• 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.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2006

Natural product compounds are the source of numerous therapeutic agents. The marine environment produces natural products from a variety of structural classes exhibiting activity against numerous disease targets including anticancer agents. Among these, pectenotoxin-2 (PTX-2), which was first identified as a cytotoxic entity in marine sponges, which depolymerizes actin filaments, was found to be highly effective and more potent to activate an intrinsic pathway of apoptosis in p53-deficient tumor cells compared to those with functional p53 both in vitro and in vivo. However, the anti-proliferative mechanism of the compound at non-cytotoxic concentrations has not yet been explored. In the current study, we sought to investigate anti-proliferation and apoptosis of PTX-2 against U937 human leukemic cells and its underlying molecular mechanism. Exposure of U937 cells to PTX-2 resulted in growth inhibition and induction of apoptosis in dose- and time-dependent manner as measured by MTT assay, fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometric analysis. The anti-proliferative effect of PTX-2 was associated with a marked increase in the expression of cyclin-dependent kinase p21 (WAF1/CIP1) mRNA which was tumor suppressor p53-independent. The increase in apoptosis was connected with a time-dependent down-regulation of anti-apoptotic Bcl-XL and inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) family such as XIAP and cIAP-2. Though additional studies are needed, these findings suggested that PTX-2-induced inhibition of U937 cells was associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death and the results provided important new insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of PTX-2.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.287-294
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• 2016

The effect of kaempferol (3,5,7,4-tetrahydroxyflavone), a flavonoid compound that was identified in barnyard millet (Echinochloa crus-galli var. frumentacea) grains, on G₂-checkpoint and apoptotic pathways was investigated in human acute leukemia Jurkat T cell clones stably transfected with an empty vector (J/Neo) or a Bcl-xL expression vector (J/Bcl-xL). Exposure of J/Neo cells to kaempeferol caused cytotoxicity and activation of the ATM/ATR-Chk1/Chk2 pathway, activating the phosphorylation of p53 (Ser-15), inhibitory phosphorylation of Cdc25C (Ser-216), and inactivation of cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1), with resultant G₂-arrest of the cell cycle. Under these conditions, apoptotic events, including upregulation of Bak and PUMA levels, Bak activation, mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) loss, activation of caspase-9, -8, and -3, anti-poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage, and accumulation of apoptotic sub-G₁ cells, were induced without accompanying necrosis. However, these apoptotic events, except for upregulation of Bak and PUMA levels, were completely abrogated in J/Bcl-xL cells overexpressing Bcl-xL, suggesting that the G₂-arrest and the Bcl-xL-sensitive mitochondrial apoptotic events were induced, in parallel, as downstream events of the DNA-damage-mediated G₂-checkpoint activation. Together these results demonstrate that kaempferol-mediated antitumor activity toward Jurkat T cells was attributable to G₂-checkpoint activation, which caused not only G₂-arrest of the cell cycle but also activating phosphorylation of p53 (Ser-15) and subsequent induction of mitochondria-dependent apoptotic events, including Bak and PUMA upregulation, Bak activation, Δψm loss, and caspase cascade activation.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.148-154
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• 2015

Background: Ginseng is known to have antiapoptotic, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects. The present study investigated a possible role of Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) in suppressing dopaminergic neuronal cell death and the cleavage of p35 to p25 in the substantia nigra (SN) and striatum (ST) using a 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP)-induced Parkinson's disease mouse model. Methods: Ten-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were injected intraperitoneally with 30 mg/kg of MPTP at 24-h intervals for 5 d, and then administered KRG (1 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg, or 100 mg/kg) once a day for 12 consecutive days from the first injection. Pole tests were performed to assess the motor function of the mice, dopaminergic neuronal survival in the SN and ST was evaluated using tyrosine hydroxylase-immunohistochemistry, and the expressions of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5), p35, and p25 in the SN and ST were measured using Western blotting. Results: MPTP administration caused behavioral impairment, dopaminergic neuronal death, increased Cdk5 and p25 expression, and decreased p35 expression in the nigrostriatal system of mice, whereas KRG dose-dependently alleviated these MPTP-induced changes. Conclusion: These results indicate that KRG can inhibit MPTP-induced dopaminergic neuronal death and suppress the cleavage of p35 to p25 in the SN and the ST, suggesting a possible role for KRG in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.376-388
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• 2024

Purpose: Adipocyte dysfunction has been reported in diabetes, and stimulating thermogenesis and suppressing senescence in adipocytes potentially alleviates metabolic dysregulation. This study aimed to investigate thermogenesis and cellular senescence in diabetic adipocytes under basal conditions and in response to stimuli. Methods: White and brown primary adipocytes derived from control (CON) and db/db (DB) mice were treated with β-agonists, such as norepinephrine (NE) and CL316,243, and 18-carbon fatty acids, including stearic acid, oleic acid (OLA), linoleic acid (LNA), and α-linolenic acid, and the expression of the genes related to thermogenesis and cellular senescence was measured. Results: Although no difference in the thermogenic and cellular senescence gene expression in white adipose tissue (WAT) was noted between the CON and DB mice, brown adipose tissue (BAT) from the DB mice exhibited lower uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1) expression and higher cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (Cdkn)1a and Cdkn2a expression levels compared to that from the CON mice. Stromal vascular cells isolated from the BAT of the DB mice displayed higher peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (Pparg), CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (Cebpa), Cdkn1a, and Cdkn2a expression levels. White adipocytes from the DB mice exhibited lower Ucp1, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1 alpha (Pgc1a), and PR domain containing 16 (Prdm16) expression levels regardless of β-agonist treatment. NE upregulated Pgc1a in both white and brown adipocytes from the CON mice, but not in those from the DB mice. Although none of the fatty acids were observed to downregulate the cellular senescence genes in fully differentiated adipocytes, the OLA-treated brown adipocytes derived from DB mice exhibited lower Cdkn1a and Cdkn2b expression levels than the LNA-treated cells. Conclusion: These results indicate that the lower thermogenic capacity of diabetic adipocytes may be related to their cellular senescence, and different fatty acids potentially exert divergent effects on the expression of cellular senescence genes.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.471-480
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• 2024

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the regulation relationship of Ten-eleven translocation 1 (Tet1) in DNA demethylation and the proliferation of primordial germ cells (PGCs) in chickens. Methods: siRNA targeting Tet1 was used to transiently knockdown the expression of Tet1 in chicken PGCs, and the genomic DNA methylation status was measured. The proliferation of chicken PGCs was detected by flow cytometry analysis and cell counting kit-8 assay when activation or inhibition of Wnt4/β-catenin signaling pathway. And the level of DNA methylation and hisotne methylation was also tested. Results: Results revealed that knockdown of Tet1 inhibited the proliferation of chicken PGCs and downregulated the mRNA expression of Cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 6 (CDK6), as well as pluripotency-associated genes (Nanog, PouV, and Sox2). Flow cytometry analysis confirmed that the population of PGCs in Tet1 knockdown group displayed a significant decrease in the proportion of S and G2 phase cells, which meant that there were less PGCs entered the mitosis process than that of control. Furthermore, Tet1 knockdown delayed the entrance to G1/S phase and this inhibition was rescued by treated with BIO. Consistent with these findings, Wnt/β-catenin signaling was inactivated in Tet1 knockdown PGCs, leading to aberrant proliferation. Further analysis showed that the methylation of the whole genome increased significantly after Tet1 downregulation, while hydroxyl-methylation obviously declined. Meanwhile, the level of H3K27me3 was upregulated and H3K9me2 was downregulated in Tet1 knockdown PGCs, which was achieved by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Conclusion: These results suggested that the self-renewal of chicken PGCs and the maintenance of their characteristics were regulated by Tet1 mediating DNA demethylation through the activation of Wnt4/β-catenin signaling pathway.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2005

Cell response to genotoxic agents is complex and involves the participation of different classes of genes including cell cycle control, DNA repair and apoptosis. In this report, we presented a approach to characterize the cellular functions associated with the altered transcript profiles of MCF-7 exposed to low-dose in vitro gamma-irradiation. We used the method of human 2.4 k cDNA microarrays containing apoptosis, cell cycle, chromatin, repair, stress and chromosome genes to analyze the differential gene expression characterization that were displayed by radiation-exposed cell, human breast carcinoma MCF-7 cell line, such as 4 Gy 4 hr, 8 Gy 4 hr, and 8 Gy 12 hr. Among these genes, 66 were up-regulated and 49 were down-regulated. Specific genes were concomitantly induced in the results. Cyclin dependent kinase 4 (Cdk4) is induced for starting the cell cycle. This regulation is required for a DNA damage­induced G1 arrest. In addition to, an apoptotic pathways gene Bcl-w was concomitantly induced. Mismatch repair protein homologue-l (hMLH1), a necessary component of DNA mismatch protein repair (MMR), in G2-M cell cycle checkpoint arrest. The present study provides new information on the molecular mechanism underlying the cell response to genotoxic stress, with relevance to basic and clinical research.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.199-205
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• 2003

The p53 protein was discovered in 1979 as cellular 53-kD nuclear phosphoprotein bound to the large transforming antigen of SV40 virus. $P21^{WAF1/CIP1}$, which has been described as the critical downstream mediator of p53, is known to suppress DNA replication and arrest the G1 cell cycle by quaternary complex with cyclin D, cyclin-dependent kinase(CDK) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA). In these days, some studies shows that the p21 can be induced by independent pathways. There are various reports about the expression of p21 (67%.82.4%) in oral squamous cell carcinoma. But these studies are mostly done in malignant tumor not in benign tumor. So we decided to study the expression of p21 in ameloblastoma and the relationship between p53 and p21 as a downstream mediator of p53 in ameloblastoma. We investigated the expression of p21 and p53 with the method of immunohistochemistry. We selected 30 cases of ameloblastoma tissue blocks (acanthomatous type: 5 cases, follicular type: 8 cases, plexiform type: 17 cases) imbedded in paraffin. We used 30 cases of normal gingival tissues and 30 cases of squamous cell carcinoma tissues (SCC) respectively and compared their results with those of ameloblastoma. We made slides with the streptavidin-biotin methods and used monoclonal antibody DO-7 (Novocastra, Newcastle, United Kingdom) as p53 antibody and monoclonal antibody M7202 (DAKO, California, U.S.A.) as p21 antibody. We used Pearson's correlation coefficient to analyse the relationship. The results were as follows: 1. p21 was expressed in ameloblastoma about 30% and this is lower than that of normal gingiva and SCC. 2. In normal gingiva and ameloblastoma, p21 expression was correlated with p53 expression. 3. In SCC, p21 were expressed about 83.3% and this is more than that of p53. But there was no correlation between p21 and p53 expression. We confirmed p21 expression and relation with p53 in ameloblastoma. But, to confirm the function of p21, more studies about p21 expression in malignant ameloblastoma and ameloblastic carcinoma are needed.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.1787-1793
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• 2009

To investigate whether caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) could affect cancer cell viabilities and gene expression, human colorectal HCT116 cells were incubated with CAPE. CAPE decreased cancer cell viabilities and induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. To analyse differently expressed genes by CAPE, we performed oligo DNA microarray analysis. We found that 266 genes were up-regulated more than twofold, whereas 143 genes were down-regulated more than twofold by 24 hr of treatment with $20{\mu}M$ CAPE. Among the up-regulated genes, we selected 3 genes (NSAID activated gene-1 [NAG-1], cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A [CDKN1A, p21] and growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible alpha [GADD45A]) and performed reverse-transcription PCR to confirm microarray data. In addition, we found that CAPE increased NAG-1 gene and NAG-1 protein expression in a dose-dependent manner. And, several other phytochemicals (resveratrol, genistein, daidzein and capsaicin) also could induce NAG-1 expression in human colorectal HCT116 cells. However, CAPE was the highest inducer of NAG-1, even in low concentrations. Overall, these results imply that cancer cell death by CAPE is closely related with over-expression of NAG-1.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.3 s.70
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• pp.323-331
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• 2005

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of $\beta-lapachone$, a quinone obtained from the bark of the lapacho tree (Tabebuia avellanedae) in South America, on the cell growth of human hepatoma (HepG2) and bladder (T24) carcinoma cells. Exposure of cancer cells to $\beta-lapachone$ resulted in growth inhibition, morphological changes and apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner, which could be proved by MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analyses revealed that $\beta-lapachone$ did not affect the levels of tumor suppressor p53 and cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p21 (WAFl/CIPl) expression. However, the transcriptional factor Sp-l and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein levels were significantly down-regulated by $\beta-lapachone$ in both cell lines. Moreover, $\beta-lapachone$ treatment caused a dose-dependent inhibition of the expression of telomere regulatory gene products such as human telomere reverse transcriptase (hTERT) and telomerase-associated protein-l (TEP-l). Taken together, these findings suggest that $\beta-lapachone$-induced inhibition of human hepatoma and bladder carcinoma cell proliferation is associated with the induction of apoptotic cell death via modulation of several major growth regulatory gene products, and provide important new insights into the additional mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of $\beta-lapachone$.