Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0242379 (lung cancer)
 71,905 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The novel synthetic triterpenoid methyl-2-cyano-3, 12-dioxooleana-1, 9-dien-28-oate (CDDO-Me) induces apoptosis of cancer cells, enhances tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis, and exhibits potent anticancer activity in animal models with a favorable pharmacokinetic profile. Thus, CDDO-Me is being tested in Phase I clinical trials. In an effort to understand the mechanism by which CDDO-Me induces apoptosis, particularly in human lung cancer cells, we previously demonstrated that CDDO-Me induces apoptosis involving c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)-dependent upregulation of death receptor 5 (DR5) expression. In the current work, we determined the modulatory effects of CDDO-Me on the levels of c-FLIP, a major inhibitor of death receptor-mediated caspase-8 activation, and its impact on CDDO-Me-induced apoptosis and enhancement of TRAIL-induced apoptosis in human lung cancer cells. CDDO-Me rapidly and potently decreased c-FLIP levels including both long (FLIP(L)) and short (FLIP(S)) forms of c-FLIP in multiple human lung cancer cell lines. The presence of the proteasome inhibitor MG132, but not the JNK inhibitor SP600125, prevented CDDO-Me-induced c-FLIP reduction. Moreover, CDDO-Me increased ubiquitination of c-FLIP. Thus, CDDO-Me induces ubiquitin/proteasome-dependent c-FLIP degradation independently of JNK activation. Importantly, overexpression of c-FLIP (e.g., FLIP(L)) protected cells not only from CDDO-Me-induced apoptosis, but also from induction of apoptosis by the combination of CDDO-Me and TRAIL. Accordingly, silencing of c-FLIP with c-FLIP siRNA sensitized cancer cells to CDDO-Me. Collectively, these results indicate that c-FLIP downregulation contributes to CDDO-Me-initiated apoptosis and also to enhancement of TRAIL-induced apoptosis by CDDO-Me.
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PMID:c-FLIP downregulation contributes to apoptosis induction by the novel synthetic triterpenoid methyl-2-cyano-3, 12-dioxooleana-1, 9-dien-28-oate (CDDO-Me) in human lung cancer cells. 1825 90

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib shows potent antitumor activity in some non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration as second and third line treatment for NSCLC. However, the molecular mechanisms by which erlotinib induces apoptosis remain to be elucidated. Here, we investigated the effect of erlotinib on apoptotic signal pathways in H3255 cells with the EGFR(L858R) mutation. Erlotinib induces apoptosis associated with the activation of caspases in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Erlotinib did not alter the expression of apoptotic receptors FAS and tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), although it induced caspase-8 activation and BID cleavage. In addition, cell death caused by erlotinib was not prevented by coincubation with FAS and TRAIL antagonists, ZB-4 monoclonal antibody and TRAIL/Fc recombinant, suggesting that erlotinib-induced apoptosis is not associated with receptor-mediated pathways. Erlotinib induces loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and release of cytochrome c and second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases/direct IAP binding protein with low pI from mitochondria. Furthermore, erlotinib causes BAX translocation to mitochondria, BAX and BAK conformational changes, and oligomerization. Erlotinib did not induce reactive oxygen species generation, and cotreatment with antioxidants did not alter erlotinib-induced activation of BAX and BAK and apoptosis. However, cotreatment with inhibitors of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation significantly blocked erlotinib-induced activation of BAX and BAK and cell death. Benzyloxycarbiny-VAD-fluoromethyl ketone had no effect on erlotinib-induced BAX and BAK activation but effectively prevented apoptosis. Overexpression of BCL-2 caused a significant attenuation of erlotinib-induced cell death, but no effect on BAX and BAK activation. Down-regulation of BAX and BAK gene expression with small interfering RNA led to an effective reduction of erlotinib-induced apoptosis. Our data indicate that activation of BAX and BAK plays a critical role in the initiation of erlotinib-induced apoptotic cascades.
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PMID:Erlotinib induces mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis in human H3255 non-small-cell lung cancer cells with epidermal growth factor receptorL858R mutation through mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation-dependent activation of BAX and BAK. 2613 Feb 90

To understand the role of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2alpha in regulating sensitivity of renal cancer cells to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis, we transfected wild-type and mutant von Hippel Lindau (VHL) proteins into TRAIL-sensitive, VHL-negative A498 cells. We find that wild-type VHL, but not the VHL mutants S65W and C162F that do not degrade HIF proteins, cause TRAIL resistance. Knock down of the HIF-2alpha protein by RNA interference (short hairpin RNA) blocked TRAIL-induced apoptosis, decreased the level of TRAIL receptor (DR5) protein and inhibited the transcription of DR5 messenger RNA. By using luciferase constructs containing the upstream region of the DR5 promoter, we demonstrate that HIF-2alpha stimulates the transcription of the DR5 gene by activating the upstream region between -448 and -1188. Because HIF-2alpha is thought to exert its effect on gene transcription by interacting with the Max protein partner of Myc in the Myc/Max dimer, small interfering RNAs to Myc were used to lower the levels of this protein. In multiple renal cancer cell lines decreasing the levels of Myc blocked the ability of HIF-2alpha to stimulate DR5 transcription. PS-341 (VELCADE, bortezomib), a proteasome inhibitor used to treat human cancer, increases the levels of both HIF-2alpha and c-Myc and elevates the level of DR5 in renal cancer, sensitizing renal cancer cells to TRAIL therapy. Similarly, increasing HIF-2alpha in prostate and lung cancer cell lines increased the levels of DR5. Thus, in renal cancer cell lines expressing HIF-2alpha, this protein plays a role in regulating the levels of the TRAIL receptor DR5.
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PMID:Hypoxia-inducible factor-2alpha regulates the expression of TRAIL receptor DR5 in renal cancer cells. 1854 64

Previous studies have shown that interleukin-24 (IL-24; mda-7) as a novel tumor suppressor gene has tumor-suppressive activity against a broad spectrum of human cancers. However, the therapeutic effect of the recombinant human IL-24 (rhIL-24) protein purified from prokaryotic cells on human lung cancers has not been reported. In this study, we cloned the human gene coding for IL-24 from lipopolysaccharide-activated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and constructed an expression vector pBV220-IL-24. We then transfected Escherichia coli DH5alpha with pBV220-IL-24. The soluble rhIL-24 was obtained from purified insoluble inclusion bodies of transfected cells by a denaturing and renaturing process. We demonstrated that the purified soluble rhIL-24 protein with 18.5 kappaDa was capable of (1) inducing in vitro apoptosis of A549 lung carcinoma cells; (2) activating PBMCs to secrete cytokines such as IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interferon-gamma; (3) inhibiting the formation of blood capillaries on chicken embryonic allantois and in vivo tumor angiogenesis; and (4) inhibiting A549 lung tumor cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Therefore, our results indicate its potent suppressive effect on human lung carcinoma cell line and warrant its further investigation for therapeutic application against human lung cancer.
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PMID:Recombinant human IL-24 suppresses lung carcinoma cell growth via induction of cell apoptosis and inhibition of tumor angiogenesis. 1859 64

Dendritic cells (DCs) are important cells in initiating an immune response. A generation of functional DCs has potential clinical use in treating cancer. However, the source of DCs and patient immunodeficiency with cancer have been hindrances in clinical therapy. We generated DCs from human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells (UBMCs) with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, recombinant human interleukin-4, and recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-alpha. The mature DC-A549 lung cancer vaccine (AgL-DC) was prepared through loading A549 lysate, treating with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and positive selecting with CD83 magnetic beads. AgL-DC can secrete interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-1. Further in vitro analysis showed that AgL-DC notably induced human UBMC lymphocyte proliferation (p < 0.01) by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-z-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, increased the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity of UBMC lymphocytes against A549 cells (p < 0.05, at effector cells:target cells ratios of 50:1 and 100:1) by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxic assay, and improved production of IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-beta (p < 0.01, p < 0.05) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Subsequently, the reconstitute immunity model in severe combined immunodeficiencies (SCID) mice has been established using human UBMC transplantation, and similar trends to results of UBMC in vitro experiments have been shown in lymphocyte proliferation, CTL activity, and IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-beta secretion levels in these models. AgL-DC also significantly (p < 0.01) increased the antitumor effect in vivo. The tumor infiltrating immunocytes were positively expressed human CD83 and CD3 molecules, and they were negatively expressed in tumor tissue treated with control. These results have demonstrated that umbilical cord DCs are a useful source of vaccine cells for augmenting CTL-mediated cytotoxicity and have potential usefulness in cellular therapy for human cancer in a new vaccination strategy.
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PMID:Antitumor effect of lung cancer vaccine with umbilical blood dendritic cells in reconstituted SCID mice. 1859 65

The flexible heteroarotinoids (Flex-Het) represent a novel type of atypical retinoids lacking activity in binding to and transactivating retinoid receptors. Preclinical studies have shown that Flex-Hets induce apoptosis of cancer cells while sparing normal cells and exhibit anticancer activity in vivo with improved therapeutic ratios over conventional retinoid receptor agonists. Flex-Hets have been shown to induce apoptosis through activation of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. The present study has revealed a novel mechanism underlying Flex-Het-induced apoptosis involving induction of death receptor 5 (DR5). The representative Flex-Het SHetA2 effectively inhibited the growth of human lung cancer cells in cell culture and in mice. SHetA2 induced apoptosis, which could be abrogated by silencing caspase-8 expression, indicating that ShetA2 triggers a caspase-8-dependent apoptosis. Accordingly, SHetA2 up-regulated DR5 expression, including cell surface levels of DR5, and augmented tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-induced apoptosis. Importantly, small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated blockade of DR5 induction conferred cell resistance to SHetA2-induced apoptosis, as well as SHetA2/TRAIL-induced apoptosis. These results show that DR5 induction is a key component of apoptosis induced by SHetA2 or by SHetA2 combined with TRAIL. SHetA2 exerted CAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP)-dependent transactivation of the DR5 promoter. Consistently, SHetA2 induced CHOP expression, which paralleled DR5 up-regulation, whereas siRNA-mediated blockage of CHOP induction prevented DR5 up-regulation, indicating CHOP-dependent DR5 up-regulation by SHetA2. Collectively, we conclude that CHOP-dependent DR5 up-regulation is a key event mediating SHetA2-induced apoptosis.
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PMID:CAAT/enhancer binding protein homologous protein-dependent death receptor 5 induction is a major component of SHetA2-induced apoptosis in lung cancer cells. 1859 35

Recently, we reported that silibinin inhibits primary lung tumor growth and progression in mice and down-regulates inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression in tumors; however, the mechanisms of silibinin action are largely not understood. Also, the activation of signaling pathways inducing various transcription factors are associated with lung carcinogenesis and their inhibition could be an effective strategy to prevent and/or treat lung cancer. Herein, we used human lung epithelial carcinoma A549 cells to explore the potential mechanisms and observed strong iNOS expression by cytokine mixture (containing 100 units/mL IFN-gamma + 0.5 ng/mL interleukin-1beta + 10 ng/mL tumor necrosis factor-alpha). We also examined the cytokine mixture-activated signaling cascades, which could potentially up-regulate iNOS expression, and then examined the effect of silibinin (50-200 mumol/L) on these signaling cascades. Silibinin treatment inhibited, albeit to different extent, the cytokine mixture-induced activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (Tyr(701)), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Tyr(705)), activator protein-1 family of transcription factors, and nuclear factor-kappaB. The results for activator protein-1 were correlated with the decreased nuclear levels of phosphorylated c-Jun, c-Jun, JunB, JunD, phosphorylated c-Fos, and c-Fos. Further, silibinin also strongly decreased cytokine mixture-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 but only marginally affected JNK1/2 phosphorylation. Silibinin treatment also decreased constitutive p38 phosphorylation in the presence or absence of cytokine mixture. Downstream of these pathways, silibinin strongly decreased cytokine mixture-induced expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha without any considerable effect on Akt activation. Cytokine mixture-induced iNOS expression was completely inhibited by silibinin. Overall, these results suggest that silibinin could target multiple cytokine-induced signaling pathways to down-regulate iNOS expression in lung cancer cells and that could contribute to its overall cancer preventive efficacy against lung tumorigenesis.
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PMID:Silibinin inhibits cytokine-induced signaling cascades and down-regulates inducible nitric oxide synthase in human lung carcinoma A549 cells. 1864 94

Targeting death receptor-mediated apoptosis has emerged as an effective strategy for cancer therapy. However, certain types of cancer cells are intrinsically resistant to death receptor-mediated apoptosis. In an effort to identify agents that can sensitize cancer cells to death receptor-induced apoptosis, we have identified honokiol, a natural product with anticancer activity, as shown in various preclinical studies, as an effective sensitizer of death receptor-mediated apoptosis. Honokiol alone moderately inhibited the growth of human lung cancer cells; however, when combined with tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), greater effects on decreasing cell survival and inducing apoptosis than TRAIL alone were observed, indicating that honokiol cooperates with TRAIL to enhance apoptosis. This was also true to Fas-induced apoptosis when combined with Fas ligand or an agonistic anti-Fas antibody. Among several apoptosis-associated proteins tested, cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) was the only one that was rapidly down-regulated by honokiol in all of the tested cell lines. The down-regulation of c-FLIP by honokiol could be prevented by the proteasome inhibitor MG132. Moreover, honokiol increased c-FLIP ubiquitination. These results indicate that honokiol down-regulates c-FLIP by facilitating its degradation through a ubiquitin/proteasome-mediated mechanism. Enforced expression of ectopic c-FLIP abolished the ability of honokiol to enhance TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Several honokiol derivatives, which exhibited more potent effects on down-regulation of c-FLIP than honokiol, showed better efficacy than honokiol in inhibiting the growth and enhancing TRAIL-induced apoptosis as well. Collectively, we conclude that c-FLIP down-regulation is a key event for honokiol to modulate the death receptor-induced apoptosis.
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PMID:The natural product honokiol preferentially inhibits cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein and augments death receptor-induced apoptosis. 1864 30

To potentiate the response of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cells to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) cytotoxicity, we have examined the efficacy of a combination with perifosine, a novel phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling inhibitor. The rationale for using such a combination is that perifosine was recently described to increase TRAIL-R2 receptor expression and decrease the cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein (cFLIP) in human lung cancer cell lines. Perifosine and TRAIL both induced cell death by apoptosis in the THP-1 AML cell line, which is characterized by constitutive PI3K/Akt activation, but lacks functional p53. Perifosine, at concentrations below IC(50), dephosphorylated Akt and increased TRAIL-R2 levels, as shown by Western blot, reverse transcription-PCR, and flow cytometric analysis. Perifosine also decreased the long isoform of cFLIP (cFLIP-L) and the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) expression. Perifosine and TRAIL synergized to activate caspase-8 and induce apoptosis, which was blocked by a caspase-8-selective inhibitor. Up-regulation of TRAIL-R2 expression was dependent on a protein kinase Calpha/c-Jun-NH(2)-kinase 2/c-Jun signaling pathway activated by perifosine through reactive oxygen species production. Perifosine also synergized with TRAIL in primary AML cells displaying constitutive activation of the Akt pathway by inducing apoptosis, Akt dephosphorylation, TRAIL-R2 up-regulation, cFLIP-L and XIAP down-regulation, and c-Jun phosphorylation. The combined treatment negatively affected the clonogenic activity of CD34(+) cells from patients with AML. In contrast, CD34(+) cells from healthy donors were resistant to perifosine and TRAIL treatment. Our findings suggest that the combination of perifosine and TRAIL might offer a novel therapeutic strategy for AML.
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PMID:Synergistic proapoptotic activity of recombinant TRAIL plus the Akt inhibitor Perifosine in acute myelogenous leukemia cells. 1901 Sep 14

Microenvironmental cues instruct infiltrating tumor-associated myeloid cells to drive malignant progression. A subpopulation of tumor-associated myeloid cells coexpressing endothelial and myeloid markers, although rare in peripheral blood, are primarily associated with tumors where they enhance tumor growth and angiogenesis. These biphenotypic vascular leukocytes result from the endothelial differentiation of myeloid progenitors, a process regulated by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)alpha in vitro. An in vivo increase in tumor-derived TNFalpha expression promoted tumor growth and vascularity of mouse melanoma, lung cancer, and mammary tumors. Notably, tumor growth was accompanied by a significant increase in myeloid/endothelial biphenotypic populations. TNFalpha-associated tumor growth, vascularity, and generation of tumor vascular leukocytes in mouse melanoma tumors were dependent on intact host TNFalpha receptors. Importantly, TNFalpha-expressing tumors did not exhibit increased inflammation over control tumors, suggesting a unique action related to myeloid to endothelial differentiation. Our studies suggest that TNFalpha constitutes a tumor microenvironment signal that biases recruited monocytes toward a proangiogenic/provasculogenic myeloid/endothelial phenotype.
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PMID:Low levels of tumor necrosis factor alpha increase tumor growth by inducing an endothelial phenotype of monocytes recruited to the tumor site. 1911 19


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