Isomorphic Fluorescent Nucleosides Facilitate Real-Time Monitoring of RNA Depurination by Ribosome Inactivating Proteins

Ribosome-inactivating proteins, a family of highly cytotoxic proteins, interfere with protein synthesis by depurinating a specific adenosine residue within the conserved α-sarcin/ricin loop of eukaryotic ribosomal RNA. Besides being biological warfare agents, certain RIPs have been promoted as potential therapeutic tools. Monitoring their deglycosylation activity and their inhibition in real time have remained, however, elusive. Herein, we describe the enzymatic preparation and utility of consensus RIP hairpin substrates in which specific G residues, next to the depurination site, are surgically replaced with ^tzG and ^thG, fluorescent G analogs. By strategically modifying key positions with responsive fluorescent surrogate nucleotides, RIP-mediated depurination can be monitored in real time by steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy. Subtle differences observed in preferential depurination sites provide insight into the RNA folding as well as RIPs’ substrate recognition features.     

化学与酶促相结合合成并克隆核糖体失活蛋白Gelonin基因

利用已知Gelonin的氨基酸序，逆向推算出整个基因的碱基序列，根据E.coli的密码子偏爱性和后续基因克隆的需要，通过沉默突变设计相应的酶切位点和碱基序列，将整个基因分为四段，每个片段约175－220pb，每一个片段中的互补链从5′末端用化学合成100－120的碱基单链，其中两个链的3′末端有20个互补碱基。利用T4DNA聚合酶酶促添补成双链DNA，用分子克隆技术，分别构建重组子，然后再构建成含整个Gelonin基因的表达载体pET-gel进行表面，经诱导后，获得了一个28000的重组蛋白，并主要以可溶形式存在。     

Induction of Apoptosis via Inactivating PI3K/AKT Pathway in Colorectal Cancer Cells Using Aged Chinese Hakka Stir-Fried Green Tea Extract

Food extract supplements, with high functional activity and low side effects, play a recognized role in the adjunctive therapy of human colorectal cancer. The present study reported a new functional beverage, which is a type of Chinese Hakka stir-fried green tea (HSGT) aged for several years. The extracts of the lyophilized powder of five HSGT samples with different aging periods were analyzed with high-performance liquid chromatography. The major components of the extract were found to include polyphenols, catechins, amino acids, catechins, gallic acid and caffeine. The tea extracts were also investigated for their therapeutic activity against human colorectal cancer cells, HT-29, an epithelial cell isolated from the primary tumor. The effect of different aging time of the tea on the anticancer potency was compared. Our results showed that, at the cellular level, all the extracts of the aged teas significantly inhibited the proliferation of HT-29 in a concentration-dependent manner. In particular, two samples prepared in 2015 (15Y, aged for 6 years) and 2019 (19Y, aged for 2 years) exhibited the highest inhibition rate for 48 h treatment (cell viability was 50% at 0.2 mg/mL). Further, all the aged tea extracts examined were able to enhance the apoptosis of HT-29 cells (apoptosis rate > 25%) and block the transition of G1/S phase (cell-cycle distribution (CSD) from <20% to >30%) population to G2/M phase (CSD from nearly 30% to nearly 10%) at 0.2 mg/mL for 24 h or 48 h. Western blotting results also showed that the tea extracts inhibited cyclin-dependent kinases 2/4 (CDK2, CDK4) and CylinB1 protein expression, as well as increased poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PRAP) expression and Bcl2-associated X (Bax)/B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl2) ratio. In addition, an upstream signal of one of the above proteins, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) signalling, was found to be involved in the regulation, as evidenced by the inhibition of phosphorylated PI3K and AKT by the extracts of the aged tea. Therefore, our study reveals that traditional Chinese aged tea (HSGT) may inhibit colon cancer cell proliferation, cell-cycle progression and promoted apoptosis of colon cancer cells by inactivating PI3K/AKT signalling.     

In Vitro Evolution and Selection of Proteins: Ribosome Display for Larger Libraries

The cell-free production of large protein libraries can now be achieved with the ribosome display technique. The use of intact ribosomes (R) in the translation of a mRNA library enables the rapid selection of the generated proteins (P) according to their affinity to a given immobilized binding partner (B).     

温度及药物诱导肿瘤细胞凋亡的实验观察

将微量热法和透射电镜技术相结合,研究了温度对人卵巢癌细胞代谢的影响,不同温度下癌细胞超微结构的变化和加抗肿瘤药物(嘧福绿)的协同作用.从宏观到微观,深入探讨了热疗与化疗协同作用对肿瘤细胞杀伤作用的机理.实验结果表明,在高温下细胞代谢降低,肿瘤细胞的形态发生一系列恶性变化,且高热可能诱导肿瘤细胞的凋亡;热疗加化疗的协同作用则能加速肿瘤细胞的凋亡,使细胞的能量代谢更低,随着作用时间的延长,最终导致细胞死亡.     

以肿瘤凋亡相关蛋白和基因为靶的小分子*

细胞凋亡的调控作为治疗肿瘤的新兴手段,近年来受到广泛关注。本文对细胞凋亡途径中的重要靶点,包括Bcl-2,IAP,p53等的结构及作用机制作了较详尽的阐述,并且总结了针对上述不同靶点的对细胞凋亡进行调控的化学小分子的研究。在对这些研究现状进行分析的基础上,对该研究领域下一步的发展方向提出了我们的观点。     

MDM2-Associated Clusterization-Triggered Emission and Apoptosis Induction Effectuated by a Theranostic Spiropolymer

Heteroatom-containing spiropolymers were constructed in a facile manner by a catalyst-free multicomponent spiropolymerization route. P1a2b as the most potent of these spiropolymers, demonstrates cluster-triggered emission resulting from strong interactions with the MDM2 protein. By preventing the anti-apoptotic p53/MDM2 interaction, P1a2b triggers apoptosis in cancerous cells, while demonstrating a good biocompatibility and non-toxicity in non-cancerous cells. The combined results from solution and cell-based cluster-triggered emission studies, docking, protein expression experiments and cytotoxicity data strongly support the MDM2-binding hypothesis and indicate a potential application as a fluorescent cancer marker as well as therapeutic for this spiropolymer.     

Kinetic Analysis of Apoptosis Induction in Human Cell Lines by UVA and 8-MOP

Whereas previous studies have indicated that DNA damage as a result of 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) and UVA treatment leads to cell death, this study establishes the minimum concentrations of 8-MOP and UVA necessary to induce apoptosis in human T-lymphocytic and mono-cytic cell lines. In order to assess apoptosis, we used fluorescent microscopy to examine changes in light scattering as well as internucleosomal DNA fragmentation. Generation of a dose response curve showed that the minimum combination of UVA and 8-MOP that was necessary to induce greater than background levels of apoptosis within 24 h of treatment was 0.5 J/cm² UVA and 12.5 ng/mL of 8-MOP. A striking observation was that UVA alone at doses 1.0 J/cm², but not 8-MOP alone (6300 ng/mL), induced significant apoptosis in the Sup-T1 cell line within 24 h. Although the percentage of apoptotic Sup-T1 cells induced by UVA alone was not as great as that of 8-MOP and UVA in combination, a highly significant correlation between the product of the concentration of 8-MOP (ng/mL) times the dose of UVA (J/ cm²) and the percentage of apoptotic cells was observed. This correlation provides an important tool for studying the relationship of UVA-induced DNA damage to apoptosis induction. Moreover, it will provide a means by which early events in the apoptotic pathway can be dissected.     

Induction of DR5-Dependent Apoptosis by PGA2 through ATF4-CHOP Pathway

Prostaglandin (PG) A₂, a cyclopentenone PG, induced apoptosis in both HCT116 and HCT116 p53 −/− cells. Although PGA₂-induced apoptosis in HCT116 cells was dependent on the p53-DR5 pathway, the mechanism underlying PGA₂-induced apoptosis in HCT116 p53 −/− cells remains unknown. In this study, we observed that PGA₂ caused an increase of mRNA expression of DR5 and protein expression even in HCT116 p53 −/− cells, accompanied by caspase-dependent apoptosis. Knockdown of DR5 expression by RNA interference inhibited PGA₂-induced apoptosis in HCT116 p53 −/− cells. Parallel to the induction of apoptosis, PGA₂ treatment upregulated expression of genes upstream of DR5 such as ATF4 and CHOP. Knockdown of CHOP prevented DR5-dependent cell death as well as the expression of DR5 protein. Furthermore, knockdown of ATF4 by RNA interference decreased both mRNA and protein levels of CHOP and DR5, thereby suppressing PGA₂-induced cell death. Consistently, the DR5 promoter activity increased by PGA₂ was not stimulated when the CHOP binding site in the DR5 promoter was mutated. These results collectively suggest that PGA₂ may induce DR5-dependent apoptosis via the ATF4-CHOP pathway in HCT116 p53 null cells.     

3,4,5-三羟基苯甲酸通过线粒体途径诱导人肝癌细胞SMMC-7721的凋亡

采用四甲基偶氮唑盐(MTT)观察3,4,5-三羟基苯甲酸(TBA)对人肝癌SMMC-7721细胞的增殖抑制作用; 通过流式细胞仪检测细胞凋亡、细胞内活性氧(ROS)及线粒体膜电位的变化, 用比色法测定Caspase-9和Caspase-3蛋白活性, 探讨TBA 诱导SMMC-7721细胞凋亡的分子机制. 研究结果表明, TBA对SMMC-7721细胞生长具有显著的抑制作用并诱导其凋亡, 诱导SMMC-7721细胞凋亡作用可能通过线粒体信号传导通路实现.     

Lupane Triterpene Derivatives Improve Antiproliferative Effect on Leukemia Cells through Apoptosis Induction

Leukemia is one of the most frequent types of cancer. No effective treatment currently exists, driving a search for new compounds. Simple structural modifications were made to novel triterpenes isolated from Phoradendron wattii. Of the three resulting derivatives, 3α-methoxy-24-hydroxylup-20(29)-en-28-oic acid (T1m) caused a decrease in the median inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) on the K562 cell line. Its mode of action was apparently apoptosis, ROS generation, and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). Molecular docking analysis showed T1m to produce lower binding energies than its precursor for the Bcl-2 and EGFR proteins. Small, simple, and viable modifications to triterpenes can improve their activity against leukemia cell lines. T1m is a potentially promising element for future research. Clarifying the targets in its mode of action will improve its applicability.     

Portuguese Propolis Antitumoral Activity in Melanoma Involves ROS Production and Induction of Apoptosis

Melanoma is the most aggressive and life-threatening skin cancer type. The melanoma genome is the most frequently mutated, with the BRAF mutation present in 40–60% of melanoma cases. BRAF-mutated melanomas are characterized by a higher aggressiveness and progression. Adjuvant targeted treatments, such as BRAF and MEK inhibitors, are added to surgical excision in BRAF-mutated metastatic melanomas to maximize treatment effectiveness. However, resistance remains the major therapeutic problem. Interest in natural products, like propolis, for therapeutic applications, has increased in the last years. Propolis healing proprieties offer great potential for the development of novel cancer drugs. As the activity of Portuguese propolis has never been studied in melanoma, we evaluated the antitumoral activity of propolis from Gerês (G18.EE) and its fractions (n-hexane, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and n-butanol) in A375 and WM9 melanoma cell lines. Results from DPPH•/ABTS• radical scavenging assays indicated that the samples had relevant antioxidant activity, however, this was not confirmed in the cell models. G18.EE and its fractions decreased cell viability (SRB assay) and promoted ROS production (DHE/Mitotracker probes by flow cytometry), leading to activation of apoptotic signaling (expression of apoptosis markers). Our results suggest that the n-BuOH fraction has the potential to be explored in the pharmacological therapy of melanoma.     

A Requirement for Bid for Induction of Apoptosis by Photodynamic Therapy with a Lysosome- but Not a Mitochondrion-targeted Photosensitizer

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) with lysosome-targeted photosensitizers induces the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis via the cleavage and activation of the BH3-only protein Bid by proteolytic enzymes released from photodisrupted lysosomes. To investigate the role of Bid in apoptosis induction and the role of damaged lysosomes on cell killing by lysosome-targeted PDT, we compared the responses of wild type and Bid-knock-out murine embryonic fibroblasts toward a mitochondrion/endoplasmic reticulum-binding photosensitizer, Pc 4, and a lysosome-targeted sensitizer, Pc 181. Whereas apoptosis and overall cell killing were induced equally well by Pc 4-PDT in both cell lines, Bid^−/− cells were relatively resistant to induction of apoptosis and to overall killing following PDT with Pc 181, particularly at low PDT doses. Thus, Bid is critical for the induction of apoptosis caused by PDT with the lysosome-specific sensitizers, but dispensable for PDT targeted to other membranes.     

Involvement of Heat-Shock Protein 70 and P53 Proteins in Attenuation of UVC-lnduced Apoptosis by Thermal Stress in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Induction of apoptosis is a function of external stimuli and cellular gene expression. Many cells respond to DNA damage by the induction of apoptosis, which depends on a functional p53 protein and is signaled by elevation of p53 levels. In this study, we found that a prior exposure to mild stress (42 degrees C) can protect HepG2 (p53+/+) cells from a subsequent UVC-induced apoptosis determined by DNA fragmentation and ratio of sub-G1 peak, but no heat-enhanced protection was found in Hep3B (p53-/-) cells. Although a similar inductive pattern of HSP70 protein and mRNA was detected in the two cell lines under thermal stress, the effect of thermal stress on UVC-induced apoptosis in HepG2 and Hep3B cells was obviously different. Overexpression of HSP70 by transient transfection of HSP70 expression vector in HepG2 cells significantly inhibited UVC-induced cell death; however, this inhibitory effect did not occur in transfected-Hep3B cells. Treatment of HepG2 cells with p53-specific antisense oligonucleotide could effectively block the antiapoptotic effect of thermal stress on UVC-induced apoptosis and increase of intracellular wild-type p53 protein by transfecting wtp53 expression plasmid into Hep3B cells yielded more resistance to UVC irradiation after prior thermal stress exposure. The results reveal an involvement of p53 in the antiapoptotic effect of thermal stress on UVC irradiation. Finally, a p53 protein increase was detected in UVC-treated HepG2 cells and could be coimmunoprecipitated with HSP70 after a thermal stress treatment. Prolonged p53 binding activity and enhanced expression of p53-controlled genes such as G1 arrest and DNA damage 45 and wild-type p53 activation factor 1/Cdk-interacting protein 1 by thermal stress are also observed in UVC-irradiated HepG2 cells. Based on these results, we propose that the antiapoptotic effect of thermal stress is mediated by increasing HSP70 and modulating intracellular p53 function.     

Chemical Methods of Studying Ribosome Structure

The use of chemical methods, and in particular affinity labeling, has greatly advanced our knowledge about the structure of the active sites of ribosomes. Experiments have shown that ribosomal proteins and ribosomal ribonucleic acids participate in the structure of the binding sites for messenger ribonucleic acid and transfer ribonucleic acid.     

MDM2‐Associated Clusterization‐Triggered Emission and Apoptosis Induction Effectuated by a Theranostic Spiropolymer

Heteroatom‐containing spiropolymers were constructed in a facile manner by a catalyst‐free multicomponent spiropolymerization route. P1a2b as the most potent of these spiropolymers, demonstrates cluster‐triggered emission resulting from strong interactions with the MDM2 protein. By preventing the anti‐apoptotic p53/MDM2 interaction, P1a2b triggers apoptosis in cancerous cells, while demonstrating a good biocompatibility and non‐toxicity in non‐cancerous cells. The combined results from solution and cell‐based cluster‐triggered emission studies, docking, protein expression experiments and cytotoxicity data strongly support the MDM2‐binding hypothesis and indicate a potential application as a fluorescent cancer marker as well as therapeutic for this spiropolymer.     

Enhanced Induction of Apoptosis in HaCaT Cells by Luteolin Encapsulated in PEGylated Liposomes—Role of Caspase-3/Caspase-14

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Luteolin, a naturally derived polyphenol, has shown to induce apoptosis in HaCaT cells. Its role in induction of caspase-14 and thus in the terminal...     

Ribosome crystallization in nuclei of chick embryos

Ribosome crystallization within nuclei has been studied in chick embryos with procedures which increase its frequency by various orders of magnitude as compared to previous findings. The extrusion of ribosome microcrystals from nuclei is reported for the first time, and a model for the transfer of ribosomes from nucleus to cytoplasm is proposed.