP2A activity is essential for the cell, dysfunction or dysregulation of PP2A can affect various physiological processes, including autophagy. Here, we review the autophagy-related factors that target PP2A in different diseases, such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, and Alzheimer’s More >

KAI DANG, HAFIZ MUHAMMAD UMER FAROOQ, YUAN GAO, XIAONI DENG, AIRONG QIAN^*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.2, pp. 269-281, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.023766 - 18 November 2022

Abstract As a key coordinator of metabolism, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is vitally involved in skeletal muscle maintenance. AMPK exerts its cellular effects through its function as a serine/threonine protein kinase by regulating many downstream targets and plays important roles in the development and growth of skeletal muscle. AMPK is activated by phosphorylation and exerts its function as a kinase in many processes, including synthesis and degradation of proteins, mitochondrial biogenesis, glucose uptake, and fatty acid and cholesterol metabolism. Skeletal muscle atrophy is a result of various diseases or disorders and is characterized by a decrease More >

NA HU^1,2,#, SHIQING ZHANG^2,3,#, AQUAN JIN², LIANYING GUO², ZHENYUN QU², JUN WANG^2,*

Oncology Research, Vol.30, No.2, pp. 89-97, 2022, DOI:10.32604/or.2022.027058 - 05 January 2023

Abstract We aimed to explore the molecular mechanism that were involved in SPINK1-induced proliferation and clonogenic survival of human colorectal carcinoma (CRC) HT29 cells. Initially, we generated HT29 cells either permanently silencing or overexpressing SPINK1 protein. The results showed that SPINK1 overexpression (OE) significantly stimulated the proliferation and clonal formation of HT29 cells at the varied time points. Secondly, we found SPINK1 OE enhanced the ratio of LC3II/LC3I and the level of autophagy-related gene 5 (ATG5), whereas SPINK1 knockdown (Kd) reversed the above outcome under normal culturing and/or fasting condition in the cells, indicating its role… More >

AHMED M. ELSHAZLY^1,2, TUONG VI V. NGUYEN¹, DAVID A. GEWIRTZ^1,*

Oncology Research, Vol.30, No.1, pp. 1-12, 2022, DOI:10.32604/or.2022.026459 - 06 December 2022

Abstract PARP inhibitors have proven to be effective in conjunction with conventional therapeutics in the treatment of various solid as well as hematologic malignancies, particularly when the tumors are deficient in DNA repair pathways. However, as the case with other chemotherapeutic agents, their effectiveness is often compromised by the development of resistance. PARP inhibitors have consistently been reported to promote autophagy, a process that maintains cellular homeostasis and acts as an energy source by the degradation and reutilization of damaged subcellular organelles and proteins. Autophagy can exhibit different functional properties, the most prominent being cytoprotective. In More >

DONGMEI GAO^1,#, JIAOE CHEN^2,#, HONGZHANG LI^2,*, JUN ZHAO^3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.10, pp. 2275-2280, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.021008 - 13 June 2022

Abstract Introduction: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is reported to be involved in the occurrence of many human diseases. To further investigate the biological changes of HCMV, we analyzed the relevant factors that affect the autophagy caused by HCMV infection. Methods: Firstly, we cultured human embryonic lung fibroblasts (HELF) cells with HCMV infection, and evaluated the effects of HELF cells infected with different viruses through Enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA), Real-time quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR), Acridine orange (AO) staining and Western blotting (WB) experiments. Results: Through the above experiments, we found that the combined treatment of HCMV infection and carbamazepine, More >

YAPING WANG^1,2,#,*; XIAOHONG XUE^2,#; ZHEN ZHAO^1,#; XIAOLIN LI²; ZHIYONG ZHU¹

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.7, pp. 1651-1659, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.018559 - 17 March 2022

Abstract The pathogenesis of high altitude-related gastric mucosal injury remains poorly understood, this study aimed to investigate the role of autophagy in hypoxia-induced apoptosis of rat gastric mucosal cells. Rats were randomized into four groups which were maintained at an altitude of 400 m (P) or received no treatment (H), autophagy inducer rapamycin (H+AI) or autophagy inhibitor 3-MA (H+AB) at an altitude of 4,300 m for 1, 7, 14 and 21 days, respectively, and the morphology, ultrastructure, autophagy, and apoptosis of gastric mucosal tissues were examined. Gastric mucosal epithelial cells CC-R039 were cultured under conditions of… More >

JIAN XU^1,#, HAILONG GE^1,#, CHEN CHAO¹, FENG MO¹, YU WANG¹, DENGKUI ZHANG¹, XIAOXIAO ZHENG², LI ZHENG², XUEMEI LU², WEI CHEN², QUN XU^1,*, WEIXIN YU^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.6, pp. 1493-1503, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.016962 - 07 February 2022

Abstract Although sorafenib has been found to prolong the survival time of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), sorafenib resistance remains an important challenge. Increasing studies have demonstrated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) contribute to drug resistance in a wide number of cancers. Human periodontal ligament stem cell (PDLSC) osteogenesis impairment-related lncRNA (POIR) is a recently defined lncRNA for which little is known regarding its function. Our study aimed to reveal the role of POIR in the development of HCC cell sorafenib resistance. The level of POIR expression in patients and tumor cells was examined by Reverse… More >

XIAOXU LI, YUN WANG, JUAN FANG, ZHI WANG, XIAOAN TAO, JUAN XIA, BIN CHENG^*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 441-451, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.014844 - 20 October 2021

Abstract Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the sixth most common tumor worldwide, and half of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients are with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). 300,000 new cases of OSCC were reported annually. Even with multi-modality treatment, the prognosis of OSCC remains unsatisfactory. Thus, it is urgent to discover novel therapeutic targets for OSCC. Some microarray studies have revealed that Keratin 4 (KRT4) is downregulated in OSCC, whereas its role in OSCC development remains unknown. The present study revealed that KRT4 suppressed OSCC progression by inducing cell apoptosis and inhibiting More >