Misregulation of Wnt Signaling Pathways at the Plasma Membrane in Brain and Metabolic Diseases

Wnt signaling pathways constitute a group of signal transduction pathways that direct many physiological processes, such as development, growth, and differentiation. Dysregulation of these pathways is thus associated with many pathological processes, including neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic disorders, and cancer. At the same time, alterations are observed in plasma membrane compositions, lipid organizations, and ordered membrane domains in brain and metabolic diseases that are associated with Wnt signaling pathway activation. Here, we discuss the relationships between plasma membrane components—specifically ligands, (co) receptors, and extracellular or membrane-associated modulators—to activate Wnt pathways in several brain and metabolic diseases. Thus, the Wnt–receptor complex can be targeted based on the composition and organization of the plasma membrane, in order to develop effective targeted therapy drugs

3D Organoid modelling of hepatoblast-like and mesenchymal-like hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines

Aim: We wished to establish 3D organoid-like hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) models from HCC cell lines.Methods: Hep3B, Huh7, HepG2, SNU398, SNU449, and SNU475 cell lines were inoculated into Matrigel and grown up to 9 days in hepatocyte specific or standard RPMI media. Spheroid formation was followed by light microscopy. Matrigel scaffolds were immobilized and embedded in paraffin, and sections were subjected to H&E and immunohistochemical staining for different hepatobiliary biomarkers. Stained material was examined under light microscopy and micro photo were taken.Results: Organoid-like structures were obtained successfully from all selected cell lines except mesenchymal-like SNU475 cells. Hep3B, Huh7, and HepG2 cell lines from hepatoblast-like sub-group formed compact 3D colonies and showed hepatocyte-like morphology and staining with different hepatocyte lineage markers as well as hepatobiliary progenitor markers. SNU398 and SNU449 cell lines from mesenchymal-like group formed irregular and loose 3D colonies that expressed vimentin homogeneously, but also several epithelial and hepatocyte lineage markers. The pattern of biomarker expression was unique for each cell line tested. Such features, not observed in tested monolayer cultures were confirmed with single-cell derived Hep3B cells.Conclusion: We described experimental conditions to obtain organoid-like structures from five different HCC cell lines representing hepatoblast-like and mesenchymal-like subgroups. These models are useful as an alternative to monolayer cultures to study phenotypic features of HCC cells. Our detailed analysis of biomarker expression in five different organoid-like structures provide convincing evidence for highly specific phenotypic features of these cell lines although they share some common or subtype-restricted features also

Elevated hepatocyte growth factor expression as an autocrine c‐Met activation mechanism in acquired resistance to sorafenib in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer and the third leading cause of cancer‐related deaths worldwide. Limitations in HCC treatment result due to poor prognosis and resistance against traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapies. The multikinase inhibitor sorafenib is the only FDA approved drug available for advanced HCC patients, and development of second‐line treatment options for patients who cannot tolerate or develop resistance to sorafenib is an urgent medical need. In this study, we established sorafenib‐resistant cells from Huh7 and Mahlavu cell lines by long‐term sorafenib exposure. Sorafenib‐resistant HCC cells acquired spindle‐shape morphology, upregulated mesenchymal markers, and showed significant increase in both migration and invasion abilities compared to their parental counterparts. Moreover, after long‐term sorafenib treatment, HCC cells showed induction of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) synthesis and secretion along with increased levels of c‐Met kinase and its active phosphorylated form, indicating autocrine activation of HGF/c‐Met signaling. Importantly, the combined treatment of the resistant cells with c‐Met kinase inhibitor SU11274 and HGF neutralizing antibody significantly reversed the increased invasion ability of the cells. The combined treatment also significantly augmented sorafenib‐induced apoptosis, suggesting restoration of sorafenib sensitivity. These results describe, for the first time, compensatory upregulation of HGF synthesis leading to autocrine activation of HGF/c‐Met signaling as a novel cellular strategy in the acquisition of sorafenib resistance. Therefore, we suggest that combinatorial therapeutic strategies with HGF and c‐Met inhibitors comprise promising candidates for overcoming sorafenib resistance

Increased telomerase activity in major depressive disorder with melancholic features: Possible role of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor

The biological mechanisms responsible for depression symptoms are not yet understood. For this reason, it is important to reveal the etiopathogenetic mechanisms in this disease. This study aims to compare the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), and telomerase activity in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls. Plasma BDNF, interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1beta, and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) levels, and telomerase activity were measured in 39 patients with major depression and 39 healthy controls matched with patients in terms of age, gender, and education year. Plasma concentration of BDNF, IL-6 levels, and telomerase activity was significantly different between patients with MDD and healthy controls. Correlation analysis showed a positive trend between plasma BDNF levels and plasma IL-6 levels in patients with MDD with melancholic features. Furthermore, the path analysis results showed that the telomerase activity was indirectly affected by gender, IL-1β, IL-6, BDNF, and BMI, via the severity of depression and anxiety and MDD status as the mediators. Further studies are needed to examine the molecular mechanism of the telomerase activity and the role of BDNF and pro-inflammatory cytokines in the telomerase activation in MDD

TAp73 alpha is Upregulated in the Most Common Human Cancers

The transcription factor p73 is a member of the p53 tumor suppressor gene family and one of the key regulators of apoptosis. TP73 gene encodes two protein isoforms classes with diverse functions, TAp73 and DNp73, and TAp73 expression in tumor tissues is altered. Unlike the TP53 gene, TP73 is not mutated in cancers. Here, we sought to explore the expression of p73 isoforms across eight major cancer types using the publicly available data deposited at the GDC data portal and the TSVdb database. Our results showed that TAp73 alpha is overexpressed in breast invasive carcinoma, stomach adenocarcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma, and esophageal carcinoma tumors, whereas the expression of DNp73 isoforms is downregulated in breast invasive carcinoma (DNp73 alpha,beta,gamma), Prostate Adenocarcinoma (DNp73 beta), Lung Adenocarcinoma (DNp73 alpha), Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma (DNp73 alpha) tumors. In summary, this study revealed that TAp73 alpha has higher expression than the DNp73 isoforms in several cancer types

Synthesis and Studies of Anticancer and Antimicrobial Activity of New Phenylurenyl Chalcone Derivatives

Background: Phenylurenyl chalcone structures have the potential to act as a scaffold in anticancer drug discovery. Methods: N-Phenethyl-N'-{4-[(2E)-3-phenylprop-2-enoyl]phenyl}urea, 4/3-[(2E)-3-substitutedphenylprop-2-enoyl]phenyl}-N-phenylurea,4/3-[(2E)-3-substitutedphenylprop-2-enoyl]phenyl}-N-methylphenyl urea and {4/3-[(2E)-3-substitutedphenylprop-2-enoyl]phenyl}-N-ethylphenyl urea derivatives(1-35) were prepared and evaluated for their anticancer and antimicrobial activity against A-549 Hep-3B, HT-29, CF-7, PC-3, K-562 NIH-3T3 and Huh-7 cell lines and against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027), Escherichia coli (ATCC 8739) and Candida albicans (ATCC 10231), respectively. Results: While compounds 2, 26, 29, and 34 showed moderate cytotoxic activity on cell line Huh 7, compounds 14 (IC50: 6.42 mu M), 16 (IC50: 5.64 mu M), 19 (IC50: 6.95 mu M) and 34 (IC50: 6.87 mu M) showed good cytotoxic activity on Huh-7 cell line close to Sorafenib (IC50: 4.29 mu M) (as reference). MIC values of compounds 4 and 22 against E. coli were 25 mu g/ml, compounds 3, 14 and 29 against P. aeruginosa 25 mu g/ml, and compounds 11 and 33 against S. aureus 25 mu g/ml. On the other hand, the minimum inhibitory concentration of all tested compounds against C. albicans was 25 mu g/ml. Conclusion: N-Phenethyl-N'-{4-[(2E)-3-phenylprop-2-enoyl]phenyl}urea may be a new candidate to be developed as an anticancer compound

TAp73β Can Promote Hepatocellular Carcinoma Dedifferentiation.

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