Tumor cells overexpress amino acid transporters to meet the increased demand for amino acids. PQ loop repeat-containing (PQLC)2 is a cationic amino acid transporter that might be involved in cancer progression. Here, we show that upregulation of PQLC2 is critical to gastric cancer (GC) development in vitro and in vivo. Both PQLC2 mRNA and protein were overexpressed in GC tissues, especially of the diffuse type. Overexpression of PQLC2 promoted cell growth, anchorage independence, and tumor formation in nude mice. This was due to activation of MEK/ERK1/2 and PI3K/AKT signaling. Conversely, PQLC2 knockdown caused growth arrest and cell death of cancer cells and suppressed tumor growth in a mouse xenograft model. These results suggest that targeting PQLC2 is an effective strategy for GC treatment.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cas.13966 | DOI Listing |
Genome Biol Evol
January 2025
Department of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum evolved from a parasite that infects gorillas, termed Plasmodium praefalciparum. The sialic acids on glycans on the surface of erythrocytes differ between humans and other apes. It has recently been shown that the P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChem Biol Drug Des
January 2025
Laboratory of Natural Product Chemistry, Department of Pharmacy, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani), Pilani, Rajasthan, India.
A set of coumarin-3-carboxamide analogues were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their ability to impede pancreatic lipase (PL) activity. Out of all the analogues, 5dh and 5de demonstrated promising inhibitory activity against PL, as indicated by their respective IC values of 9.20 and 11.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Pept Sci
March 2025
Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Fluorescent probes are widely used in cellular imaging and disease diagnosis. Acting as substitute carriers, fluorescent probes can also be used to help transport drugs within cells. In this study, commonly used fluorophores, TAMRA (5-carboxytetramethylrhodamine), PBA (1-pyrenebutyric acid), NBD (nitrobenzoxadiazole), OG (Oregon Green), and CF (5-carboxyfluorescein) were conjugated with the dipeptide β-Ala-Lys, the peptide moiety of the well-established peptide transporter substrate β-Ala-Lys(AMCA) (AMCA: 7-amino-4-methyl-coumarin-3-acetic acid) by modifying it with respect to side-chain length and functional end groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFEBS Lett
January 2025
Allgemeine Botanik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Joseph Kölreuter Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften (JKIP), Karlsruhe, Germany.
Phytochromes are biliprotein photoreceptors found in bacteria, fungi, and plants. The soil bacterium Agrobacterium fabrum has two phytochromes, Agp1 and Agp2, which work together to control DNA transfer to plants and bacterial conjugation. Both phytochromes interact as homodimeric proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiotechnol Prog
January 2025
Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan.
The production of disulfide-containing recombinant proteins often requires refolding of inclusion bodies before purification. A pre-refolding purification step is crucial for effective refolding because impurities in the inclusion bodies interfere with refolding and subsequent purification. This study presents a new pre-refolding procedure using a reversible S-cationization technique for protein solubilization and purification by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography.
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