Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:5.99.1.2 (topoisomerase)
9,166 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Ellipticine, a cytotoxic plant alkaloid, is known to inhibit topoisomerase II. Here, we first report the molecular mechanism of ellipticine's apoptotic action in human breast MCF-7 cancer cells. Treatment of cells with ellipticine resulted in inhibition of growth, and G2/M phase arrest of the cell cycle. This effect was associated with a marked increase in the protein expression of p53 and, p21/WAF1 and KIP1/p27, but not of WAF1/p21. Ellipticine treatment increased the expression of Fas/APO-1 and its ligands, mFas ligand and sFas ligand, and subsequent activation of caspase-8. The mitochondrial apoptotic pathway amplified the Fas/Fas ligand death receptor pathway by Bid interaction. This effect was found to result in a significant increase in activation of caspase-9. Taken together, we have concluded that the molecular mechanisms during ellipticine-mediated growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in MCF-7 cells were due to (1) cell cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis, (2) induction of p53 and KIP1/p27 expression, (3) triggering of Fas/Fas ligand pathway, (4) disruption of mitochondrial function, and (5) the apoptotic signaling was amplified by cross-talk between Fas death receptor and mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.
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PMID:The mechanism of ellipticine-induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in human breast MCF-7 cancer cells. 1589 64

A novel beta-carboline alkaloid, tangutorine (benz[f]indolo[2,3-a]quinolizidine) was isolated from the leaves of Nitraria tangutorum L. [Duan JA, Williams ID, Che CT, Zhou RH, Zhao RH, Tangutorine: a novel beta-carboline alkaloid from Nitraria tangutorum. Tetrahedron Lett 1999;40:2593-6], and its unique structural characters led us to initiate a study of its potential anti-proliferation activity. The in vitro treatment with low doses of tangutorine slightly stimulated the proliferation of human colon cancer HT29 cells until at concentrations higher than 6.25 microg/ml when the cell numbers, cellular MTT reduction, and cell proliferation by 3H-thymidine incorporation decreased in a dose-dependent manner (IC50=15 microg/ml=48 microM). Morphological studies of cells by fluorescence and electron microscopy did not show features for apoptosis but only large vacuoles, swollen mitochondria and dense cytoskeletal filaments bunching in the cytoplasm. Immunoblotting analysis revealed a dramatic induction of cyclin kinase inhibitor p21 as well as an inhibition of topoisomerase II expression at 25 microg/ml tangutorine, thereby impeding cell progression from S to G2/M phase. Cells accumulated at G1 phase of the cell cycle at concentrations > or =50 microg/ml tangutorine. Interestingly, some cells escaped from prolonged growth arrest without cell division and resulted in binucleated and polyploid G1 cells. Taken all results together, tangutorine induced a p21 suppression of all cyclins and their associated kinases, such as the topoisomerase II, and thus inhibited normal DNA replication and mitosis.
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PMID:Tangutorine induces p21 expression and abnormal mitosis in human colon cancer HT-29 cells. 1591 51

Microtubule binders are cell cycle-specific agents with preferential cytotoxicity toward mitotic cells. We have characterized vincristine-selected human leukemia cells to establish whether development of vincristine resistance was accompanied by changes in cell cycle kinetics and distribution. Our results indicate that vincristine resistance is accompanied by delayed G2 transit and prolonged early mitosis in both the absence and the presence of the microtubule binder nocodazole. The altered G2/M regulation is accompanied by resistance to short-term (12 h) but not continuous nocodazole exposure in agreement with the transient nature of the observed cell cycle alterations. Western blot analysis indicates that vincristine-selection is accompanied by down-regulation of topoisomerase IIalpha without detectable alterations of the other mitotic regulators studied, including Cdk1, p21, 14-3-3sigma, and 14-3-3epsilon. This was associated with at least 7-fold less chromosome-associated topoisomerase IIalpha, decreased catalytic activity, and cross-resistance to topoisomerase II inhibitors. Characterization of isogenic cell lines expressing different levels of topoisomerase II proteins shows that cellular levels of topoisomerase IIalpha, but not the closely related topoisomerase IIbeta, directly influence the cell cycle kinetics in G2 and early mitosis as well as the resistance to nocodazole. These results underline the importance of topoisomerase IIalpha in late G2 and early M phases and provide evidence for an as-yet-unsuspected interaction between topoisomerase II and microtubule-directed agents.
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PMID:Down-regulation of DNA topoisomerase IIalpha leads to prolonged cell cycle transit in G2 and early M phases and increased survival to microtubule-interacting agents. 1594 22

Aminoflavone (5-amino-2,3-fluorophenyl)-6,8-difluoro-7-methyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one) (NSC 686288) is a candidate for possible advancement to phase I clinical trial. Aminoflavone has a unique activity profile in the NCI 60 cell lines (COMPARE analysis; http://www.dtp.nci.nih.gov/docs/dtp_search.html), and exhibits potent cellular and animal antitumor activity. To elucidate the mechanism of action of aminoflavone, we studied DNA damage in MCF-7 cells. Aminoflavone induced DNA-protein cross-links (DPC) and DNA single-strand breaks (SSB). Aminoflavone induced high levels of DPC and much lower level of SSB than camptothecin, which induces equal levels of DPC and SSB due to the trapping topoisomerase I-DNA complexes. Accordingly, neither topoisomerase I nor topoisomerase II were detectable in the aminoflavone-induced DPC. Aminoflavone also induced dose- and time-dependent histone H2AX phosphorylation (gamma-H2AX). Gamma-H2AX foci occurred with DPC formation, and like DPC, persisted after aminoflavone removal. Aphidicolin prevented gamma-H2AX formation, suggesting that gamma-H2AX foci correspond to replication-associated DNA double-strand breaks. Accordingly, no gamma-H2AX foci were found in proliferating cell nuclear antigen-negative or in mitotic cells. Bromodeoxyuridine incorporation and fluorescence-activated cell sorting analyses showed DNA synthesis inhibition uniformly throughout the S phase after exposure to aminoflavone. Aminoflavone also induced RPA2 and p53 phosphorylation, and induced p21(Waf1/Cip1) and MDM2, demonstrating S-phase checkpoint activation. These studies suggest that aminoflavone produces replication-dependent DNA lesions and S-phase checkpoint activation following DPC formation. Gamma-H2AX may be a useful clinical marker for monitoring the efficacy of aminoflavone in tumor therapies.
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PMID:DNA-protein cross-links and replication-dependent histone H2AX phosphorylation induced by aminoflavone (NSC 686288), a novel anticancer agent active against human breast cancer cells. 1595 81

In the last few decades, proliferative markers have been broadly evaluated as prognostic and predictive factors for early stage breast cancer patients. Several papers evaluating one or more markers have been published, often with contradictory results. As a consequence, there is still uncertainty about the role of these proliferative markers. The present paper critically reviews the current knowledge about the following markers: thymidine labeling index, S phase fraction/flow cytometry, Ki 67, thymidine kinase (TK), cyclins E, cyclin D, the cyclin inhibitors p27 and p21, and topoisomerase IIalpha. For each marker, the prognostic and predictive role was separately analyzed. Only papers published in English in peer-reviewed journals before June 2004 that include at least 100 evaluable patients were selected. In addition, the prognostic and predictive role of the proliferative markers had to be assessed through multivariate analyses. One hundred and thirty-two papers fulfilled these criteria and 159 516 patients were analyzed. Unfortunately, several methodological problems in the research to date prevent us from including any one of these proliferative markers among the standard prognostic and predictive factors. Early incorporation of translational research and new technologies with clinical trials are needed to prospectively validate biological markers and allow their use in clinical practice.
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PMID:Proliferative markers as prognostic and predictive tools in early breast cancer: where are we now? 1598 Jan 58

The tumor suppressor protein p53 promotes apoptosis in response to death stimuli by transactivation of target genes and by transcription-independent mechanisms. Recently, it was shown that during apoptosis p53 can specifically translocate to mitochondria, where it physically interacts with and inactivates prosurvival Bcl-2 proteins. In the present study, we therefore investigated the role of mitochondrial translocation of p53 for the stress response of tumor cells. In various cell lines, DNA damage induced by either ionizing irradiation or topoisomerase inhibitors triggered a robust translocation of a fraction of p53 to mitochondria to a similar extent. Nevertheless, the cells succumbed to apoptosis only in response to topoisomerase inhibitors, but remained resistant to apoptosis induced by ionizing radiation. Irradiated cells became senescent, although irradiation triggered a functional p53 response and induced expression of p21, Bax, and Puma. Interestingly, even the targeted expression of p53 to mitochondria was insufficient to launch apoptosis, whereas overexpression of wild-type p53 induced Bax activation and apoptotic alterations. Together, these results suggest that, in contrast to previous reports, mitochondrial translocation of p53 does not per se lead to cell death and that this might constitute a mechanism that contributes to the resistance of tumor cells to ionizing radiation-induced apoptosis.
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PMID:Irradiation-induced translocation of p53 to mitochondria in the absence of apoptosis. 1614 12

The vaccinia-related kinase (VRK) proteins are a new family with three members in the human kinome. The VRK1 protein phosphorylates several transcription factors and has been postulated to be involved in regulation of cell proliferation. In normal squamous epithelium, VRK1 is expressed in the proliferation area. Because VRK1 can stabilize p53, the expression of the VRK1 protein was analyzed in the context of the p53 pathway and the proliferation phenotype in a series of 73 head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. VRK1 protein level positively correlated with p53 response proteins, particularly hdm2 and p21. The VRK1 protein also correlated positively with several proteins associated with proliferation, such as cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2), CDK6, cdc2, cyclins B1 and A, topoisomerase II, survivin, and Ki67. The level of VRK1 protein behaves like a proliferation marker in this series of head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. To identify a possible regulatory role for VRK1 and because it regulates gene transcription, the promoters of two genes were studied, CDK2 and SURVIVIN, whose proteins correlated positively with VRK1. VRK1 increases the activity of both the CDK2 and SURVIVIN gene promoters. The expression of VRK1 was analyzed in the context of regulators of the G1-S transition. VRK1 protein levels increase in response to E2F1 and are reduced by retinoblastoma and p16. These data suggest that VRK1 might play a role in cell cycle regulation and is likely to represent the beginning of a new control mechanism of cell cycle, particularly late in the G1-S phase.
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PMID:VRK1 signaling pathway in the context of the proliferation phenotype in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. 1654 55

The loss of p53 function is a key event in tumorigenesis. Inactivation of p53 in primary tumors and cell lines is mediated by several molecular mechanisms, including deletions and rearrangements. However, generation of a p53 fusion gene has not yet been reported. Here we report a novel p53/an autosomal homolog of the fragile X mental retardation (FXR2) chimeric gene generated by an interstitial deletion. Western blot analyses have shown that the p53/FXR2 protein is indeed expressed in a Down syndrome-related acute megakaryoblastic leukemia cell line, CMK11-5 cells. To investigate the properties of the p53/FXR2 protein, we observed its subcellular localization. Flag-tagged expression vectors were transfected into COS-7 cells and the proteins were stained with an anti-Flag antibody. The p53/FXR2 protein was expressed at high levels in the cytoplasm, whereas wild-type p53 and FXR2 were localized primarily in the nucleus and in the periphery of the nucleus, respectively. Treatment with a topoisomerase II inhibitor, VP16, failed to induce expression of a p53 target gene, the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(WAF-1/CIP1), in CMK11-5 cells, and transient transfection analysis showed that the p53/FXR2 protein failed to transactivate the p21(WAF-1/CIP1) promoter. These results suggest that the p53/FXR2 fusion protein lacks the ability of wild-type p53 to function as a transcription factor. The p53/FXR2 gene is the first reported p53 fusion gene.
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PMID:Cloning and characterization of the novel chimeric gene p53/FXR2 in the acute megakaryoblastic leukemia cell line CMK11-5. 1677 63

The 14-3-3 protein family consists of seven isoforms, most of which are expressed abundantly in neurons and glial cells, although the sigma isoform, a p53 target gene originally identified as an epithelium-specific marker, has not been identified in the human central nervous system. Here, we show that human astrocytes in culture expressed 14-3-3sigma under stress conditions. By Western blot, the expression of 14-3-3sigma, p53 and p21 was coordinately upregulated in astrocytes following exposure to hydrogen peroxide, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE) or etoposide, a topoisomerase II inhibitor. 14-3-3sigma was induced by treatment with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, suggesting a hypermethylated status of the gene promoter in astrocytes. In vivo, a small subset of hypertrophic reactive astrocytes, often showing a multinucleated morphology, expressed 14-3-3sigma in active demyelinating lesions of multiple sclerosis (MS) and ischemic lesions of cerebral infarction, where the expression of 4-HNE and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine was enhanced in reactive astrocytes. Microarray analysis of etoposide-treated astrocytes verified upregulation of p53-responsive genes and concurrent downregulation of mitotic checkpoint-regulatory genes. These observations suggest that 14-3-3sigma might serve as a marker of oxidative and DNA-damaging stresses inducing the mitotic checkpoint dysfunction in reactive astrocytes under pathological conditions.
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PMID:Human astrocytes express 14-3-3 sigma in response to oxidative and DNA-damaging stresses. 1679 59

We clarified that etoposide (VP-16), a topoisomerase II inhibitor, induced apoptosis in the mouse fetal brain. Apoptotic mechanisms and cell cycle arrest in this system were investigated. Four mg/kg of VP-16 was injected into pregnant mice on day 12 of gestation (GD12). The cell cycle and expression of protein and mRNA of p53 and its transcriptional target genes were examined in the fetal brain. The number of p53- and p21-protein-positive cells peaked at 4 h after treatment (HAT). The expression of p21 mRNA was significantly increased at 4 HAT and 8 HAT. The expression of fas mRNA was significantly increased from 2 to 12 HAT. Significant expression of puma mRNA was observed from 1 HAT to 48 HAT. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that VP-16 induced S-phase accumulation and G2 arrest at 4 and 8 HAT, and VP-16-induced apoptosis was significantly increased from 4 to 24 HAT. In an experiment using BrdU treatment of pregnant mice, the migration of neuroepithelial cells in the fetuses was delayed as compared to the migration of controls, and BrdU-positive signals were observed in some pyknotic cells from 8 to 12 HAT. The present results suggest that VP-16 might induce cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and apoptosis in a p53-related manner.
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PMID:Etoposide induces apoptosis and cell cycle arrest of neuroepithelial cells in a p53-related manner. 1709 87


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