Decursinol angelate blocks transmigration and inflammatory activation of cancer cells through inhibition of PI3K,ERK and NF-κB activation

Inflammation is known to be closely associated with the development of cancer. Decursinol angelate (DA), a coumarin compound isolated from Angelica gigas and related compounds have been shown to possess potent anti-inflammatory activities. However, little is known about their effects on the inflammatory processes associated with cancer. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effect of DA was evaluated in cancer cell lines with respect to cellular invasion through the extracellular matrix (ECM) and the expression of pro-inflammatory mediators such as cytokine, cell adhesion molecules and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9. DA inhibited the invasion of fibrosarcoma cell line, HT1080 and breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231 in the Matrigel invasion assay. DA-mediated suppression of cancer cell invasion was accomplished by suppression of PI3K activity known to be associated with cytoskeletal rearrangement related to cellular migration. DA also suppressed the adhesion of cancer cells to ECM mediated by down-regulation of β₁-integrin expression levels. Furthermore, DA inhibited the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and MMP-9 through suppression of PI3K, ERK and NF-κB activation. These results demonstrate that DA suppresses invasion and inflammatory activation of cancer cells through modulation of PI3K/AKT, ERK and NF-κB. These anti-inflammatory activities of DA may contribute to its anti-cancer activity.     

Diosgenin,a steroidal saponin,inhibits STAT3 signaling pathway leading to suppression of proliferation and chemosensitization of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Constitutive activation of STAT3 has been shown in several human cancers and transformed cell lines including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In the present report, we investigated whether diosgenin, a steroidal saponin isolated from fenugreek can modulate the STAT3 signaling pathway. We found that diosgenin inhibited both constitutive and inducible activation of STAT3 with no effect on STAT5. The activation of c-Src, JAK1 and JAK2 implicated in STAT3 activation, were also suppressed by this saponin. Pervanadate reversed the diosgenin-induced downregulation of STAT3, suggesting the involvement of a protein tyrosine phosphatase. Indeed, we found that diosgenin can induce the expression of Src homology 2 phosphatase 2 (SH-PTP2) that correlated with downregulation of constitutive STAT3 activation. Diosgenin also downregulated the expression of various STAT3-regulated gene products, inhibited proliferation and potentiated the apoptotic effects of paclitaxel and doxorubicin. Overall, these results suggest that diosgenin is a novel blocker of the STAT3 activation pathway, with a potential role in the treatment of HCC and other cancers.     

Embelin induces apoptosis through down-regulation of XIAP in human leukemia cells

The present study was undertaken to determine the molecular mechanisms by which embelin induces apoptosis in human leukemia cells. Embelin resulted in loss of cell viability and inhibition of proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner, which was largely attributed to apoptosis. Embelin caused depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential. Western blot analysis showed that the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) was down-regulated by embelin. Embelin induced activation of caspase-9 and embelin-induced apoptosis was prevented by caspase inhibitors. Taken together, these findings suggest that embelin results in human leukemia cells apoptosis through caspase-dependent mechanisms involving down-regulation of XIAP.     

PTEN,but not SHIP and SHIP2, suppresses the PI3K/Akt pathway and induces growth inhibition and apoptosis of myeloma cells

Expression of PTEN tumor suppressor gene has been known to dephosphorylate the phosphatidylinositol 3' kinase (PI3K) products on the 3 prime inositol ring, resulting in reduced Akt activation. Loss of PTEN expression in OPM2 and delta47 human myeloma lines led to high Akt activity toward insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). In contrast, mouse plasma cell tumor (PCT) lines, expressing wild type PTEN, did not respond to IGF-I for Akt activation. We demonstrated here that endogenous PTEN played a negative role in controlling Akt activity in both mouse PCT and NIH3T3 fibroblast lines by using anti-sense oligonucleotides against PTEN. To determine the role of src-homology 2-containing inositol 5' phosphatase (SHIP) in regulating the PI3K/Akt pathway, we manipulated its expression by down-regulation and overexpression in myeloma, PCT and NIH3T3 lines and analysed Akt activation. Our results showed that SHIP, unlike PTEN, did not affect Akt activity in all systems analysed, despite its ability to dephosphorylate a PI3K product. Although SHIP2 expression resulted in suppression of interleukin-6-mediated mitogen-activated protein kinase activation, expression of SHIP and SHIP2 in a PTEN-null myeloma line did not suppress Akt activity. Biologically, expression of only PTEN, but not SHIP and SHIP2, resulted in growth inhibition and increased apoptosis in OPM2 myeloma line. Together, our results have established the role of PTEN, but not SHIP and SHIP2, in negatively regulating the PI3K/Akt cascade and in myeloma leukemogenesis.     

Celastrol suppresses growth and induces apoptosis of human hepatocellular carcinoma through the modulation of STAT3/JAK2 signaling cascade in vitro and in vivo

Cumulative evidences(s) have established that the constitutive activation of STAT3 plays a pivotal role in the proliferation, survival, metastasis, and angiogenesis and thus can contribute directly to the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Thus, novel agents that can inhibit STAT3 activation have potential for both prevention and treatment of HCCs. The effect of celastrol on STAT3 activation, associated protein kinases, STAT3-regulated gene products, cellular proliferation, and apoptosis was investigated. The in vivo effect of celastrol on the growth of human HCC xenograft tumors in athymic nu/nu mice was also examined. We observed that celastrol inhibited both constitutive and inducible STAT3 activation, and the suppression was mediated through the inhibition of activation of upstream kinases c-Src, as well as Janus-activated kinase-1 and -2. Vanadate treatment reversed the celastrol-induced modulation of STAT3, suggesting the involvement of a tyrosine phosphatase. The inhibition of STAT3 activation by celastrol led to the suppression of various gene products involved in proliferation, survival, and angiogenesis. Celastrol also inhibited the proliferation and induced apoptosis in HCC cells. Finally, when administered intraperitoneally, celastrol inhibited STAT3 activation in tumor tissues and the growth of human HCC xenograft tumors in athymic nu/nu mice without any side effects. Overall, our results suggest for the first time that celastrol exerts its antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects through suppression of STAT3 signaling in HCC both in vitro and in vivo.     

PTEN suppresses breast cancer cell growth by phosphatase activity-dependent G1 arrest followed by cell death

PTEN/MMAC1/TEP1, a tumor suppressor gene, is frequently mutated in a variety of human cancers. Germ-line mutations of phosphatase and tensin homolog, deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) are found in two inherited hamartoma tumor syndromes: Cowden syndrome, which has a high risk of breast, thyroid, and other cancers; and Bannayan-Zonana syndrome, a related disorder. PTEN encodes a phosphatase that recognizes both protein substrates and phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-triphosphate. The lipid phosphatase activity of PTEN seems to be important for growth suppression through inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway. We established clones with stable PTEN expression controlled by a tetracycline-inducible system to examine the consequences of increased levels of wild-type and mutant PTEN expression in a well-characterized breast cancer line, MCF-7. When we overexpressed PTEN in MCF-7, growth suppression was observed, but only if PTEN phosphatase activity is preserved. The initial growth suppression was attributable to G1 cell cycle arrest, whereas subsequent growth suppression was attributable to a combination of G1 arrest and cell death. Of note, the decrease in Akt phosphorylation preceded the onset-of suppression of cell growth. Treatment of MCF-7 cells with wortmannin, a PI3K inhibitor, caused cell growth inhibition in a way similar to the effects of overexpression of PTEN in this cell. In general, the inverse correlation between PTEN protein level and Akt phosphorylation was found in a panel of breast cancer cell lines. Therefore, PTEN appears to suppress breast cancer growth through down-regulating PI3K signaling, which leads to the blockage of cell cycle progression and the induction of cell death, in a sequential manner.     

Acquired resistance to erlotinib in A-431 epidermoid cancer cells requires down-regulation of MMAC1/PTEN and up-regulation of phosphorylated Akt

Erlotinib (Tarceva), an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor, has clinical activity in advanced lung cancer, but disease that initially responds to erlotinib eventually progresses. The mechanism of this acquired resistance is unclear. We established two erlotinib-resistant pools of A-431 cells, a well-characterized epidermoid cancer cell line that constitutively overexpresses EGFR and is sensitive to erlotinib, by continuous exposure to erlotinib over a 6-month period. The extent of EGFR gene amplification or mutation of the EGFR tyrosine kinase domain was not altered in the resistant cells. Intracellular erlotinib concentrations, determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, were almost the same in all three cell lines. Immunoprecipitation with EGFR antibody followed by detection with phosphotyrosine antibody revealed that erlotinib effectively reduced EGFR phosphorylation in both parental cells and resistant cells. Erlotinib induced mutated in multiple advanced cancers 1/phosphatase and tensin homologue (MMAC1/PTEN) and suppressed phosphorylated Akt (Ser(473)) but not in the erlotinib-resistant cells. Overexpression of MMAC1/PTEN by transfection with Ad.MMAC1/PTEN or by pharmacologic suppression of Akt activity restored erlotinib sensitivity in both resistant pools. Further, transfection of parental A-431 cells with constitutively active Akt was sufficient to cause resistance to erlotinib. We propose that acquired erlotinib resistance associated with MMAC1/PTEN down-regulation and Akt activation could be overcome by inhibitors of signaling through the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway.     

Loss of function mutations in PTPN6 promote STAT3 deregulation via JAK3 kinase in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

PTPN6 (SHP1) is a tyrosine phosphatase that negatively controls the activity of multiple signaling pathways including STAT signaling, however role of mutated PTPN6 is not much known. Here we investigated whether PTPN6 might also be a potential target for diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and performed Sanger sequencing of the PTPN6 gene. We have identified missense mutations within PTPN6 (N225K and A550V) in 5% (2/38) of DLBCL tumors. Site directed mutagenesis was performed to mutate wild type (WT) PTPN6 and stable cell lines were generated by lentiviral transduction of PTPN6^WT, PTPN6^N225K and PTPN6^A550V constructs, and effects of WT or mutated PTPN6 on STAT3 signaling were analyzed. WT PTPN6 dephosphorylated STAT3, but had no effect on STAT1, STAT5 or STAT6 phosphorylation. Both PTPN6 mutants were unable to inhibit constitutive, as well as cytokines induced STAT3 activation. Both PTPN6 mutants also demonstrated reduced tyrosine phosphatase activity and exhibited enhanced STAT3 transactivation activity. Intriguingly, a lack of direct binding between STAT3 and WT or mutated PTPN6 was observed. However, compared to WT PTPN6, cells expressing PTPN6 mutants exhibited increased binding between JAK3 and PTPN6 suggesting a more dynamic interaction of PTPN6 with upstream regulators of STAT3. Consistent with this notion, both the mutants demonstrated increased resistance to JAK3 inhibitor, WHIP-154 relative to WT PTPN6. Overall, this is the first study, which demonstrates that N225K and A550V PTPN6 mutations cause loss-of-function leading to JAK3 mediated deregulation of STAT3 pathway and uncovers a mechanism that tumor cells can use to control PTPN6 substrate specificity.     

Cooperation between STAT5 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in the IL-3-dependent survival of a bone marrow derived cell line

Cytokine-dependent activation of distinct signaling pathways is a common scheme thought to be required for the subsequent programmation into cell proliferation and survival. The PI 3-kinase/Akt, Ras/MAP kinase, Ras/NFIL3 and JAK/STAT pathways have been shown to participate in cytokine mediated suppression of apoptosis in various cell types. However the relative importance of these signaling pathways seems to depend on the cellular context. In several cases, individual inhibition of each pathway is not sufficient to completely abrogate cytokine mediated cell survival suggesting that cooperation between these pathways is required. Here we showed that individual inhibition of STAT5, PI 3-kinase or MEK activities did not or weakly affected the IL-3 dependent survival of the bone marrow derived Ba/F3 cell line. However, the simultaneous inhibition of STAT5 and PI 3-kinase activities but not that of STAT5 and MEK reduced the IL-3 dependent survival of Ba/F3. Analysis of the expression of the Bcl-2 members indicated that phosphorylation of Bad and Bcl-x expression which are respectively regulated by the PI 3-kinase/Akt pathway and STAT5 probably explain this cooperation. Furthermore, we showed by co-immunoprecipitation studies and pull down experiments with fusion proteins encoding the GST-SH2 domains of p85 that STAT5 in its phosphorylated form interacts with the p85 subunit of the PI 3-kinase. These results indicate that the activations of STAT5 and the PI 3-kinase by IL-3 in Ba/F3 cells are tightly connected and cooperate to mediate IL-3-dependent suppression of apoptosis by modulating Bad phosphorylation and Bcl-x expression.