Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P42574 (caspase-3)
 45,978 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Tumors generally display a high glycolytic rate. One consequence of increased glycolysis is the non-enzymatic glycation of proteins leading to the formation of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). Therefore, we studied the presence of AGEs in non-small cell lung cancer and consequences thereof. We show the presence of two AGEs, i.e. the major AGE N(epsilon)-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) and the methylglyoxal-arginine adduct argpyrimidine, in human non-small cell lung cancer tissues by immunohistochemistry. We found in squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma tissues a strong CML positivity in both tumour cells and tumour-surrounding stroma. In contrast, argpyrimidine positivity was predominantly found in tumor cells and was strong in squamous cell carcinomas, but only weak in adenocarcinomas (2.6+/-0.5 vs. 1.2+/-0.4, respectively; P<0.005). In accordance, argpyrimidine was found in the human lung squamous carcinoma cell line SW1573, while it was almost absent in the adenocarcinoma cell line H460. Heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) was identified as a major argpyrimidine-modified protein. In agreement with a previously described anti-apoptotic activity of argpyrimidine-modified Hsp27, the percentage of active caspase-3 positive tumor cells in squamous cell carcinomas was significantly lower when compared to adenocarcinomas. In addition, incubation with cisplatin induced almost no caspase-3 activation in SW1573 cells while a strong activation was seen in H460 cells; which was significantly reduced by incubation with an inhibitor of glyoxalase I, the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of methylglyoxal. These findings suggest that a high level of argpyrimidine-modified Hsp27 is a mechanism of cancer cells for evasion of apoptosis.
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PMID:Argpyrimidine-modified Heat shock protein 27 in human non-small cell lung cancer: a possible mechanism for evasion of apoptosis. 1633 38

PKC inhibitor safingol suppressed the growth of human oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cells significantly at concentrations that inhibit PKC isoforms. Safingol inhibited the translocation of PKC following treatment with 12-o-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) in PKC alpha-EGFP-transfected cells, but not in PKC beta-EGFP- transfected cells, indicating selective inhibition for PKC alpha in oral SCC cells. Flow cytometric analysis and DNA analysis by agarose gel electrophoresis revealed an increase in the proportion of sub-G(1) cells and DNA fragmentation in safingol-treated cells. Mitochondrial membrane potential was decreased, and cytochrome c was released from mitochondria. However, the safingol-induced cell death was not accompanied by activation of caspase 3 and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). The broad-spectrum caspase inhibitor BD-fmk failed to prevent safingol-induced cell death. Another apoptogenic factor endonuclease G, but not apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF), was also released from mitochondria and translocated to the nucleus. These results suggest that PKC alpha inhibitor safingol induces an endonuclease G- mediated apoptosis in a caspase-independent manner.
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PMID:Induction of endonuclease G-mediated apopotosis in human oral squamous cell carcinoma cells by protein kinase C inhibitor safingol. 1637 40

Taxanes, a new class of antitumor drugs, are effective against a large number of human tumors, although there are problems with drug resistance. The novel taxane, IDN5109, is characterized by its high tolerability, antitumor efficacy, ability to overcome multidrug resistance, and oral bioavailabilty. We investigated the cellular response of IDN5109 to head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), and compared the antitumor activity of IDN5109 with that of paclitaxel. This is the first demonstration of antitumor effects of IDN5109 on HNSCC. In in vitro experiments, IDN5109 showed antiproliferative effects against HNSCC cell lines. After treatment with IDN5109, Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL were down-regulated, Bax was up-regulated, and caspase-3 was activated. After treatment with IDN5109, concentrations of both VEGF and IL-8 in the culture supernatant of HNSCC cells decreased. In in vivo experiments, the oral administration of IDN5109 showed antitumor effects against HNSCC tumor xenografts. Immunohistochemistry showed that IDN5109 inhibited tumor angiogenesis and induced apoptosis in HNSCC cells, producing a decreased blood vessel density and increased apoptosis index. On the basis of these results, IDN5109 is useful as a chemotherapeutic agent against HNSCC.
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PMID:Antitumor effects of IDN5109 on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. 2678 Sep 76

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effects of targeted arterial delivery of the branched chain fatty acid 12-methyltetradecanoic acid (12-MTA) on the VX2 squamous cell carcinoma in rabbits. An intramuscular VX2 squamous cell carcinoma was induced at a single site in the right thigh of 39 New Zealand white rabbits. Approximately 10 days after inoculation, a 3-French catheter was introduced into the right common carotid artery and positioned using fluoroscopic guidance in the right deep femoral artery, which was the main, if not exclusive, artery supplying the tumor. Ethiodol alone (targeting agent), Ethiodol containing 12-MTA, or Ethiodol containing myristic acid was then injected through the catheter. Tumor growth and histopathology were evaluated 7-8 days after treatment. Caspase-3 activity was evaluated 2 days after therapy, and tumor tissues were assayed for eicosanoid metabolites 2 and 7 days after treatment to assess the effects of the branched chain fatty acid on the lipoxygenase (LOX) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme systems. Targeted arterial delivery of 12-MTA resulted in dose-dependent growth inhibition of intramuscular rabbit VX2 tumors while myristic acid, a saturated fatty acid of the same carbon length as 12-MTA, was found to stimulate tumor growth. Two and 7 days following treatment, tumors treated with 12-MTA showed a significant decrease in 5-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE) and a concomitant increase in 15-HETE levels while tumors treated with myristic acid exhibited a significant increase in prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels. Western blot as well as immunohistochemical analysis showed that 5-LOX and COX-2 proteins were present in the VX2 tumors. No alterations in tumor/tumor cell morphology or caspase-3 activity were evident on microscopic examination following treatment. These studies suggest that targeted arterial delivery of branched chain fatty acids such as 12-MTA may be considered as a potential new therapy for treatment of solid tumors. The exact mechanism(s) responsible for the observed inhibition of VX2 tumor growth by 12-MTA is unclear. Additional in vivo studies are warranted to elucidate 12-MTA's mechanism of action and further investigate the branched chain fatty acid's antitumor effects.
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PMID:Evaluation of targeted arterial delivery of the branched chain fatty acid 12-methyltetradecanoic acid as a novel therapy for solid tumors. 1641 2

As an initial step in the study of the influence of orthodontic force on cellular function in vitro, the effects of centrifugal force on the cytotoxicity induced by various apoptosis inducers were investigated. When human oral squamous cell carcinoma (HSC-2) and human promyelocytic leukemia (HL-60) cell lines were treated with increasing magnitudes of centrifugal force (evaluated by g-value), the viability assessed by the MTT method and trypan blue dye exclusion began to decline. Centrifugal force enhanced the cytotoxicity of sodium fluoride (NaF), but not that of redox compounds (hydrogen peroxide, sodium ascorbate, gallic acid) or chemotherapeutic agents (daunorubicin, doxorubicin, idarubicin, mitoxantrone, peplomycin, 5-FU). The combination of NaF and centrifugal force enhanced caspase-3 activity. The present study suggests that centrifugal force is an additional factor that modifies the biological activity of NaF.
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PMID:Enhancement of sodium fluoride-induced cell death by centrifugal force. 1643 36

In general, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cells are relatively resistant to Fas-mediated apoptosis during in vitro culture. Here, we studied the role of survival/apoptosis associated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-K)/Akt in this process. We found that both PI 3-K inhibitors, wortmannin and LY294002, markedly suppressed the phosphorylation of Akt and accelerated Fas-mediated apoptosis in OSCC cells. It was found that caspase-3 and -8 inhibitors reduced the accelerative effect of PI 3-K inhibitor on Fas-mediated apoptosis in OSCC cells, but not caspase-9 inhibitor. Although PI 3-K inhibitors did not affect the Fas expression of OSCC cells, cellular FLICE-inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) levels were markedly reduced by PI 3-K inhibitor treatment. Moreover, antisense oligonucleotide to c-FLIP confirmed that the down-regulation of c-FLIP enhanced the sensitization to Fas-mediated apoptosis in OSCC cells. These results suggest that PI 3-K/Akt signaling pathway may, in part, regulate Fas-mediated apoptosis in OSCC cells through c-FLIP expression.
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PMID:Enhancement of susceptibility to Fas-mediated apoptosis in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor. 1652 14

Photochemical internalization (PCI) technology has been used for PEI-mediated p53 gene transfer in mice bearing head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) xenografts. Using luciferase as a reporter gene, PCI led to a 20-fold increase in transgene expression 48 h after transfection and sustained transgene expression for 7 days. Therefore, iterative p53 gene transfer was performed by means of a weekly single injection of PEIGlu4/p53 complexes alone or with PCI for 5 (group A) or 7 (group B) weeks. The efficiency of p53 gene therapy was evaluated by following tumor growth and expression of P53-related downstream proteins (P21, MDM2, Bcl2, Bax). Apoptosis induction was evidenced through caspase-3 activation and PARP cleavage. Using PCI, tumor growth inhibition was observed in all transfected animals. Further, successful tumor cure was achieved in 17% (group A) and 83% (group B) of animals. PCI-mediated p53 gene transfer led to higher P53 protein expression that was correlated with induction of Bax and P21 proapoptotic proteins, repression of Bcl2 as well as activation of caspase-3, and cleavage of PARP. The present study demonstrates that PCI enhances the in vivo efficiency of PEI-mediated p53 gene transfer and can be proposed for p53 gene therapy in HNSCC.
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PMID:Eradication of p53-mutated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma xenografts using nonviral p53 gene therapy and photochemical internalization. 1656 29

Despite advances in surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, the long-term survival rates with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have not significantly improved. Gene therapy for OSCC is currently under investigation in clinical trials. Lentivirus vector is considered to be a promising gene delivery tool, but their value in cancer gene therapy has not been studied thoroughly. Survivin is overexpressed in OSCC, making it a promising target for gene therapy. This study was conducted to determine whether lentivirus-mediated gene therapy by suppressing survivin could be exploited in the treatment of OSCC. A lentivirus vector encoding short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting survivin was constructed and transfected into KB cells in vitro. The results showed that survivin was persistently and markedly reduced by lentivirus-mediated RNA interference (RNAi); the growth of KB cells was decreased by 34.2% on day 5; the apoptosis rate induced by vincristine (VCR) was increased by 29.8% and caspase-3 activity was also significantly increased; the IC(50) value of adriamycin (ADM) were 0.09 mug/ml, which indicated that survivin-knockout KB cells were 2.1 times more susceptible to ADM than the control; the clonogenic survival rate at 6 Gy of X ray was 3.7%, less than 15.3% of the control. In the xenograft model, the development of tumors as well as the growth of established tumors was inhibited by transfection of lentivirus. Our study indicates that lentivirus-mediated gene therapy is an attractive strategy in the treatment of OSCC and justifies the use of lentivirus in cancer gene therapy studies.
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PMID:Lentivirus-mediated gene therapy by suppressing survivin in BALB/c nude mice bearing oral squamous cell carcinoma. 1657 5

Chemotherapeutic treatment with combinations of drugs is front-line therapy for many types of cancer. Combining drugs that target different signaling pathways often lessens adverse side-effects while increasing the efficacy of treatment and reducing patient morbidity. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors represent a novel class of anti-neoplastic agents that act by promoting acetylation of core histones, leading in turn to the uncoiling of chromatin and activation of a variety of genes implicated in the regulation of cell survival, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. A defined scheduling protocol is described by which HDAC inhibitors facilitate the cytotoxic effectiveness of cisplatin (CDDP) in the killing of carcinoma cells. An oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line (HSC-3) was treated with sodium butyrate (NaB), suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) or MS-275 on the day of, the day before, or the day after addition of CDDP. The IC50 (48-h assay) value of 3.48 microg/ml CDDP could be lowered to 0.41 microg/ml CDDP when concurrently combined with an HDAC inhibitor (MS-275). The percentage of apoptosis by treatment with CDDP for 24 h, followed by NaB for an additional 24 h without washing was significantly greater than that observed in the reverse order. Depending on the time of addition of HDAC inhibitors, CDDP-treated cells displayed varying degrees of apoptotic responses, indicating the critical nature of timing in the use of HDAC inhibitors. Interestingly, experiments suggested that cells arrested at the G1/S checkpoint by CDDP were more sensitive to subsequent treatment with an HDAC inhibitor. Moreover, these events were associated with an enhancement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and caspase-3 activation by HDAC inhibitors. They raise the possibility that combining these agents may represent a novel anti-neoplastic strategy.
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PMID:Sequence-dependent interaction between cisplatin and histone deacetylase inhibitors in human oral squamous cell carcinoma cells. 1659 40

Aurora-A kinase, a serine/threonine protein kinase, is a potential oncogene. Amplification and overexpression of Aurora-A have been found in several types of human tumors, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). It has been demonstrated that cells overexpressing Aurora-A are more resistant to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. However, the molecular mechanisms mediating these effects remain largely unknown. In this report, we showed that overexpression of Aurora-A through stable transfection of pEGFP-Aurora-A in human ESCC KYSE150 cells significantly promoted cell proliferation and inhibited cisplatin- or UV irradiation-induced apoptosis. Cleavages of caspase-3 and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) in Aurora-A overexpressing cells were substantially reduced after cisplatin or UV treatment. Furthermore, we found that silencing of endogenous Aurora-A kinase with siRNA substantially enhanced sensitivity to cisplatin- or UV-induced apoptosis in human ESCC EC9706 cells. In parallel, overexpression of Aurora-A potently upregulated the expression of Bcl-2. Moreover, the knockdown of Bcl-2 by siRNA abrogated the Aurora-A's effect on inhibiting apoptosis. Taken together, these data provide evidence that Aurora-A overexpression promoting cell proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis, suggesting a novel mechanism that is closely related to malignant phenotype and anti-cancer drugs resistance of ESCC cells.
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PMID:Overexpression of Aurora-A kinase promotes tumor cell proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell line. 1661 31


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