Publications by authors named "Yongju Liang"

Purpose: Our previous data have shown that emodin azide methyl anthraquinone derivative (AMAD) triggered mitochondrial- dependent cell apoptosis involving caspase-8-mediated Bid cleavage, and induced proteasomal degradation of HER2/neu by blocking Her2/neu binding to Hsp90. In the present study, we futher investigated the effect of this compound on the cell cycle and related molecular mechanisms in HER2/neu-overexpressing MDA-MB-453 breast cancer cells.

Methods: The cell cycle distribution was tested by flow cytometry.

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Esophageal quamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is the predominant histological type of esophageal carcinoma in Asian populations. To date, few biomarkers have been identified for ESCC. In present study, we found a tumor suppressor, NUMB isoform 1 (NUMB-1), as a promising prognostic biomarker for patients with ESCC.

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Tandutinib is a novel inhibitor of tyrosine kinases FLT3, PDGFR and KIT. Our study was to explore the capability of tandutinib to reverse ABC transporter-mediated multidrug resistance. Tandutinib reversed ABCG2-mediated drug resistance in ABCG2-482-R2, ABCG2-482-G2, ABCG2-482-T7 and S1-M1-80 cells and increased the accumulation of doxorubicin, rhodamine 123 and [H(3)] mitoxantrone in ABCG2-overexpressing cells.

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The side population cells characterized by the ability to transport Hoechst 33342 out of cells have been identified as cancer stem-like cells. ABCG2 is found to confer the side population (SP) phenotype, multidrug resistance (MDR) and tumor recurrence. In this study, we found secalonic acid D (SAD), a metabolite of marine-derived mangrove endophytic fungus, showed potent anticancer effect on ABCB1-, ABCC1- and ABCG2- overexpressing multidrug resistance cells by MTT assay.

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ATP-binding-cassette family membrane proteins play an important role in multidrug resistance. In this study, we investigated BIRB796, an orally active inhibitor of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, reversed MDR induced by ABCB1, ABCG2 and ABCC1. Our results showed that BIRB796 could reverse ABCB1-mediated MDR in both the drug selected and transfected ABCB1-overexpressing cell models, but did not enhance the efficacy of substrate-chemotherapeutical agents in ABCC1 or ABCG2 overexpression cells and their parental sensitive cells.

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Dicycloplatin, a new supramolecular platinum-based antitumor drug, has been approved by the State Food and Administration (SFDA) of China. In this study, we investigated the anticancer activity of dicycloplatin in cancer cells and signaling pathways involved in dicycloplatin-induced apoptosis. Dicycloplatin inhibited the proliferation of cancer cells and increased the percentage of apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner.

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Series of novel derivatives of quinazoline containing thiosemicarbazide moiety 5 and 9 have been synthesized and tested for their antitumor activities in vitro against a panel of five human cancer cell lines. Bioassay results indicated that most of the prepared compounds exhibited cytotoxicity against various cancer cells. From the structure-activity relationships it was found that unsubstituted quinazoline ring and benzene ring or halogen substituted benzene ring in quinazoline derivatives 5 and 9 would be the most favorable for their antitumor activity.

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Imidazopyridine CCT129202 is an inhibitor of Aurora kinase activity and displays a favorable antineoplastic effect in preclinical studies. Here, we investigated the enhanced effect of CCT129202 on the cytotoxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs in multidrug resistant (MDR) cells with overexpression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters and cancer stem-like cells. CCT129202 of more than 90% cell survival concentration significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity of substrate drugs and increased the intracellular accumulations of doxorubicin and rhodamine 123 in ABCB1 and ABCG2 overexpressing cells, while no effect was found on parental sensitive cells.

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Saracatinib, a highly selective, dual Src/Abl kinase inhibitor, is currently in a Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of ovarian cancer. In our study, we investigated the effect of saracatinib on the reversal of multidrug resistance (MDR) induced by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters in vitro and in vivo. Our results showed that saracatinib significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity of ABCB1 substrate drugs in ABCB1 overexpressing HeLa/v200, MCF-7/adr and HEK293/ABCB1 cells, an effect that was stronger than that of gefitinib, whereas it had no effect on the cytotoxicity of the substrates in ABCC1 overexpressing HL-60/adr cells and its parental sensitive cells.

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Apoptotic resistance is the main obstacle for treating cancer patients with chemotherapeutic drugs. Multidrug resistance (MDR) is often characterized by the expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), a 170-KD ATP-dependent drug efflux protein. Functional P-gp can confer resistance to activate caspase-8 and -3 dependent apoptosis induced by a range of different stimuli, including tumor necrosis and chemotherapeutic drugs such as docetaxel and vincristine.

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Stemlike cells have been isolated by their ability to efflux Hoechst 33342 dye and are called the side population (SP). We evaluated the effect of axitinib on targeting cancer stemlike cells and enhancing the efficacy of chemotherapeutical agents. We found that axitinib enhanced the cytotoxicity of topotecan and mitoxantrone in SP cells sorted from human lung cancer A549 cells and increased cell apoptosis induced by chemotherapeutical agents.

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Neratinib, an irreversible inhibitor of epidermal growth factor receptor and human epidermal receptor 2, is in phase III clinical trials for patients with human epidermal receptor 2-positive, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer. The objective of this study was to explore the ability of neratinib to reverse tumor multidrug resistance attributable to overexpression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. Our results showed that neratinib remarkably enhanced the sensitivity of ABCB1-overexpressing cells to ABCB1 substrates.

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S1-M1-80 cells, derived from human colon carcinoma S1 cells, are mitoxantrone-selected ABCG2-overexpressing cells and are widely used in in vitro studies of multidrug resistance(MDR). In this study, S1-M1-80 cell xenografts were established to investigate whether the MDR phenotype and cell biological properties were maintained in vivo. Our results showed that the proliferation, cell cycle, and ABCG2 expression level in S1-M1-80 cells were similar to those in cells isolated from S1-M1-80 cell xenografts (named xS1-M1-80 cells).

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Background And Purpose: Besides targeting the well-known oncogenic c-Met, crizotinib is the first oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor inhibiting anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) in clinical trials for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Here, we assessed the possible reversal of multidrug resistance (MDR) by crizotinib in vitro and in vivo.

Experimental Approach: 1-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-3,5- diphenylformazan was used in vitro and xenografts in nude mice were used in vivo to investigate reversal of MDR by crizotinib.

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P-glycoprotein (P-gp, ABCB1) overexpression and enrichment of stem-like cells are linked to poor prognosis in tumor patients. In this study, we investigated the effect of apatinib, an oral multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) on enhancing the efficacy of conventional anticancer drugs in side population (SP) cells and ABCB1-overexpressing leukemia cells in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo. Our results showed that apatinib significantly enhanced the cytotoxicity and cell apoptosis induced by doxorubicin in SP cells sorted from K562 cells.

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A series of O,O'-dialkyl {[2-(substituted phenoxy)acetamido](substituted phenyl)methyl}phosphonates was synthesized and their cytotoxic activities were tested against various human tumor cell lines. Some compounds (5q, 5r, 5s, 5w, 5x and 5y) showed relatively high cytotoxicity. Especially, compounds 5x and 5q exhibited the best cytotoxicity against KB and CNE2 cells with IC(50) 7.

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A series of pyrimido[5,4-c]quinoline-4-(3H)-one derivatives variously substituted at positions 2 and 3 were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antiproliferative activities against a panel of six human cancer cell lines. Biological evaluation revealed that the vast majority of derivatives exhibited moderate tumor growth inhibitory activities. In particular, compound 7e showed effective anti-tumor activity with broad-spectrum toward numerous cell lines and the most active member in this study.

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A series of novel (thio)ureas containing the pyrimidinyl group was designed and synthesized. Their in-vitro antitumor activity against different human tumor cells was examined. Some of the compounds showed potential antitumor activity, which provided some hints for further studies on structure modification.

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Synthesis and cytotoxicity of 11 4-methylene pyrido[4,3-d]pyrimidines 5a-k were described. Cytotoxicity assay results showed that some compounds had much stronger antitumor activity than Fluorouracil against KB cell lines. The most active compound 5i exhibited high potency against KB, CNE2, MGC-803 cell lines with IC(50) values of 0.

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Overexpression of HER2/neu, a transmembrane tyrosine kinase acting as a coreceptor for other EGFR family members, is well-known to be associated with a poor prognosis in cancer. In the present study, we observed that emodin AMAD, a novel emodin azide methyl anthraquinone derivative, extracted from nature's giant knotweed rhizome of traditional Chinese herbs, potently decreased Her2/neu protein in dose- and time-dependent manners and also inhibited the downstream MAPK and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Intriguingly, reverse transcription-PCR and protein turnover assay revealed that the decrease of Her2/neu was independent of mRNA level but primarily owing to its protein stability.

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Background: Functional polymorphisms of the ABCG2 gene may contribute to individual variability in drug response and the prognosis of patients.

Methods: In the present study, the genetic polymorphisms and expression of ABCG2 were analysed in blasts cells obtained from 184 Chinese patients with de novo acute leukaemia to investigate their possible association with clinical outcomes.

Results: A novel synonymous ABCG2-single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at exon 16 (13561218 C/T) and five known SNPs at exon 2 (13608835 G/A), exon 5 (13600044 C/A), intron 10 (13576005 C/T), intron 13 (13564503 C/T) and intron 14 (13563578 A/G) were identified with occurrence rates of 1.

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In this article, we have focused on the structure identification of Euphorbia factor L3 belonging to the lathyrane diterpenoids isolated from Caper Euphorbia Seed. Its anticancer activity in vitro against lung cancer A549 cells was also investigated and the IC(50) values were 34.04 ± 3.

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Euphorbia factor L1 (EFL1) belongs to diterpenoids of genus Euphorbia. In this article, its reversal activity against ABCB1-mediated MDR in KBv200 and MCF-7/adr cells was reported. However, EFL1 did not alter the sensitivity of KB and MCF-7 cells to chemotherapeutic agents.

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Background: The overexpression of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters is one of the main causes of multi-drug resistance (MDR) which represents a major obstacle to the success of cancer chemotherapy. In this study, we examined the effect of BIBF 1120, an inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (VEGFRs), platelet-derived growth factor receptors (PDGFRs) and fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) tyrosine kinases, on the reversal of multidrug resistance in vitro.

Methods: The doxorubicin and rhodamine 123 retention assay was performed by flowcytometry.

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The synthesis and biological activity of 1,3-benzenedicarbonyl dithioureas are described. Bioassay results indicated that these compounds exhibited cytotoxicity against various cancer cells. For example, compounds 4a showed the best inhibition activities against KB and CNE2 with IC(50) 10.

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