Enhanced 5-fluorouracil cytotoxicity in high COX-2 expressing hepatocellular carcinoma cells by wogonin via the PI3K/Akt pathway

2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 221-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Zhao ◽  
Yun-Ying Sha ◽  
Qing Zhao ◽  
Jing Yao ◽  
Bin-Bin Zhu ◽  
...  

Combination therapies may increase the antitumor effects and reduce the adverse effects for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma. In this study, we determined the effects of 5-fluorouracil alone or in combination with wogonin in vitro and in vivo, and we investigated the possible mechanisms. The combination of these 2 drugs led to a decrease in survival and a significant synergistic inhibitory effect on high COX-2 expression in SMMC-7721 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Furthermore, the results show that this combination inhibits COX-2 expression and increases sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents partly through regulating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Moreover, the combination treatment caused a significant growth inhibition of human tumor xenografts in vivo. In conclusion, wogonin may increase the cytotoxicity of some antineoplastic agents and it can be used in combination with these agents as a novel therapeutic regimen for HCC treatment.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Kanzaki ◽  
Tetsuhiro Chiba ◽  
Junjie Ao ◽  
Keisuke Koroki ◽  
Kengo Kanayama ◽  
...  

AbstractFGF19/FGFR4 autocrine signaling is one of the main targets for multi-kinase inhibitors (MKIs). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying FGF19/FGFR4 signaling in the antitumor effects to MKIs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. In this study, the impact of FGFR4/ERK signaling inhibition on HCC following MKI treatment was analyzed in vitro and in vivo assays. Serum FGF19 in HCC patients treated using MKIs, such as sorafenib (n = 173) and lenvatinib (n = 40), was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Lenvatinib strongly inhibited the phosphorylation of FRS2 and ERK, the downstream signaling molecules of FGFR4, compared with sorafenib and regorafenib. Additional use of a selective FGFR4 inhibitor with sorafenib further suppressed FGFR4/ERK signaling and synergistically inhibited HCC cell growth in culture and xenograft subcutaneous tumors. Although serum FGF19high (n = 68) patients treated using sorafenib exhibited a significantly shorter progression-free survival and overall survival than FGF19low (n = 105) patients, there were no significant differences between FGF19high (n = 21) and FGF19low (n = 19) patients treated using lenvatinib. In conclusion, robust inhibition of FGF19/FGFR4 is of importance for the exertion of antitumor effects of MKIs. Serum FGF19 levels may function as a predictive marker for drug response and survival in HCC patients treated using sorafenib.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lifeng Feng ◽  
Miaoqin Chen ◽  
Yiling Li ◽  
Muchun Li ◽  
Shiman Hu ◽  
...  

Abstractp62/SQSTM1 is frequently up-regulated in many cancers including hepatocellular carcinoma. Highly expressed p62 promotes hepato-carcinogenesis by activating many signaling pathways including Nrf2, mTORC1, and NFκB signaling. However, the underlying mechanism for p62 up-regulation in hepatocellular carcinoma remains largely unclear. Herein, we confirmed that p62 was up-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma and its higher expression was associated with shorter overall survival in patients. The knockdown of p62 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells decreased cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Intriguingly, p62 protein stability could be reduced by its acetylation at lysine 295, which was regulated by deacetylase Sirt1 and acetyltransferase GCN5. Acetylated p62 increased its association with the E3 ligase Keap1, which facilitated its poly-ubiquitination-dependent proteasomal degradation. Moreover, Sirt1 was up-regulated to deacetylate and stabilize p62 in hepatocellular carcinoma. Additionally, Hepatocyte Sirt1 conditional knockout mice developed much fewer liver tumors after Diethynitrosamine treatment, which could be reversed by the re-introduction of exogenous p62. Taken together, Sirt1 deacetylates p62 at lysine 295 to disturb Keap1-mediated p62 poly-ubiquitination, thus up-regulating p62 expression to promote hepato-carcinogenesis. Therefore, targeting Sirt1 or p62 is a reasonable strategy for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 3565-3571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Wang ◽  
Wenmei Zhang ◽  
Yan Ding ◽  
Xingrong Guo ◽  
Yahong Yuan ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilaria Romito ◽  
Manuela Porru ◽  
Maria Rita Braghini ◽  
Luca Pompili ◽  
Nadia Panera ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and lethal malignant tumours worldwide. Sorafenib (SOR) is one of the most effective single-drug systemic therapy against advanced HCC, but the identification of novel combination regimens for a continued improvement in overall survival is a big challenge. Recent studies highlighted the crucial role of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) in HCC growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the antitumor effects of three different FAK inhibitors, alone or in combination with SOR, using in vitro and in vivo models of HCC. Methods The effect of PND1186, PF431396, TAE226 on cell viability was compared to SOR. Among them TAE226, emerging as the most effective FAKi, was then tested alone or in combination with SOR using 2D/3D human HCC cell line cultures and HCC xenograft murine models. The mechanisms of action were assessed by gene/protein expression and imaging approaches, combined with high-throughput methods. Results TAE226 emerged as the more effective FAKi to be combined with SOR against HCC. Combined TAE226 and SOR treatment reduced HCC growth both in vitro and in vivo by affecting tumour-promoting gene expression and inducing epigenetic changes via dysregulation of the nuclear interactome of FAK. We characterized a novel nuclear functional interaction between FAK and the NuRD complex. TAE226-mediated FAK depletion and SOR-promoted MAPK down-modulation causing an increase of histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation, counteracting its trimethylation by decreasing the nuclear amount of HDAC1/2. Conclusions Altogether, our findings provide the first evidence that TAE226 combined with SOR efficiently reduce HCC growth in vitro and in vivo. Our data also highlight that deep analysis of FAK nuclear interactome may lead to the identification of new promising therapeutic approaches for HCC.


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