• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2009

In this paper, to elucidate the further mechanisms of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG)-induced growth arrest, we investigated the effect of MNNG on cell cycle and proliferation in U937 cells, a p53-null human myeloid leukemia cell line. It was found that MNNG causes an arrest at the G2/M phase of the cell cycle and induces apoptosis, which is closely correlated to inhibition of cyclin B1 and cyelin-dependent kinase (Cdk) 2-associated kinase activities. MNNG treatment in. creased protein and mRNA levels of the Cdk inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1), and activated the reporter construct of a p21 promoter. By using p21 promoter deletion constructs, the MNNG-responsive element was mapped to a region between 113 and 61 relative to the transcription start site. These data indicate that in U937 cells MNNG can circumvent the loss of wild-type p53 function and induce critical downstream regulatory events leading to transcriptional activation of p21. Present results indicate that the p53-independent up-regulation of p21 by MNNG is likely responsible for the inhibition of cyclin/Cdk complex kinase activity rather than the down-regulation of cyclins and Cdks expression. These novel phenomena have not been previously described and provide important new insights into the possible biological effects of MNNG.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.91.2-91.2
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• 2003

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) regulate the cell division cycle, apoptosis, transcription and differentiation. Inhibition of CDK is a promising target in development of anti-cancer agents. An indirubin analog (AGM01l), a CDK inhibitor, is a synthetic compound that inhibits human cancer cell growth in vitro. AGM01l showed a potent cytotoxicity in cultured human cancer cell lines (IC$\sub$50/ = 5.43 ${\mu}$M for A549, human colon cancer cell; IC$\sub$50/ = 1.21 ${\mu}$M for SNU-638, human stomach cancer cell; IC$\sub$50/ 9.23 ${\mu}$M for HL-60, human leukemia cell). (omitted)

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.800-808
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• 2004

Resveratrol, a phytoalexin found at high levels in grapes and in grape products such as red wine, has been reported to possess a wide range of biological and pharmacological activities including antioxident, anti-inflammatory, anti-mutagenic, and anti-carcinogenic effects. According to recent studies, this compound is an effective inhibitor of cell growth in general, triggers partial arrest of the cell cycle and induce apoptosis. In this study, the anti-proliferative effects of resveratrol in A549 human lung carcinoma cells were investigated. It is shown that resveratrol induced the growth inhibition in a time-dependent manner and morphological changes of A549 cells, which were associated with induction of S phase arrest of the cell cycle and apoptotic cell death. The Bcl-$X_L$levels were markedly down-regulated in resveratrol treated cells, however, Bax and Bcl-2 were remained unchanged. Resveratrol treatment induced the proteolytic degradation of Sp-l and proliferating cell nuclear antigen protein, and inhibited the expression of $\beta$-catenin protein. Resveratrol treatment also induced a marked up-regulation of cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p21 and inhibited the kinase activities of Cdk2 and Cdk4. In addition, resveratrol treatment inhibited the levels of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 mRNA and protein, and the release of prostagladin E2 without alteration of COX-1 expression. Taken together, these findings suggest that resveratrol may be a potential chemotherapeutic agent for the control of human lung carcinorma cells.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.27
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• pp.10.1-10.7
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• 2012

Objectives: In recent years, a number of structurally diverse Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have been identified and these HDAC inhibitors induce growth arrest, differentiation and/or apoptosis of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. This study aimed at investigating the antitumor activity of newly synthesized HDAC inhibitor, 3-(4-dimethylamino phenyl)-N-hydroxy-2-propenamide (IN-2001) using human breast cancer cells. Methods: We have synthesized a new HDAC inhibitor, IN-2001, and cell proliferation inhibition assay with this chemical in estrogen receptor-positive human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Cell cycle analysis on MCF-7 cells treated with IN-2001 was carried out by flow cytometry and gene expression was measured by RT-PCR. Results: In MCF-7 cells IN-2001 showed remarkable anti-proliferative effects in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In MCF-7 cells, IN-2001 showed a more potent growth inhibitory effect than that of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid. These growth inhibitory effects were related to the cell cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis. IN-2001 showed accumulation of cells at $G_2$/M phase and of the sub-$G_1$ population in a time-dependent manner, representing apoptotic cells. IN-2001-mediated cell cycle arrest was associated with HDAC inhibitor-mediated induction of CDK inhibitor expression. In MCF-7 cells, IN-2001 significantly increased $p21^{WAF1}$ expression. Conclusions: In summary, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) induced growth inhibition, possibly through modulation of cell cycle and apoptosis regulatory proteins, such as CDK inhibitors, and cyclins. Taken together, these results provide an insight into the utility of HDAC inhibitors as a novel chemotherapeutic regime for hormone-sensitive and insensitive breast cancer.

• BMB Reports
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.529-534
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• 2011

Ribosomal protein S3 (rpS3) is a multifunctional protein involved in translation, DNA repair, and apoptosis. The relationship between rpS3 and cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) involved in cell cycle regulation is not yet known. Here, we show that rpS3 is phosphorylated by Cdk1 in G2/M phase. Co-immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down assays revealed that Cdk1 interacted with rpS3. An in vitro kinase assay showed that Cdk1 phosphorylated rpS3 protein. Phosphorylation of rpS3 increased in nocodazole-arrested mitotic cells; however, treatment with Cdk1 inhibitor or Cdk1 siRNA significantly attenuated this phosphorylation event. The phosphorylation of a mutant form of rpS3, T221A, was significantly reduced compared with wild-type rpS3. Decreased phosphorylation and nuclear accumulation of T221A was much more pronounced in G2/M phase. These results suggest that the phosphorylation of rpS3 by Cdk1 occurs at Thr221 during G2/M phase and, moreover, that this event is important for nuclear accumulation of rpS3.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.191-198
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• 2005

The effects of 6-aminonicotinamide (6-AN) on viability of IMR32 neuroblastoma cells in the presence of ATP or $NAD^+$ have been investigated. 6-AN caused marked reduction in cell viability and similar observations were also made with cells treated with 6-AN+ATP. However, cells treated with $6-AN+NAD^+$ showed cell viability similar to untreated cells. Morphologically, 6-AN and 6-AN+ATP treated cells showed loss of neurites, polyhedric shapes, shrinkage of cell bodies and formation of lysed cells, while $6-AN+NAD^+$ cells did not show any such changes. The flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that 6-AN increased cell population in $G_0/G_1$ phase and decreased cell population in Sand $G_2/M$ phase following a 72 h exposure. Western blot analysis showed that 6-AN stimulated a substantial increase in the level of the cdk inhibitor $p27^{kip1}$, but lowered the levels of cdk2, cyclin E and p-Rb. However, cdc25A and p53R2 were not significantly affected. Immunofluorscence staining of $p27^{kip1}$, cdk2, cyclin E and p-Rb revealed close correlation between the signal observed in the Western blot analysis. 6AN+ATP treated cells showed similar results obtained with 6-AN treated cells in expression of cdk2, cyclin E, p-Rb proteins and $p27^{kip1}$, $6-AN+NAD^+$ cells showed greater expression of cdk2, cyclin E and p-Rb than those in 6-AN and 6-AN+ATP treated cells. The results suggest that 6-AN induced the $G_0/G_1$ phase arrest in IMR32 neuroblastoma cell lines through the increase of $p27^{kip1}$ and the decrease of cdk2, cyclin E and p-Rb.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.828-833
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• 2006

Maize (Zea mays L.) pistil cell death and stamen cell arrest are pivotal process on the sex determination, which diverges from bisexual state of floral meristem to unisexual state in staminate or pistillate floret. We investigated the temporal and spatial distribution of cell cycle gene expression during maize sex determination. The positive regulatory genes of cell cycle, cyclin A, cyclin B, cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) and Mad2 were highly expressed in the developing pistil and stamen but the expression was disappeared in the dying pistil and arresting stamens. In contrast, the negative regulatory genes of cell cycle, Wee1 and CDK inhibitor (CKI) were expressed in the arresting stamens in the wild-type ear and tasselseed2 mutant tassel, however, these genes were not detected in dying pistil although the cyclin B gene expression was disappeared. These results suggest that both the pistil cell death and stamen cell arrest process in maize sex determination are involved in cell cycle regulation, but the different expression patterns of negative regulatory cell cycle genes in the arresting stamens and aborting pistils suggest that the two processes may have distinctive modes of action.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2020

Objective: The aim of the study was to perform a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials to compare the clinical efficacy and safety between combination of cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4/6 inhibitors with aromatase inhibitors (AIs) and AIs alone in patients with hormone receptor+/human epidermal growth factor receptor type2-(HR+/HER2-) advanced breast cancer. Methods: Published clinical studies were identified through electronic database searches until February 2019. Literature qualities were assessed by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network Checklist. Key endpoints of efficacy were progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and clinical benefit (CB). Endpoints of safety were adverse events (AEs) (neutropenia, leukopenia, any grade 3/4 AEs, and serious AEs) and on-treatment death. Meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.3 software. Results: The selected five studies were evaluated as "good" in quality assessment. Compared to AIs alone, the combination therapy significantly improved PFS (pooled hazard ratio=0.55; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.49-0.62), ORR (odds ratio=1.78; 95% CI=1.49-2.13), and CB (odds ratio=1.86; 95% CI=1.51-2.28). The prevalence of AEs was significantly higher in the combination group than in the AIs alone group. On-treatment death was greater in the combination group than in the AIs alone group, although insignificant. Conclusion: The combination therapy of CDK4/6 inhibitors with AIs was more effective for the treatment of HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer, but less safe than AIs alone. The combination therapy should be effectively managed through patient monitoring, and further studies are needed to reduce AEs in the combination therapy of CDK4/6 inhibitors with AIs.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.598-604
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• 2006

The $Ca^{2+}-activated$ neutral protease calpain induced proteolysis has been suggested to play a role in certain cell growth regulatory proteins. Cyclin proteolysis is essential for cell cycle progression. D-type cyclins, which form an assembly with cyclin-dependent kinases (cdk4 and cdk6), are synthesized earlier in G1 of the cell cycle and seem to be induced in response to external signals that promote entry into the cell cycle. Here we show that cyclin D3 protein levels are regulated at the posttranscriptional level by calpain protease. Treatment of human breast carcinoma MDA-MB-231 cells with lovastatin and actinomycin D resulted in a loss of cyclin D3 protein that was completely reversible by the peptide aldehyde calpain inhibitor, LLnL. The specific inhibitor of the 26S proteasome, lactacystin, the lysosome inhibitors, ammonium chloride and chloroquine, and the serine protease inhibitor, phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride (PMSF), did not block the degradation of cyclin D3 by lovastatin and actinomycin D. Results of in vitro degradation of cyclin D3 by purified calpain showed that cyclin D3 protein is degraded in a $Ca^{2+}-dependent$ manner, and the half-life of cyclin D3 protein was dramatically increased in LLnL treated cells. These data suggested that cyclin D3 protein is regulated by the $Ca^{2+}-activated$ protease calpain.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.213-219
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• 2003

We investigated the effects of Insamsapye-tang (ISSPT) water extract on the cell proliferation of human lung carcinoma A549 cells. ISSPT treatment resulted in the inhibition of cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. This anti-proliferative effect of A549 cells by ISSSPT treatment was associated with morphological changes such as membrane shrinking and cell rounding up. DNA flow cytometric histograms showed that population of G1 phase of the cell cycle was increased by ISSPT treatment in a concentration-dependent manner. ISSPT treatment induced the levels of tumor suppressor p53 protein and cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p27 without significant alteration of cyclins and Cdks expression. In addition, ISSPT treatment resulted in down-regulation of phosphorylated retinoblastoma protein (pRB). However, the levels of p130, the pRB family protein, and transcription factors. E2F-1 and E2F-4. were remained unchanged. The present results indicated that ISSPT-induced inhibition of lung cancer cell proliferation is associated with the blockage of G1/S progression and the induction of apoptosis, and we suggest that ISSPT will be an effective therapeutic agent on human lung cancer.