WEN GE^1,2,#, YA LI^1,2,#, YUTING RUAN^1,2, NINGXIA WU^1,2, PEI MA^3,4, TONGPENG XU^3,4, YONGQIAN SHU^3,4, YINGWEI WANG^1,2, WEN QIU^1,2, CHENHUI ZHAO^3,4,*

Oncology Research, Vol.32, No.4, pp. 625-641, 2024, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.031053

Abstract The cancer cell metastasis is a major death reason for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although researchers have disclosed that interleukin 17 (IL-17) can increase matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) induction causing NSCLC cell metastasis, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. In the study, we found that IL-17 receptor A (IL-17RA), p300, p-STAT3, Ack-STAT3, and MMP19 were up-regulated both in NSCLC tissues and NSCLC cells stimulated with IL-17. p300, STAT3 and MMP19 overexpression or knockdown could raise or reduce IL-17-induced p-STAT3, Ack-STAT3 and MMP19 level as well as the cell migration and invasion. Mechanism investigation revealed that STAT3 and p300 bound… More > Graphic Abstract

MINJI PARK¹, CHULHWAN BANG², WON-SOO YUN³, YUN-MI JEONG^3,*

Oncology Research, Vol.32, No.2, pp. 273-282, 2024, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.044362

Abstract Fucoidan, a sulfate polysaccharide obtained from brown seaweed, has various bioactive properties, including anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-oxidant, anti-coagulant, anti-thrombotic, anti-angiogenic, and anti-Helicobacter pylori properties. However, the effects of low-molecular-weight fucoidan (LMW-F) on melanoma cell lines and three dimensional (3D) cell culture models are not well understood. This study aimed to investigate the effects of LMW-F on A375 human melanoma cells and cryopreserved biospecimens derived from patients with advanced melanoma. Ultrasonic wave was used to fragment fucoidan derived from Fucus vesiculosus into smaller LMW-F. MTT and live/dead assays showed that LMW-F inhibited cell proliferation in both A375 cells and patient-derived melanoma… More >

ZIYU LIU^1,2, AKIKO OKANO^3,4, EMIKO SANADA^1,3,4, YUSHI FUTAMURA^3,4, TOSHIHIKO NOGAWA^3,5, KOSUKE ISHIKAWA⁶, KENTARO SEMBA^7,8, JIANG LI⁹, XIAOMENG LI¹⁰, HIROYUKI OSADA^3,4,11,*, NOBUMOTO WATANABE^1,2,4,*

Oncology Research, Vol.31, No.5, pp. 655-666, 2023, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.030248

Abstract

Myc belongs to a family of proto-oncogenes that encode transcription factors. The overexpression of c-Myc causes many types of cancers. Recently, we established a system for screening c-Myc inhibitors and identified antimycin A by screening the RIKEN NPDepo chemical library. The specific mechanism of promoting tumor cell metastasis by high c-Myc expression remains to be explained. In this study, we screened approximately 5,600 microbial extracts using this system and identified a broth prepared from Streptomyces sp. RK19-A0402 strongly inhibits c-Myc transcriptional activity. After purification of the hit broth, we identified compounds closely related to the aglycone of cytovaricin and had… More > Graphic Abstract

SHU ZHAO^1,*, SHIXIN YE²

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.6, pp. 1377-1388, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.023874

Abstract Background: This paper aims to establish a light-controlled phosphorylation detection method at the Y785 site of tropomyosin receptor kinase A (TrkA) receptor in mammalian cells by using genetic code expansion technology and detecting the effects of optical activation of this site on the downstream MAPK/ERK pathway. The study is based on the current situation that the regulatory mechanism of TrkA phosphorylation has not been fully elucidated. Methods: Two photosensitive unnatural amino acids, p-azido-L-phenylalanine (AzF) and photo-caged tyrosine (ONB) were introduced into the TrkA-Y785 site by genetic code expansion technology and site-directed mutagenesis. Western blotting and laser confocal imaging were conducted… More >

HUAMIN WANG^1,#, YANTING WU^1,#, ZHENLEI WANG^2,#, YUHANG CHEN¹, JINYU MO¹, WEN GUAN¹, YALI ZHANG¹, HONGLIANG YAO^1,*

Oncology Research, Vol.29, No.3, pp. 201-215, 2021, DOI:10.32604/or.2022.03553

Abstract LncRNAs and metabolism represents two factors involved in cancer initiation and progression. However, the interaction between lncRNAs and metabolism remains to be fully explored. In this study, lncRNA FEZF1-AS1 (FEZF1- AS1) was found upregulated in colon cancer after screening all the lncRNAs of colon cancer tissues deposited in TCGA, the result of which was further confirmed by RNAscope staining on a colon tissue chip. The results obtained using FEZF1- AS1 knockout colon cancer cells (SW480 KO and HCT-116 KO) constructed using CRISPR/Cas9 system confirmed the proliferation, invasion, and migration-promoting function of FEZF1-AS1 in vitro. Mechanistically, FEZF1-AS1 associated with the mitochondrial… More >

LUCÍA VELOZ^1,2, SANTIAGO A. BOSCH^1,3, GONZALO APARICIO^1,2,*, FLAVIO R. ZOLESSI^1,2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.3, pp. 639-644, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.018798

Abstract Cell extrusion is an active mechanism to eliminate non-viable or supernumerary cells in healthy epithelia. It also plays a role in carcinogenesis, both in tumor growth (apical extrusion) and metastasis (basal extrusion). Embryonic tissues like the neuroepithelium, on the other hand, present rates of proliferation comparable to that of carcinomas, without the occurrence of cell extrusion. However, the downregulation or phosphorylation of actin-modulating proteins like MARCKS, causes extensive neuroepithelial apical cell extrusion. As changes in MARCKS proteins phosphorylation and expression have also been correlated to carcinogenesis, we propose here an integrated model for their functions in epithelial integrity. More >

XINWEI WU¹, GUOYONG JIA^2,*, HONGNA YANG³, CONGCONG SUN², YING LIU², ZENGYAN DIAO²

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.2, pp. 471-478, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.015701

Abstract A progressive neurodegenerative disease, Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Studies suggest that highly expressed protein isoaspartate methyltransferase 1 (PCMT1) in brain tissue. In the current study, we explored the effects of neural stem cell-conditioned medium (NSC-CDM) on the PCMT1/MST1 pathway to alleviate Aβ_25-35-induced damage in SH-SY5Y cells. Our data suggested that Aβ25-35 markedly inhibited cell viability. NSC-CDM or Neural stem cell-complete medium (NSC-CPM) had a suppression effect on toxicity when treatment with Aβ_25-35, with a greater effect observed with NSC-CDM. Aβ_25-35 + NSC-CDM group exhibited an increase in PCMT1 expression. sh-PCMT1 markedly decreased cell proliferation and suppressed the protective role of NSC-CDM… More >

ALAA OMRAN ALMAGRABI¹, YASER DAANIAL KHAN², SHER AFZAL KHAN^3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.45, No.5, pp. 1287-1298, 2021, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2021.013770

Abstract Phosphoaspartate is one of the major components of eukaryotes and prokaryotic two-component signaling pathways, and it communicates the signal from the sensor of histidine kinase, through the response regulator, to the DNA alongside transcription features and initiates the transcription of correct response genes. Thus, the prediction of phosphoaspartate sites is critical, and its experimental identification can be expensive, time-consuming, and tedious. For this purpose, we propose iPhosD-PseAAC, a new computational model for predicting phosphoaspartate sites in a particular protein sequence using Chou’s 5-steps rues: (1) Benchmark dataset. (2) The feature extraction techniques such as pseudo amino acid composition (PseAAC), statistical… More >

KANO TANABE¹, RYUTARO KAJIHARA^2,3,*

BIOCELL, Vol.44, No.4, pp. 545-558, 2020, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2020.012740

Abstract Antibody is an important part of adaptive immune system and is produced only by B cells. There are five main classes (IgM, IgD, IgG, IgA, IgE) and some subclasses in antibodies. IgM and IgD are produced by mature naïve B cells. On the other hand, IgG, IgA and IgE are produced by activated antigen-specific B cells via class switch recombination (CSR). CSR is the irreversible DNA rearrangement from upstream to downstream classes in immunoglobulin heavy chain genes. Co-stimulations of CD40 ligand (CD40L) and cytokines are required for induction of CSR by activating several transcription factors. These signal transduction pathways involve… More >

Meiling Tang^1,2,#, Yuhe Li^1,3,#, Yahui Chen^1,4, Lei Han^1,3, Hongxia Zhang^1,3, Zhizhong Song^1,3,4,*

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol.89, No.4, pp. 925-941, 2020, DOI:10.32604/phyton.2020.011184

Abstract As the preferred nitrogen (N) source, ammonium (NH₄⁺ ) contributes to plant growth and development and fruit quality. In plants, NH₄⁺ uptake is facilitated by a family of NH₄⁺ transporters (AMT). However, the molecular mechanisms and functional characteristics of the AMT genes in peach have not been mentioned yet. In this present study, excess NH₄⁺ stress severely hindered shoot growth and root elongation, accompanied with reduced mineral accumulation, decreased leaf chlorophyll concentration, and stunned photosynthetic performance. In addition, we identified 14 putative AMT genes in peach (PpeAMT). Expression analysis showed that PpeAMT genes were differently expressed in peach leaves, stems… More >