scholarly journals Inducing endoplasmic reticulum stress in cancer cells using graphene oxide-based nanoparticles

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. 4887-4894
Author(s):  
Shalini Pandey ◽  
Aditi Nandi ◽  
Sudipta Basu ◽  
Nirmalya Ballav

Graphene oxide based self-assembled nanoparticles were developed to target the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to induce ER stress in cancer cells.

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-178
Author(s):  
Mengyu He ◽  
Jiali Zhu ◽  
Na Yu ◽  
Hui Kong ◽  
Xiaoning Zeng ◽  
...  

Objectives: Paclitaxel (Ptx) has been regarded as one of the most effective chemotherapeutic drugs for lung cancers. Increasing studies focused on the nano-delivery system of Ptx due to its poor solubility and hypersensitivity. The aim of the recent study was to investigate the antitumor effects of self-assembled Ptx nano-filaments for lung cancer cells. </P><P> Methods: In the present study, we designed and synthesized novel Ptx-loaded nano-filaments through conjugation of Ptx and succinic acid (SA) (Ptx-SA, P-NFs). Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549 and H460 cells were used for detecting the antitumor effects of P-NFs, including cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and migration. Western blotting was performed for analyzing mechanism. Results: P-NFs nano-filaments exerted superior antitumor effects against NSCLC cells compared with free Ptx using cytotoxicity tests. Furthermore, P-NFs nano-filaments were much more effective in inducing NSCLC cells apoptosis and inhibiting A549 cells migration than free Ptx. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, the expression of apoptotic and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress proteins was detected. The results indicated that P-NFs nano-filaments enhanced the expression of bax/bcl-2, protein kinase RNA-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), inositol-requiring enzyme 1&#945; (IRE1&#945;), phospho- c-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK), and C/EPB homologous protein (CHOP), which suggested that the strong antitumor effect of P-NFs nano-filaments may be partially attributed to the activation ER stress. The current work demonstrated that P-NFs nano-filaments showed superior cytotoxicity of lung cancer cells, highlighting a novel profile of nano-filaments delivery systems as potential strategies for facilitating the therapeutic efficacy of Ptx in lung cancer treatment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianming Zhao ◽  
Juan Du ◽  
Hui Zeng

AbstractTo survive, cancer cells are subjected to various internal and external adverse factors, including genetic mutations, hypoxia, nutritional deficiencies, and drug toxicity. All of these factors result in the accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum, which leads to a condition termed endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) and triggers the unfolded protein response (UPR). UPR downstream components strictly control transcription and translation reprogramming to ensure selective gene expression, including that of non-coding RNA (ncRNAs), to adapt to adverse environments. NcRNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs), play important roles in regulating target gene expression and protein translation, and their aberrant expression is related to tumor development. Dysregulation of ncRNAs is involved in the regulation of various cellular characteristics of cancer cells, including growth, apoptosis, metastasis, angiogenesis, drug sensitivity, and tumor stem cell properties. Notably, ncRNAs and ER stress can regulate each other and collaborate to determine the fate of tumor cells. Therefore, investigating the interaction between ER stress and ncRNAs is crucial for developing effective cancer treatment and prevention strategies. In this review, we summarize the ER stress-triggered UPR signaling pathways involved in carcinogenesis followed by the mutual regulation of ER stress and ncRNAs in cancer, which provide further insights into the understanding of tumorigenesis and therapeutic strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5566
Author(s):  
Junyan Qu ◽  
Cheng Zeng ◽  
Tingting Zou ◽  
Xu Chen ◽  
Xiaolong Yang ◽  
...  

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading malignant tumor in the world, which has high morbidity and mortality. In this study we found that trichodermic acid (TDA), a secondary metabolite isolated from the plant endophytic fungus Penicillium ochrochloronthe with a variety of biological and pharmacological activities, exhibited the antitumor effects on colorectal cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Our results showed that TDA inhibited the proliferation of colon cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. TDA induces sustained endoplasmic reticulum stress, which triggers apoptosis through IRE1α/XBP1 and PERK/ATF4/CHOP pathways. In addition, we found that TDA mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress also induces autophagy as a protective mechanism. Moreover, combined treatment of TDA with autophagy inhibitors significantly enhanced its anticancer effect. In conclusion, our results indicated that TDA can induce ER stress and autophagy mediated apoptosis, suggesting that targeting ER stress and autophagy may be an effective strategy for the treatment of CRC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 665-675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjiao Shi ◽  
Zhixin Guo ◽  
Ruixia Yuan

Background and Objective: This study investigated whether rapamycin has a protective effect on the testis of diabetic rats by regulating autophagy, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and oxidative stress. Methods: Thirty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups: control, diabetic, and diabetic treated with rapamycin, which received gavage of rapamycin (2mg.kg-1.d-1) after induction of diabetes. Diabetic rats were induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 65mg.Kg-1). All rats were sacrificed at the termination after 8 weeks of rapamycin treatment. The testicular pathological changes were determined by hematoxylin and eosin staining. The protein or mRNA expression of autophagy-related proteins (Beclin1, microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3), p62), ER stress marked proteins (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) homologous protein (CHOP), caspase-12), oxidative stress-related proteins (p22phox, nuclear factor erythroid2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)) and apoptosis-related proteins (Bax, B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2)) were assayed by western blot or real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. Results: There were significant pathological changes in the testes of diabetic rats. The expression of Beclin1, LC3, Nrf2, Bcl-2 were significantly decreased and p62, CHOP, caspase12, p22phox, and Bax were notably increased in the testis of diabetic rats (P <0.05). However, rapamycin treatment for 8 weeks significantly reversed the above changes in the testis of diabetic rats (P <0.05). Conclusion: Rapamycin appears to produce a protective effect on the testes of diabetic rats by inducing the expression of autophagy and inhibiting the expression of ER-stress, oxidative stress, and apoptosis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4538
Author(s):  
Helena Kratochvílová ◽  
Miloš Mráz ◽  
Barbora J. Kasperová ◽  
Daniel Hlaváček ◽  
Jakub Mahrík ◽  
...  

The aim of our study was to analyze mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) gene expression profiles in subcutaneous (SAT) and epicardial (EAT) adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and myocardium in patients with and without CAD undergoing elective cardiac surgery. Thirty-eight patients, 27 with (CAD group) and 11 without CAD (noCAD group), undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting and/or valvular surgery were included in the study. EAT, SAT, intercostal skeletal muscle, and right atrium tissue and blood samples were collected at the start and end of surgery; mRNA expression of selected mitochondrial and ER stress genes was assessed using qRT-PCR. The presence of CAD was associated with decreased mRNA expression of most of the investigated mitochondrial respiratory chain genes in EAT, while no such changes were seen in SAT or other tissues. In contrast, the expression of ER stress genes did not differ between the CAD and noCAD groups in almost any tissue. Cardiac surgery further augmented mitochondrial dysfunction in EAT. In our study, CAD was associated with decreased expression of mitochondrial, but not endoplasmic reticulum stress genes in EAT. These changes may contribute to the acceleration of coronary atherosclerosis.


Author(s):  
Changhong Li ◽  
Kui Zhang ◽  
Guangzhao Pan ◽  
Haoyan Ji ◽  
Chongyang Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Dehydrodiisoeugenol (DEH), a novel lignan component extracted from nutmeg, which is the seed of Myristica fragrans Houtt, displays noticeable anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects in digestive system diseases. However, the mechanism of its anticancer activity in gastrointestinal cancer remains to be investigated. Methods In this study, the anticancer effect of DEH on human colorectal cancer and its underlying mechanism were evaluated. Assays including MTT, EdU, Plate clone formation, Soft agar, Flow cytometry, Electron microscopy, Immunofluorescence and Western blotting were used in vitro. The CDX and PDX tumor xenograft models were used in vivo. Results Our findings indicated that treatment with DEH arrested the cell cycle of colorectal cancer cells at the G1/S phase, leading to significant inhibition in cell growth. Moreover, DEH induced strong cellular autophagy, which could be inhibited through autophagic inhibitors, with a rction in the DEH-induced inhibition of cell growth in colorectal cancer cells. Further analysis indicated that DEH also induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and subsequently stimulated autophagy through the activation of PERK/eIF2α and IRE1α/XBP-1 s/CHOP pathways. Knockdown of PERK or IRE1α significantly decreased DEH-induced autophagy and retrieved cell viability in cells treated with DEH. Furthermore, DEH also exhibited significant anticancer activities in the CDX- and PDX-models. Conclusions Collectively, our studies strongly suggest that DEH might be a potential anticancer agent against colorectal cancer by activating ER stress-induced inhibition of autophagy.


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