Actin, primarily a cytoplasmic cytoskeleton protein, is transported in and out of the nucleus with the help of actin-binding proteins (ABPs). Actin exists in two forms, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite advances in the treatment of breast cancer, the disease continues to exhibit high global morbidity and mortality. The importance of neutrophils in cancer development has been increasingly recognized. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are web-like structures released into the extracellular space by activated neutrophils, serving as a potential antimicrobial mechanism for capturing and eliminating microorganisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer with limited effective therapeutic options readily available. We have previously demonstrated that lovastatin, an FDA-approved lipid-lowering drug, selectively inhibits the stemness properties of TNBC. However, the intracellular targets of lovastatin in TNBC remain largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisulfidptosis occurs as a result of the accumulation of intracellular cystine followed by disulfide stress in actin cytoskeleton proteins due to a reduction of NADPH produced through the pentose phosphate pathway in cells with high expression of SLC7A11. It is a cell death caused by the redox imbalance resulting from the disruption of amino acid metabolism and glucose metabolism. The discovery of disulfidptosis has sparked immense enthusiasm, but there are numerous unresolved issues that need to be addressed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most lethal subtype of breast cancer, with limited therapeutic options readily available. Immunotherapy such as immune checkpoint inhibition has been investigated in TNBC but still encounters low overall response. Neutrophils, the most abundant leukocytes in the body, are increasingly recognized as an active cancer-modulating entity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer with limited therapeutic options available. We have recently demonstrated that lovastatin, a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor, suppresses TNBC cell proliferation and stemness properties and . However, the mechanisms through which lovastatin inhibits TNBC cells are not fully understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer and lacks approved specific targeted therapies. One of the major reasons why TNBC is difficult to treat is the high proportion of cancer stem cells within the tumor tissue. Nucleolus is the location of ribosome biogenesis which is frequently overactivated in cancer cells and overactivation of ribosome biogenesis frequently drives the malignant transformation of cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
January 2022
Chemotherapy is the mainstay of treatment for prostate cancer, with paclitaxel being commonly used for hormone-resistant prostate cancer. However, drug resistance often develops and leads to treatment failure in a variety of prostate cancer patients. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the sensitivity of prostate cancer to chemotherapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is more aggressive and has poorer prognosis compared to other subtypes of breast cancer. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process in which epithelial cells transform into mesenchymal-like cells capable of migration, invasion, and metastasis. Recently, we have demonstrated that lovastatin, a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitor and a lipid-lowering drug, could inhibit stemness properties of cancer stem cells (CSCs) derived from TNBC cell and .
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNon-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the major cancer-related causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite the progress in lung cancer treatment, there is still an urgent need to discover novel therapeutic agents for NSCLC. Natural products represent a rich source of bioactive compounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFColorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer around the world. Recent findings suggest that cancer stem cells (CSCs) play a pivotal role in the resistance to current therapeutic modalities, including surgery and chemotherapy. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising non-invasive therapeutic strategy for advanced metastatic CRC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEffective treatment modality for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is currently lacking due to the absence of defined receptor targets. Recently, we have demonstrated that lovastatin, a 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase inhibitor and a lipid-lowering drug, can selectively inhibit TNBC by targeting cancer stem cells and . Interestingly, we found that lovastatin induced the reappearance of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), one of the triple receptors that are missing in TNBC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Metastasis is responsible for the majority of deaths in a variety of cancer types, including breast cancer. Although several factors or biomarkers have been identified to predict the outcome of patients with breast cancer, few studies have been conducted to identify metastasis-associated biomarkers.
Methods: Quantitative iTRAQ proteomics analysis was used to detect differentially expressed proteins between lymph node metastases and their paired primary tumor tissues from 23 patients with metastatic breast cancer.
The nucleolus is a dynamic structure that has roles in various physiological and pathophysiological processes. Perturbations on many aspects of the nucleolar functions are thought to cause "nucleolar stress", which occurs in response to a variety of chemotherapeutic drugs. The main characteristic changes of nucleolar stress include: 1) reduction of the size and volume of the nucleolus; 2) inhibition of RNA Pol I-mediated rRNA synthesis; and 3) nucleoplasmic translocation of nucleolar stress-related proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer with a higher risk in younger women and a poorer prognosis and without targeted therapies available currently. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are increasingly recognized as the main cause of treatment failure and tumor recurrence. The present paper reports the encapsulation of lovastatin (LV) into cerasomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDoxorubicin (DOX), also known as adriamycin, is a DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor and belongs to the family of anthracycline anticancer drugs. DOX is used for the treatment of a wide variety of cancer types. However, resistance among cancer cells has emerged as a major barrier to effective treatment using DOX.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetastasis is a lethal step in the progression of breast cancer. None of the metastasis-associated biomarkers identified up to now has a definite prognostic value in breast cancer patients. This study was designed to identify biomarkers for breast cancer metastasis and predictors of the prognosis of breast cancer patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an Epstein-Barr virus-associated malignancy occurring at high incidence in Southeast Asia and southern China. In spite of the good response to radio- and chemo-therapy at the early stage, resistance and recurrence develop in NPC patients in the advanced setting. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play an important role in drug resistance and cancer recurrence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActivation of apoptotic signalling in endothelial cells contributes to the detrimental effects of a variety of pathological stimuli. In investigating the molecular events underlying the anti-apoptotic effect of human plasma in cultured human endothelial cells, we unexpectedly uncovered a novel mechanism of apoptosis suppression by human plasma through an interaction between two previously unrelated proteins. Human plasma inhibited hypoxia-serum deprivation-induced apoptosis and stimulated BAD and Akt phosphorylation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which accounts for 15-20% of all breast cancers, does not express estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR) and lacks human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpression or amplification. These tumors have a more aggressive phenotype and a poorer prognosis due to the high propensity for metastatic progression and absence of specific targeted treatments. Patients with TNBC do not benefit from hormonal or trastuzumab-based targeted therapies because of the loss of target receptors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the tremendous improvement in cancer therapeutics, treatment of late-stage breast cancer remains a challenge for both basic scientists and clinicians. Lovastatin, a natural product derived from Aspergillus terreus or Monascus ruber, has been widely used as cholesterol-lowing drug in the clinic. It also has anti-cancer properties through poorly defined molecular mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBoth transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) regulate important cellular processes, such as apoptosis in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the mechanisms of regulation of PTHrP by TGF-β are largely unknown. We hypothesized that TGF-β regulates the expression of PTHrP protein through a post-translational mechanism.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProstate cancer is one of the most common malignancies affecting men worldwide, with bone being the most common site of metastasis in patients that progress beyond organ confinement. Bone metastases are virtually incurable and result in significant disease morbidity and mortality. Bone provides a unique microenvironment whose local interactions with tumor cells offer novel targets for therapeutic interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMatrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are proteolytic enzymes that play critical roles in the pathogenesis of human cancers. Clinical trials using synthetic small molecule MMP inhibitors have been carried out but with little success. Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) are endogenous inhibitors that block the extracellular matrix-degrading activity of MMPs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApomixis is a means of asexual reproduction by which plants produce embryos without fertilization and meiosis, therefore the embryo is of clonal and maternal origin. Interspecific hybrids between diploid B. vulgaris (2n=2x=18) and tetraploid B.
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