A novel proteolytic cleavage of ROCK 1 in cell death: Not only by caspases 3 and 7 but also by caspase 2.

During apoptosis, myosin light chain phosphorylation induced by ROCK 1, activated by caspase 3-mediated cleavage, results in the formation of membrane blebs. Additionally, actin-myosin-based contraction induced by the activation of ROCK is involved in the apoptotic nuclear disintegration. In previous studies, it was reported that ROCK 1 was only cleaved by caspase 3 in cell death and caspase 7 was involved in truncation of ROCK 1 in in-vitro cell-free conditions.

The connection between the cardiac glycoside-induced senescent cell morphology and Rho/Rho kinase pathway.

Recently drug-induced senescence has gained momentum as a new approach in cancer therapy. It is accepted that senescent cells display typical phenotypic features including flattened, enlarged, and multinucleated cell morphology. However, it is not well elucidated how these morphological alterations occur.

Gemcitabine hydrochloride-loaded liposomes and nanoparticles: comparison of encapsulation efficiency, drug release, particle size, and cytotoxicity.

The aim of this study is to formulate and compare the physicochemical properties of negatively charged liposomes and poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles loaded with gemcitabine hydrochloride. The influence of the formulation variables on the liposome and nanoparticle properties on particle size, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency, and drug release was evaluated. Although the PEGylated nanoparticles and PEGylated liposomes were of the same size (∼200 nm), the encapsulation efficiency was 1.

Promising anticancer activity of Cyclotrichium niveum L. extracts through induction of both apoptosis and necrosis.

In this study, cytotoxic effects of the dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, ethanol, and aqueous extracts of the aerial parts of Cyclotrichium niveum (Boiss.) Manden. & Scheng (Lamiaceae) were evaluated.

Cardiac glycoside-induced cell death and Rho/Rho kinase pathway: Implication of different regulation in cancer cell lines.

Previously, we demonstrated that the Rho/ROCK pathway is involved in ouabain-induced apoptosis in HUVEC. In the current work, we investigated whether the Rho/ROCK pathway is functional during cardiac glycosides-induced cytotoxic effects in cancer cell lines, as well as in non-tumor cells. For that purpose, we evaluated the role of ROCK activation in bleb formation and cell migration over upstream and downstream effectors in addition to ROCK cleavage after cardiac glycosides treatment.