Search results for "Apoptosis ."
showing 10 items of 177 documents
MYCN and survivin cooperatively contribute to malignant transformation of fibroblasts
2013
The oncogenes MYCN and survivin (BIRC5) maintain aggressiveness of diverse cancers including sarcomas. To investigate whether these oncogenes cooperate in initial malignant transformation, we transduced them into Rat-1 fibroblasts. Indeed, survivin enhanced MYCN-driven contact-uninhibited and anchorage-independent growth in vitro. Importantly, upon subcutaneous transplantation into mice, cells overexpressing both instead of either one of the oncogenes generated tumors with shortened latency, marked anaplasia and an increased proliferation-to-apoptosis ratio resulting in accelerated growth. Mechanistically, the increased tumorigenicity was associated with an enhanced Warburg effect and a hyp…
Apoptosis: focus on sea urchin development
2009
It has been proposed that the apoptosis is an essential requirement for the evolution of all animals, in fact the apoptotic program is highly conserved from nematodes to mammals. Throughout development, apoptosis is employed by multicellular organisms to eliminate damaged or unnecessary cells. Here, we will discuss both developmental programmed cell death (PCD) under normal conditions and stress induced apoptosis, in sea urchin embryos. Sea urchin represent an excellent model system for studying embryogenesis and cellular processes involved in metamorphosis. PCD plays an essential role in sculpting and remodelling the embryos and larvae undergoing metamorphosis. Moreover, this marine organi…
Parthenolide generates reactive oxygen species and autophagy in MDA-MB231 cells. A soluble parthenolide analogue inhibits tumour growth and metastasi…
2013
Triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) are clinically aggressive forms associated with a poor prognosis. We evaluated the cytotoxic effect exerted on triple-negative MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells both by parthenolide and its soluble analogue dimethylamino parthenolide (DMAPT) and explored the underlying molecular mechanism. The drugs induced a dose- and time-dependent decrement in cell viability, which was not prevented by the caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk. In particular in the first hours of treatment (1–3 h), parthenolide and DMAPT strongly stimulated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. The drugs induced production of superoxide anion by activating NADPH oxidase. ROS generation caused…
Immune escape of AKT overexpressing ovarian cancer cells
2012
Platinum-resistance is the most crucial problem for treatment of ovarian cancer. There is a clinical need for new treatment strategies which overcome platinum resistance. As survival is strongly influenced by immunological parameters, immunotherapeutic strategies appear promising. Therefore a better understanding of the interaction between ovarian tumour cells and cells of the immune system is a necessary prerequisite. In the present study we aimed to enlighten the interactions between platinum resistant and platinum sensitive ovarian cancer cells and natural-killer (NK)-cells. Modified FATAL assay was used for determining the killing efficiency of NK-cells for the parental A2780 cells and …
Cyclooxygenase-2 inhibition induces apoptosis signaling via death receptors and mitochondria in hepatocellular carcinoma.
2006
AbstractInhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 elicits chemopreventive and therapeutic effects in solid tumors that are coupled with the induction of apoptosis in tumor cells. We investigated the mechanisms by which COX-2 inhibition induces apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. COX-2 inhibition triggered expression of the CD95, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-R, and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-R1 and TRAIL-R2 death receptors. Addition of the respective specific ligands further increased apoptosis, indicating that COX-2 inhibition induced the expression of functional death receptors. Overexpression of a dominant-negative Fas-associated death domain mutant reduced COX…
Autocrine production of interleukin-4 and interleukin-10 is required for survival and growth of thyroid cancer cells.
2006
AbstractAlthough CD95 and its ligand are expressed in thyroid cancer, the tumor cell mass does not seem to be affected by such expression. We have recently shown that thyroid carcinomas produce interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-10, which promote resistance to chemotherapy through the up-regulation of Bcl-xL. Here, we show that freshly purified thyroid cancer cells were completely refractory to CD95-induced apoptosis despite the consistent expression of Fas-associated death domain and caspase-8. The analysis of potential molecules able to prevent caspase-8 activation in thyroid cancer cells revealed a remarkable up-regulation of cellular FLIPL (cFLIPL) and PED/PEA-15, two antiapoptotic proteins whos…
Apoptosis induced in HepG2 cells by the synthetic cannabinoid WIN: involvement of the transcription factor PPARgamma.
2008
It has recently been shown that cannabinoids induce growth inhibition and apoptosis in different tumour cell lines. In the current study, the effects of WIN 55,212-2 (WIN), a synthetic and potent cannabinoid receptor agonist, are investigated in hepatoma HepG2 cells and a possible signal transduction pathway is proposed. In these cells, WIN induces a clear apoptotic effect which was accompanied by up-regulation of the death-signalling factors Bax, Bcl-X(S), t-Bid and down-regulation of the survival factors survivin, phospho-AKT, Hsp72 and Bcl-2. Moreover, WIN-induced apoptosis is associated with JNK/p38 MAPK pathway activation and mitochondrial depolarisation demonstrated by a cytofluorimet…
Cannabinoid receptor 1 modulates the autophagic flux independent of mTOR- and BECLIN1-complex
2013
Cannabinoid Receptor 1 (CB1) has been initially described as the receptor for Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in the central nervous system (CNS), mediating retrograde synaptic signaling of the endocannabinoid system. Beside its expression in various CNS regions, CB1 is ubiquituous in peripheral tissues, where it mediates, among other activities, the cell's energy homeostasis. We sought to examine the role of CB1 in the context of the evolutionarily conserved autophagic machinery, a main constituent of the regulation of the intracellular energy status. Manipulating CB1 by siRNA knockdown in mammalian cells caused an elevated autophagic flux, while the expression of autophagy-related genes rema…
Expression of IAPs and alternative splice variants in hepatocellular carcinoma tissues and cells.
2005
IAPs (inhibitors of apoptosis proteins) might have a major role in the apoptotic resistance that marks many cancers. The studies on IAPs in human HCC have focused on survivin or XIAP, indicating that their new or increased expression in this tumor is associated with a more unfavorable prognosis. The present results corroborate these findings, emphasizing the role that the coordinated expression of different IAPs and alternative splice variants might play in the adverse biology of hepatocellular carcinoma.
Genome-wide association analysis in dilated cardiomyopathy reveals two new players in systolic heart failure on chromosomes 3p25.1 and 22q11.23
2021
Abstract Aims Our objective was to better understand the genetic bases of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a leading cause of systolic heart failure. Methods and results We conducted the largest genome-wide association study performed so far in DCM, with 2719 cases and 4440 controls in the discovery population. We identified and replicated two new DCM-associated loci on chromosome 3p25.1 [lead single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs62232870, P = 8.7 × 10−11 and 7.7 × 10−4 in the discovery and replication steps, respectively] and chromosome 22q11.23 (lead SNP rs7284877, P = 3.3 × 10−8 and 1.4 × 10−3 in the discovery and replication steps, respectively), while confirming two previously identif…