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Influence of a Certain Gene on Phytochemical Therapy for Cancer, or Vise Versa

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioactives and Nutraceuticals".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (21 July 2021) | Viewed by 15345

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Dr. Won Sup Lee

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Guest Editor

Department of Internal Medicine, Institute of Health Sciences, Gyeongsang National University Hospital, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, Jinju 660-702, Republic of Korea
Interests: tumor suppressor gene; oncogene; phytochemials; targeted approach; cell death; molecular mechanisms; cancer therapy
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Dear Colleagues,

Cancer is the most dreadful disease, for which targeted therapies are widely used. The targeted therapies target specific proteins driven from gene expression that involved in growth or survival of cancer cells. With advances in the targeted therapy, personalized medicine or precision medicine had drawn a big attention. This treatment strategy is based on the gene expressions of a certain cancer. The abnormal gene expression of a certain cancer provides the information that how the cancer cells grow and show drug resistance. Theoretically personalized cancer management can produce higher efficacy and fewer side effects than conventional chemotherapy.

While on the personalized therapy, there is a growing perception that a certain gene expression can influence the efficacy of targeted and/or other conventional chemotherapies. Evidence suggests that phytochemical from natural herbs can induce anti-cancer effects without showing any noticeable toxicities by safely modulating cancer cell biology. The understanding of the influence of a certain gene expression on anti-cancer effects of phytochemical therapy from natural herbs or plant can trigger personalized medicine with the phytochemicals. Therefore, this special issue focus on the influence of a certain gene expression on phytochemical therapy for cancer or vise versa.

Dr. Won Sup Lee
Guest Editor

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Keywords

cancer therapy
anti-cancer effects
molecular mechanisms
genes
bioactive substance
phytochemicals
natural plant

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 14994 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Artemisia annua L. Polyphenol-Induced Cell Death Is ROS-Independently Enhanced by Inhibition of JNK in HCT116 Colorectal Cancer Cells

by Eun Joo Jung, Anjugam Paramanantham, Hye Jung Kim, Sung Chul Shin, Gon Sup Kim, Jin-Myung Jung, Chung Ho Ryu, Soon Chan Hong, Ky Hyun Chung, Choong Won Kim and Won Sup Lee

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(3), 1366; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22031366 - 29 Jan 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3041

Abstract

c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is activated by chemotherapeutic reagents including natural plant polyphenols, and cell fate is determined by activated phospho-JNK as survival or death depending on stimuli and cell types. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of JNK on the anticancer effects of the Korean plant Artemisia annua L. (pKAL) polyphenols in p53 wild-type HCT116 human colorectal cancer cells. Cell morphology, protein expression levels, apoptosis/necrosis, reactive oxygen species (ROS), acidic vesicles, and granularity/DNA content were analyzed by phase-contrast microscopy; Western blot; and flow cytometry of annexin V/propidium iodide (PI)-, dichlorofluorescein (DCF)-, acridine orange (AO)-, and side scatter pulse height (SSC-H)/DNA content (PI)-stained cells. The results showed that pKAL induced morphological changes and necrosis or late apoptosis, which were associated with loss of plasma membrane/Golgi integrity, increased acidic vesicles and intracellular granularity, and decreased DNA content through downregulation of protein kinase B (Akt)/β-catenin/cyclophilin A/Golgi matrix protein 130 (GM130) and upregulation of phosphorylation of H2AX at Ser-139 (γ-H2AX)/p53/p21/Bak cleavage/phospho-JNK/p62/microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3B (LC3B)-I. Moreover, JNK inhibition by SP600125 enhanced ROS-independently pKAL-induced cell death through downregulation of p62 and upregulation of p53/p21/Bak cleavage despite a reduced state of DNA damage marker γ-H2AX. These findings indicate that phospho-JNK activated by pKAL inhibits p53-dependent cell death signaling and enhances DNA damage signaling, but cell fate is determined by phospho-JNK as survival rather than death in p53 wild-type HCT116 cells. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Influence of a Certain Gene on Phytochemical Therapy for Cancer, or Vise Versa)

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13 pages, 2815 KiB

Open AccessArticle

α-Pinene Enhances the Anticancer Activity of Natural Killer Cells via ERK/AKT Pathway

by Hantae Jo, Byungsun Cha, Haneul Kim, Sofia Brito, Byeong Mun Kwak, Sung Tae Kim, Bum-Ho Bin and Mi-Gi Lee

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2021, 22(2), 656; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms22020656 - 11 Jan 2021

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 4684

Abstract

Natural killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes that can directly destroy cancer cells. When NK cells are activated, CD56 and CD107a markers are able to recognize cancer cells and release perforin and granzyme B proteins that induce apoptosis in the targeted cells. In this study, we focused on the role of phytoncides in activating NK cells and promoting anticancer effects. We tested the effects of several phytoncide compounds on NK-92mi cells and demonstrated that α-pinene treatment exhibited higher anticancer effects, as observed by the increased levels of perforin, granzyme B, CD56 and CD107a. Furthermore, α-pinene treatment in NK-92mi cells increased NK cell cytotoxicity in two different cell lines, and immunoblot assays revealed that the ERK/AKT pathway is involved in NK cell cytotoxicity in response to phytoncides. Furthermore, CT-26 colon cancer cells were allografted subcutaneously into BALB/c mice, and α-pinene treatment then inhibited allografted tumor growth. Our findings demonstrate that α-pinene activates NK cells and increases NK cell cytotoxicity, suggesting it is a potential compound for cancer immunotherapy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Influence of a Certain Gene on Phytochemical Therapy for Cancer, or Vise Versa)

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Figure 1

17 pages, 3500 KiB

Open AccessArticle

p53 Enhances Artemisia annua L. Polyphenols-Induced Cell Death Through Upregulation of p53-Dependent Targets and Cleavage of PARP1 and Lamin A/C in HCT116 Colorectal Cancer Cells

by Eun Joo Jung, Won Sup Lee, Anjugam Paramanantham, Hye Jung Kim, Sung Chul Shin, Gon Sup Kim, Jin-Myung Jung, Chung Ho Ryu, Soon Chan Hong, Ky Hyun Chung and Choong Won Kim

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(23), 9315; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms21239315 - 07 Dec 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2646

Abstract

Plant-derived natural polyphenols exhibit anticancer activity without showing any noticeable toxicities to normal cells. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of p53 on the anticancer effect of polyphenols isolated from Korean Artemisia annua L. (pKAL) in HCT116 human colorectal cancer cells. We confirmed that pKAL induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, propidium iodide (PI) uptake, nuclear structure change, and acidic vesicles in a p53-independent manner in p53-null HCT116 cells through fluorescence microscopy analysis of DCF/PI-, DAPI-, and AO-stained cells. The pKAL-induced anticancer effects were found to be significantly higher in p53-wild HCT116 cells than in p53-null by hematoxylin staining, CCK-8 assay, Western blot, and flow cytometric analysis of annexin V/PI-stained cells. In addition, expression of ectopic p53 in p53-null cells was upregulated by pKAL in both the nucleus and cytoplasm, increasing pKAL-induced cell death. Moreover, Western bot analysis revealed that pKAL-induced cell death was associated with upregulation of p53-dependent targets such as p21, Bax and DR5 and cleavage of PARP1 and lamin A/C in p53-wild HCT116 cells, but not in p53-null. Taken together, these results indicate that p53 plays an important role in enhancing the anticancer effects of pKAL by upregulating p53 downstream targets and inducing intracellular cell death processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Influence of a Certain Gene on Phytochemical Therapy for Cancer, or Vise Versa)

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16 pages, 3795 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Induction of Apoptosis by Coptisine in Hep3B Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells through Activation of the ROS-Mediated JNK Signaling Pathway

by So Young Kim, Hyun Hwangbo, Hyesook Lee, Cheol Park, Gi-Young Kim, Sung-Kwon Moon, Seok Joong Yun, Wun-Jae Kim, Jaehun Cheong and Yung Hyun Choi

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(15), 5502; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ijms21155502 - 31 Jul 2020

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4238

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a high mortality rate worldwide, and treatment is very limited due to its high recurrence and low diagnosis rate, and therefore there is an increasing need to develop more effective drugs to treat HCC. Coptisine is one of the isoquinoline alkaloids, and it has various pharmacological effects. However, the evidence for the molecular mechanism of the anticancer efficacy is still insufficient. Therefore, this study investigated the antiproliferative effect of coptisine on human HCC Hep3B cells and identified the action mechanism. Our results showed that coptisine markedly increased DNA damage and apoptotic cell death, which was associated with induction of death receptor proteins. Coptisine also significantly upregulated expression of proapoptotic Bax protein, downregulated expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein, and activated caspase-3, -8, and -9. In addition, coptisine remarkably increased the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and release of cytochrome c into the cytoplasm. However, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), a ROS scavenger, significantly attenuated the apoptosis-inducing effect of coptisine. It is worth noting that coptisine significantly upregulated phosphorylation of ROS-dependent c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), whereas treatment with JNK inhibitor could suppress an apoptosis-related series event. Taken together, our results suggest that coptisine has an anticancer effect in Hep3B cells through ROS-mediated activation of the JNK signaling pathway. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Influence of a Certain Gene on Phytochemical Therapy for Cancer, or Vise Versa)

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