Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0684249 (lung carcinoma)
 23,830 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Ubiquitous calpains (mu- and m-calpain) have been repeatedly implicated in apoptosis, but the underlying mechanism(s) remain(s) to be elucidated. We examined ionomycin-induced cell death in LCLC 103H cells, derived from a human large cell lung carcinoma. We detected hallmarks of apoptosis such as membrane blebbing, nuclear condensation, DNA ladder formation, caspase activation, and poly-(ADP-ribose)polymerase cleavage. Apoptosis was prevented by preincubation of the cells with the calpain inhibitor acetyl-calpastatin 27-peptide and the caspase inhibitor Z-DEVD-fmk, implicating both the calpains and caspases in the apoptotic process. The apoptotic events correlated in a calpastatin-inhibitable manner with Bid and Bcl-2 decrease and with activation of caspases-9, -3, and -7. In vitro both ubiquitous calpains cleaved recombinant Bcl-2, Bid, and Bcl-x(L) at single sites truncating their N-terminal regions. Binding studies revealed diminished interactions of calpain-truncated Bcl-2 and Bid with immobilized intact Bcl-2 family proteins. Moreover, calpain-cleaved Bcl-2 and Bid induced cytochrome c release from isolated mitochondria. We conclude that ionomycin-induced calpain activation promotes decrease of Bcl-2 proteins thereby triggering the intrinsic apoptotic pathway.
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PMID:Ionomycin-activated calpain triggers apoptosis. A probable role for Bcl-2 family members. 1200 Jul 59

Tetrandrine, a bis-benzylisoquinoline alkaloid from the root of Stephania tetrandra, induces apoptosis in human T-cell lines, lung carcinoma and hepatoblastoma cells. However, the mechanisms by which tetrandrine inhibits tumor cell growth are poorly understood. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the intracellular signaling mechanism of tetrandrine-induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells. The induction of apoptosis was determined by morphological analysis and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling assay. Treatment of cells with tetrandrine caused the upregulation of p53, downregulation of Bcl-X(L), cleavage of Bid and Bax, and release of cytochrome c, which were accompanied by activation of caspases 9, 3 and 8. The activation of caspases 9 and 3 preceded that of caspase 8. A broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor and a caspase 8-specific inhibitor completely blocked tetrandrine-induced Bid processing, cytochrome c release, activation of caspase 3, and cell death. These findings and data showing the early release of cytochrome c, cleavage of Bid and downregulation of Bcl-X(L) suggest that the mitochondrial pathway is primarily involved in tetrandrine-induced apoptosis. The activation of caspase 8 after early caspases 9 and 3 activation might act as an amplification loop for activation of upstream signals such as Bid cleavage or cytochrome c release. These data suggest that tetrandrine may constitute a plausible therapeutic for hepatocellular carcinoma.
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PMID:Induction of apoptosis in human hepatoblastoma cells by tetrandrine via caspase-dependent Bid cleavage and cytochrome c release. 1294 52

In this study, we have investigated the mechanisms used by wild-type p53 (wtp53) to potentiate tumor cell susceptibility to CTL-mediated cell death. We report that wtp53 restoration in a human lung carcinoma cell line Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR)-Heu, displaying a mutated p53, resulted in up-regulation of Fas/CD95 receptor expression associated with an increase of tumor cell sensitivity to the autologous CTL clone, Heu127. However, when IGR-Heu cells were transfected with Fas cDNA, no potentiation to Heu127-mediated lysis was observed, indicating that induction of CD95 is not sufficient to sensitize target cells to CTL killing. Importantly, our data indicate that the effect of wtp53 on the Fas-mediated pathway involves a degradation of short cellular FLICE inhibitory protein resulting in subsequent caspase 8 activation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that wtp53 restoration also resulted in CTL-induced Bid translocation into mitochondria and a subsequent mitochondrial membrane permeabilization leading to cytochrome c release. These results indicate that tumor cell killing by autologous CTL can be enhanced by targeting degranulation-independent mechanisms via restoration of wtp53, a key determinant of apoptotic machinery regulation.
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PMID:p53 potentiation of tumor cell susceptibility to CTL involves Fas and mitochondrial pathways. 1563 9

Depletion of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) or treatment with mitochondrial poison CCCP initiates mitochondrial stress signaling, which operates through altered Ca2+ homeostasis. In C2C12 rhabdomyoblasts and A549 human lung carcinoma cells mitochondrial stress signaling activates calcineurin and a number of Ca2+ responsive factors including ATF, NFAT, CEBP/delta and CREB. Additionally, PKC and MAP kinase are also activated. A number of nuclear gene targets including those involved in Ca2+ storage/release (RyR1, calreticulin, calsequestrin), glucose metabolism (hexokinase, pyruvate kinase, Glut4), oncogenesis (TGFbeta1, cathepsin L, IGFR1, melanoma antigen) and apoptosis (Bcl-2, Bid, Bad, p53) are upregulated. Mitochondrial stress in both C2C12 myoblasts and A549 cells induced morphological changes and invasive phenotypes. These cells also showed markedly increased resistance to etoposide-induced apoptosis that is a hallmark of highly invasive tumors. Our results describe a new mechanism of altered nuclear gene expression and phenotypic changes triggered by mitochondrial dysfunction and mtDNA damage.
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PMID:Mitochondria-to-nucleus stress signaling in mammalian cells: nature of nuclear gene targets, transcription regulation, and induced resistance to apoptosis. 1597 49

The Bcl-2 family of anti-apoptotic proteins are key regulators of programmed cell death. Bcl-2 and its closely related Bcl-X(L) counterpart are one of several pro-survival proteins which can share up to four highly conserved domains known as the BH1, BH2, BH3 and BH4 domains. These domains form the basis of a well defined groove whereupon a heterodimeric protein-protein interaction can occur with pro-apoptotic BH3 proteins such as Bad, Bid and Bim. Extensive evidence clearly indicates a strong correlation between neoplastic progression and deregulation of apoptotic pathways. Overexpression of Bcl-X(L) is associated with tumor progression, poor prognosis and resistance to chemotherapy. Antagonism of Bcl-X(L) is therefore viewed as a means to mimic the endogenous apoptotic pathways initiated by Bad, Bid and other pro-apoptotic proteins. Several successful approaches to block the Bcl-X(L)-BH3 binding groove have been reported but only recently have proteomimetics been found which could prove to be clinically useful as new anticancer agents capable of overcoming apoptosis resistance. ABT-737 is an example of one of the first small-molecule inhibitors of Bcl-2/X(L) proteins shown to be efficacious in vivo, causing complete regression in small-cell lung carcinoma tumour xenografts in mice. This review will focus on the recent advances surrounding the non-peptidic Bcl-2/X(L) inhibitor ABT-737 developed by Abbot laboratories and highlight the key structural characteristics found within this unique BH3 alpha-helical mimetic.
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PMID:Small molecule inhibition of the Bcl-X(L)-BH3 protein-protein interaction: proof-of-concept of an in vivo chemopotentiator ABT-737. 1750 27

Ceramides are well-known second messengers that induce apoptosis in various kinds of cancer cells, and their effects are closely related to radiation sensitivity. Phytoceramides, the yeast counterparts of the mammalian ceramides, are also reported to induce apoptosis. We investigated the effect of a novel ceramide derivative, N-acetylphytosphingosine (NAPS), on the radiosensitivity of NCI-H460 human lung carcinoma cells and its differential cytotoxicity in tumor and normal cells. The combination of NAPS with radiation significantly increased clonogenic cell death and caspase-dependent apoptosis. The combined treatment greatly increased Bax expression and Bid cleavage, but not Bcl-2 expression. However, there was no effect on radiosensitivity and apoptosis in BEAS2B cells, which derive from normal human bronchial epithelium. Cell proliferation and DNA synthesis were significantly inhibited by NAPS in both NCI-H460 and BEAS2B cells, but only the BEAS2B cells recovered by 48h after removal of the NAPS. Furthermore, the NCI-H460 cells underwent more DNA fragmentation than the BEAS2B cells in response to NAPS. Our results indicate that NAPS may be a potential radiosensitizing agent with differential effects on tumor vs. normal cells.
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PMID:N-acetylphytosphingosine enhances the radiosensitivity of lung cancer cell line NCI-H460. 1841 10

It is reported that the agonistic antibodies against death receptors 4 and 5 (DR4, DR5) are cytotoxic to various cancer cells. In the present study, the sensitivity of five human lung cancer cell lines to previously reported AD5-10 agonistic antibody against DR5 were investigated. Of these cell lines, A549 and small cell lung cancer showed a moderate sensitivity to AD5-10 and three other cell lines were resistant. Cell line H460 is resistant to AD5-10 despite a high level of cell-surface DR5 expression. We demonstrated that the resistance of H460 cells to AD5-10 was not related to the expression level of DR5, but the expression and cleavage of c-FLIP(L) in the cells. Inhibition of endogenous c-FLIP(L) expression by siRNA significantly enhanced AD5-10-induced cell death in these lung cancer cells. We further showed that this sensitizing effect was associated with decreased expression of Bcl-2 family proteins Bid and Bcl-X(L), change of mitochondrial membrane potential, release of cytochrome c from mitochondria, and caspase activation. Therefore, these data provide evidence that c-FLIP(L) is involved in the resistance of lung cancer cells to AD5-10-induced apoptosis. Moreover, immunohistochemistry on paraffin-embedded tissue revealed that c-FLIP(L) was expressed in 87.9% (29 of 33) of lung carcinoma tissues from the patients, but little in tissues from normal controls. This suggests that inhibition of c-FLIP(L) expression might be a potential strategy for lung cancer therapy, especially for those lung cancers resistant to the agonistic antibody against death receptors.
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PMID:Knockdown of c-FLIP(L) enhanced AD5-10 anti-death receptor 5 monoclonal antibody-induced apoptosis in human lung cancer cells. 1924 85

The beta-carboline alkaloids are naturally existing plant substances. It is known that these alkaloids have a wide spectrum of neuropharmacological, psychopharmacological, and antitumor effects. Therefore, they have been traditionally used in oriental medicine for the treatment of various diseases including cancers and malaria. In this study, harmol and harmalol, which are beta-carboline alkaloids, were examined for their antitumor effect on human lung carcinoma cell lines, and structure-activity relationship was also investigated. H596, H226, and A549 cells were treated with harmol and harmalol, respectively. Apoptosis was induced by harmol only in H596 cells. In contrast, harmalol had negligible cytotoxicity in three cell lines. Harmol induced caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9 activities and caspase-3 activities accompanied by cleavage of poly-(ADP-ribose)-polymerase. Furthermore, harmol treatment decreased the native Bid protein, and induced the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol. The apoptosis induced by harmol was completely inhibited by caspase-8 inhibitor and partially inhibited by caspase-9 inhibitor. The antagonistic antibody ZB4 blocked Fas ligand-induced apoptosis, but had no effect on harmol-induced apoptosis. Harmol had no significant effect on the expression of Fas. In conclusion, our results showed that the harmol could cause apoptosis-inducing effects in human lung H596 cells through caspase-8-dependent pathway but independent of Fas/Fas ligand interaction.
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PMID:Harmol induces apoptosis by caspase-8 activation independently of Fas/Fas ligand interaction in human lung carcinoma H596 cells. 1931 10

Cordyceps militaris is well known as a traditional medicinal mushroom and is a potentially interesting candidate for use in cancer treatment. In this study, the potential of the water extract of C. militaris (WECM) to induce apoptosis in human lung carcinoma A549 cells and its effects on telomerase activity were investigated. The growth inhibition and apoptosis induction by WECM treatment in A549 cells was associated with the induction of Fas, catalytic activation of caspase-8, and Bid cleavage. Activation of caspases, downregulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 expression, and upregulation of pro-apoptotic Bax protein were also observed in WECM-treated cells. However, the cytotoxic effects and apoptotic characteristics induced by WECM were significantly inhibited by z-DEVD-fmk, a caspase-3 inhibitor, which demonstrates the important role that caspase-3 plays in the process. In addition, WECM exerted a dose-dependent inhibition of telomerase activity via downregulation of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), c-myc and Sp1 expression. Taken together, the data from this study indicate that WECM induces the apoptosis of A549 cells through a signaling cascade of death receptor-mediated extrinsic and mitochondria-mediated intrinsic caspase pathways. It was also conclude that apoptotic events due to WECM were mediated with diminished telomerase activity through the inhibition of hTERT transcriptional activity.
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PMID:Induction of apoptosis and inhibition of telomerase activity in human lung carcinoma cells by the water extract of Cordyceps militaris. 1939 84

Both the root and stem bark of Mahonia species were popular folk medicines. The plant has several proven biological activities including anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory effects. However, Mahonia has not been studied for its anticancer effects. In the present study, we made extracts from Mahonia oiwakensis (MOE), a selected species in Taiwan, and investigated their effects on various human lung cells. We found that MOE-induced apoptotic death in human A549 non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Treatment with the extracts also caused an increase in the sub-G1 fraction of cells, chromosome condensation, and DNA fragmentation. The mitochondrial-mediated pathway was implicated in this MOE-induced apoptosis as evidenced by the activation of the caspase cascade, cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, and release of cytochrome C. A higher ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 proteins and cleavage of Bid were also observed in MOE-induced cell apoptosis. In A549 tumor-xenografted nude mice, MOE also retarded in vivo proliferation (P<0.05) and induced apoptosis in tumor cells, as shown by a decrease in Ki-67-positive staining (P<0.05) and increased transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL)-positive staining (P<0.05). In conclusion, MOE inhibits the growth of human lung cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, suggesting that it may have therapeutic potential against human lung cancer.
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PMID:The in vitro and in vivo apoptotic effects of Mahonia oiwakensis on human lung cancer cells. 1949 14


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