scholarly journals Puerarin suppresses cell growth and migration in HPV‑positive cervical cancer cells by inhibiting the PI3K/mTOR signaling pathway

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihua Jia ◽  
Yuling Hu ◽  
Guohua Yang ◽  
Peiling Li
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Cancer ◽  
Cell Growth ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Signaling Pathway ◽  
Mtor Signaling ◽  
Mtor Signaling Pathway ◽  
Cell Growth And Migration ◽  
Cervical Cancer Cells ◽  
And Migration

Therapeutic effects of antibiotic drug mefloquine against cervical cancer through impairing mitochondrial function and inhibiting mTOR pathway

2017 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Li ◽  
Shun Jiao ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
Hasina Banu ◽  
Shreejana Hamal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Cancer ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Signaling Pathway ◽  
Mitochondrial Function ◽  
Mitochondrial Respiration ◽  
Colony Formation ◽  
Mtor Signaling ◽  
Mtor Signaling Pathway ◽  
Antibiotic Drug ◽  
Cervical Cancer Cells

Targeting mitochondria is an attractive strategy for cancer therapy due to the essential roles of mitochondria in cancer cell energy metabolism. In this study, we show that mefloquine, an antibiotic drug, effectively targets cervical cancer cells through impairing mitochondrial function. Mefloquine dose-dependently induces apoptosis and inhibits proliferation and anchorage-independent colony formation of multiple cervical cancer cell lines. Mefloquine alone inhibits cervical tumor growth in vivo and its combination with paclitaxel is synergistic in inhibiting tumor growth. Mechanistically, mefloquine inhibits mitochondrial function via inhibiting mitochondrial respiration, decreasing membrane potential, increasing ROS generation, and decreasing ATP level. We further show that mefloquine suppresses activation of mTOR signaling pathway in HeLa cells. However, the inhibitory effects of mefloquine on survival, colony formation, and ATP are abolished in mitochondrial respiration-deficient HeLa ρ0 cells, demonstrating that mefloquine acts on cervical cancer cells via targeting mitochondrial respiration. Inhibition of mTOR signaling pathway by mefloquine was also reversed in HeLa ρ0 cells, suggesting deactivation of mTOR pathway as a consequence of mitochondria function disruption. Our work suggests that mefloquine is a potential candidate for cervical cancer treatment. Our work also highlights the therapeutic value of anti-mitochondria and establishes the association of mitochondrial function and the activation of mTOR signaling pathway in cervical cancer cells.

scholarly journals Hypoxia-Related Gene FUT11 Promotes Pancreatic Cancer Progression by Maintaining the Stability of PDK1

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenpeng Cao ◽  
Zhirui Zeng ◽  
Runsang Pan ◽  
Hao Wu ◽  
Xiangyan Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Cell Growth ◽  
Western Blot ◽  
Signaling Pathway ◽  
Mtor Signaling ◽  
Mtor Signaling Pathway ◽  
Cell Growth And Migration ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Stability

BackgroundHypoxia is associated with the development of pancreatic cancer (PC). However, genes associated with hypoxia response and their regulatory mechanism in PC cells were unclear. The current study aims to investigate the role of the hypoxia associated gene fucosyltransferase 11 (FUT11) in the progression of PC.MethodsIn the preliminary study, bioinformatics analysis predicted FUT11 as a key hypoxia associated gene in PC. The expression of FUT11 in PC was evaluated using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), Western blot and immunohistochemistry. The effects of FUT11 on PC cells proliferation and migration under normoxia and hypoxia were evaluated using Cell Counting Kit 8, 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine (EDU) assay, colony formation assay and transwell assay. The effects of FUT11 in vivo was examined in mouse tumor models of liver metastasis and subcutaneous xenograft. Furthermore, Western blot, luciferase assay and immunoprecipitation were performed to explore the regulatory relationship among FUT11, hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF1α) and pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1) in PC.ResultsFUT11 was markedly increased of PC cells with hypoxia, upregulated in the PC clinical tissues, and predicted a poor outcome of PC patients. Inhibition of FUT11 reduced PC cell growth and migratory ability of PC cells under normoxia and hypoxia conditions in vitro, and growth and tumor cell metastasis in vivo. FUT11 bound to PDK1 and regulated the expression PDK1 under normoxia and hypoxia. FUT11 interacted with PDK1 and decreased the ubiquitination of PDK1, lead to the activation of AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. FUT11 knockdown significantly increased the degradation of PDK1 under hypoxia, while treatment with MG132 can relieve the degradation of PDK1 induced by FUT11 knockdown. Overexpression of PDK1 in PC cells under hypoxia conditions reversed the suppressive impacts of FUT11 knockdown on PC cell growth and migration. In addition, HIF1α bound to the promoter of FUT11 and increased its expression, as well as co-expressed with FUT11 in PC tissues. Furthermore, overexpression of FUT11 partially rescued the suppressive effects of HIF1α knockdown on PC cell growth and migration in hypoxia condition.ConclusionOur data implicate that hypoxia-induced FUT11 contributes to proliferation and metastasis of PC by maintaining the stability of PDK1, thus mediating activation of AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, and suggest that FUT11 could be a novel and effective target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

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