DONGYANG WANG, YI CHEN, JING HUANG, YOU ZHANG, CHONGKUI SUN, YINGQIANG SHEN^*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.2, pp. 329-338, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.023489

Abstract Glucocorticoids (GC) are widely used to counter the adverse events during cancer therapy; nonetheless, previous studies pointed out that GC may reduce the efficacy of chemotherapy on cancer cells, especially in epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted therapy of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) remaining to be elucidated. The primary aim of the present study was to probe into the GC-induced resistance of EGFR-targeted drug afatinib and the underlying mechanism. HNSCC cell lines (HSC-3, SCC-25, SCC-9, and H-400) and the human oral keratinocyte (HOK) cell lines were assessed for GC receptor (GR) expression. The promoting tumor growth effect of… More >

JIAFU FENG^1,2,#,*, BEI XU^1,2,#, CHUNMEI DAI^1,2,#, YAODONG WANG^1,4, GANG XIE^1,5, WENYU YANG^1,2, BIN ZHANG^1,2, XIAOHAN LI⁶, JUN WANG³

Oncology Research, Vol.29, No.5, pp. 331-349, 2021, DOI:10.32604/or.2022.03554

Abstract Due to its difficulty in early diagnosis and lack of sensitivity to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains to be a frequent cause of cancer-related death. Here, we probed into new targets for its early diagnosis and treatment for RCC. microRNA (miRNA) data of M2-EVs and RCC were searched on the Gene Expression Omnibus database, followed by the prediction of the potential downstream target. Expression of target genes was measured via RT-qPCR and Western blot, respectively. M2 macrophage was obtained via flow cytometry with M2-EVs extracted. The binding ability of miR-342-3p to NEDD4L and to CEP55 ubiquitination was… More >

Juan Li^*†1, Chunyan Liu^‡1, Dawei Li^§, Meng Wan^¶, Hong Zhang^†, Xiaoxia Zheng^†, Xuemei Jie^†, Pengju Zhang^¶, Jingjing Li^#, Hongchun Hou^†, Qing Sun^*

Oncology Research, Vol.27, No.7, pp. 763-771, 2019, DOI:10.3727/096504018X15399955297355

Abstract OLFM4 has been shown to play an important role in tumor initiation and progression. This study aims to investigate the role of OLFM4 in metastatic cervical cancer and its underlying mechanism. Here we discover that OLFM4 expression is significantly reduced in metastatic cervical cancer. Accordingly, overexpression of OLFM4 inhibits epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), migration, and invasion in human cervical cancer cells. To further explore its molecular mechanisms, we reveal that OLFM4 augmentation interferes with mTOR signaling pathway, and the suppressive effects of OLFM4 on cell migration and invasion are largely weakened by phosphatidic acid (PA)-induced mTOR signal activation, which implicates the… More >

Huasong Liu^*1, Jun Zhang^*1, Xiangyu Luo^*, Min Zeng^*, Liqiang Xu^*, Qunxian Zhang^*, Hua Liu^*, Jialong Guo^*, Lanlan Xu^†

Oncology Research, Vol.28, No.1, pp. 65-73, 2020, DOI:10.3727/096504019X15656904013079

Abstract Emerging evidence has demonstrated that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) mediate the development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) via various pathophysiological pathways. This study explored the impact of the lncRNA FOXD2-AS1 on cisplatin resistance in ESCC and its possible mechanisms. Upregulation of FOXD2-AS was detected in patients with ESCC and ESCC cells that are resistant to cisplatin. In an in vitro assay, knockdown of FOXD2-AS1 noticeably inhibited cell invasion and growth, triggered cell death, and repressed the stimulation of the Akt/mTOR axis in cisplatin-resistant ESCC cells (TE-1/DDP). Conversely, the overexpression of FOXD2-AS1 remarkably increased cell invasion and growth, repressed cell… More >

Majed Al Fayi^*†, Ahmad Alamri^*, Prasanna Rajagopalan^*†

Oncology Research, Vol.28, No.2, pp. 177-189, 2020, DOI:10.3727/096504019X15746768080428

Abstract Drug discovery research to fight lung cancer is incessantly challenged by drug resistance. In this study, we used drug-resistant lung cancer stem like cells (A549-CS) to compare the efficacy of standard drugs like cisplatin (DDP) and gemcitabine (GEM) with a novel arylidene derivative IOX-101. A549-CS was derived from regular A549 cells by growing in special media. Resistance proteins were detected using Western blotting. Cell proliferations were assessed by MTT assay. Cytokine release was enumerated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The effect of drugs on apoptosis and cell cycle was studied with flow cytometry protocols. Apoptosis-related proteins, caspases, and other signaling protein… More >

Guojie Chen^*1, Kai Wang^*1, Guoshu Li^†1, Leidong Wang^‡, Yangyang Xiao^§, Bo Chen^¶

Oncology Research, Vol.28, No.9, pp. 945-959, 2020, DOI:10.3727/096504021X16328213967104

Abstract Long noncoding RNA LAMTOR5 antisense RNA 1 (LAMTOR5-AS1) has been certified as a risk predictor and diagnostic biomarker of prostate cancer. However, the expression and exact roles of LAMTOR5-AS1 in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain unclear. Thus, we measured LAMTOR5-AS1 expression in NSCLC and gauged its clinical value. The detailed roles and downstream working mechanism of LAMTOR5-AS1 in NSCLC were comprehensively unraveled. qRT-PCR was applied to measure gene expression. Functionally, utilizing small interfering RNA, LAMTOR5-AS1 was ablated, and the functional alterations were addressed by means of different experiments. The targeting activities between LAMTOR5-AS1 and microRNA-506-3p (miR-506-3p) and between miR-506-3p… More >

Kazuhiro Yamamoto^*, Takeshi Ioroi^*, Kazuaki Shinomiya^†, Ayaka Yoshida^*, Kenichi Harada^‡, Masato Fujisawa^‡, Tomohiro Omura^*, Yasuaki Ikemi^§, Shunsaku Nakagawa^§, Atsushi Yonezawa^§, Osamu Ogawa^¶, Kazuo Matsubara^§, Takuya Iwamoto^#, Kohei Nishikawa^**, Sayaka Hayashi^††, Daichi Tohara^††, Yoji Murakami^‡‡, Takanobu Motoshima^‡‡, Hirofumi Jono^††, Ikuko Yano^*§

Oncology Research, Vol.29, No.1, pp. 11-23, 2021, DOI:10.3727/096504022X16418911579334

Abstract We evaluated the association of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) polymorphisms with the incidence of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor-induced interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We also used lung-derived cell lines to investigate the mechanisms of this association. Japanese patients with metastatic RCC who were treated with mTOR inhibitors were genotyped for the STAT3 polymorphism, rs4796793 (−1697C/G). We evaluated the association of the STAT3 genotype with the incidence of ILD and therapeutic outcome. In the 57 patients included in the primary analysis, the ILD rate within 140 days was significantly… 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

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, rapamycin and si-mTOR… 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

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 normoxia, 2% O2 (hypoxia), or… More >

RONGXUE WEI¹, CHUNCHUN HAN^1,*, FENGJIANG YE¹, SHOUHAI WEI², FANG HE¹, HEHE LIU¹, LIANG LI¹, HONGYONG XU¹, SHENQIANG HU¹, XIANYIN ZENG²

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.1, pp. 171-183, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.015409

Abstract In order to explore the role of forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1) in the lipid metabolism and cell proliferation, goose primary hepatocytes were isolated and incubated with insulin or PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway dual inhibitor NVP-BEZ235, and then transfected with FoxO1 interference plasmid. The related parameters of lipid metabolism and cell proliferation were measured. The results firstly showed that FoxO1 interference increased the intracellular TG and lipids concentration (P < 0.05); and increased the proliferative index (PI), cell DNA synthesis, protein expression of Cyclin D1 in goose primary hepatocytes (P < 0.05). Secondly, the co-treatment of insulin and FoxO1 interference increased the… More >