WEI ZHENG¹, CHENG LIU^2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.48, No.2, pp. 293-301, 2024, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.044211

Abstract Objective: Intracranial aneurysm (IA) represents a devastating disease with high rates of disability and mortality, which is initiated by dysfunction of endothelial cells (ECs). Evidence suggests the dysregulation of the E3 ubiquitin ligase family during EC injury. In this work, the role of an E3 ubiquitin ligase, casitas B lymphoma-B (CBL-B), was explored in human brain microvascular EC (HBMEC) function through the NLRP3 pathway. Methods: In vitro IA model was induced by treating HBMECs with oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL). The levels of CBL-B and pyroptosis-related proteins NLRP3, ASC, cleaved caspase-1, and GSDME-N were determined by real-time-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and… More >

ZHENHUA LI¹, HUILAI LV¹, FAN ZHANG¹, ZIMING ZHU², QIANG GUO³, MINGBO WANG¹, CHAO HUANG¹, LIJUAN CHEN⁴, WENPAN ZHANG⁴, YUN LI^5,*, ZIQIANG TIAN^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.48, No.1, pp. 123-138, 2024, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.031568

Abstract Introduction: DNA polymerases are crucial for maintaining genome stability and influencing tumorigenesis. However, the clinical implications of DNA polymerases in tumorigenesis and their potential as anti-cancer therapy targets are not well understood. Methods: We conducted a systematic analysis using TCGA Pan-Cancer Atlas data and Gene Set Cancer Analysis results to examine the expression profiles of 15 DNA polymerases (POLYs) and their clinical correlations. We also evaluated the prognostic value of POLYs by analyzing their expression levels in relation to overall survival time (OS) using Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Additionally, we investigated the correlations between POLY expression and immune cells, DNA damage… More >

YUE XIAO^1,2,#, WENJING MA^2,#, XINYI CHEN², WEIWEI HU³, QIANQIAN DI², XIBAO ZHAO², GUODONG HUANG¹, WEILIN CHEN^1,2,*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.12, pp. 2617-2625, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.042476

Abstract Background: Glioma is the most common primary brain tumor. Exploration of new tumorigenesis mechanism of glioma is critical to determine more effective treatment targets as well as to develop effective prognosis methods that can enhance the treatment efficacy. We previously demonstrated that the deubiquitinase biquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L5 (UCHL5) was downregulated in human glioma. However, the effect and mechanism of UCHL5 on the proliferation of glioma cells remains unknown. Methods: Transfection of siRNA was used to knockdown the expression of UCHL5 in U251 cells. The 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, Edu assay, and colony formation assay were employed to… More > Graphic Abstract

ZIYU LIU^1,2, AKIKO OKANO^3,4, EMIKO SANADA^1,3,4, YUSHI FUTAMURA^3,4, TOSHIHIKO NOGAWA^3,5, KOSUKE ISHIKAWA⁶, KENTARO SEMBA^7,8, JIANG LI⁹, XIAOMENG LI¹⁰, HIROYUKI OSADA^3,4,11,*, NOBUMOTO WATANABE^1,2,4,*

Oncology Research, Vol.31, No.5, pp. 655-666, 2023, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.030248

Abstract

Myc belongs to a family of proto-oncogenes that encode transcription factors. The overexpression of c-Myc causes many types of cancers. Recently, we established a system for screening c-Myc inhibitors and identified antimycin A by screening the RIKEN NPDepo chemical library. The specific mechanism of promoting tumor cell metastasis by high c-Myc expression remains to be explained. In this study, we screened approximately 5,600 microbial extracts using this system and identified a broth prepared from Streptomyces sp. RK19-A0402 strongly inhibits c-Myc transcriptional activity. After purification of the hit broth, we identified compounds closely related to the aglycone of cytovaricin and had… More > Graphic Abstract

XINTONG LIU^1,2,3, EMIKO SANADA^1,3,4, JIANG LI⁵, XIAOMENG LI⁶, HIROYUKI OSADA^1,4,7,*, NOBUMOTO WATANABE^1,2,3,*

Oncology Research, Vol.31, No.5, pp. 645-654, 2023, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.030240

Abstract β-transducin repeat-containing protein (β-TrCP) is an F-box protein subunit of the E3 Skp1-Cullin-F box (SCF) type ubiquitin-ligase complex, and provides the substrate specificity for the ligase. To find potent ligands of β-TrCP useful for the proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) system using β-TrCP in the future, we developed a high-throughput screening system for small molecule β-TrCP ligands. We screened the chemical library utilizing the system and obtained several hit compounds. The effects of the hit compounds on in vitro ubiquitination activity of SCF^β-TrCP1 and on downstream signaling pathways were examined. Hit compounds NPD5943, NPL62020-01, and NPL42040-01 inhibited the TNFα-induced degradation of… More > Graphic Abstract

YUSEN ZHANG^1,2,3, LIPING LIU^1,2,3, BIWEI LUO^1,2,3, HONGGUI TANG^1,2,3, XIAOFANG YU^1,2,3, SHIYUN BAO^1,2,3,*

Oncology Research, Vol.31, No.3, pp. 317-331, 2023, DOI:10.32604/or.2023.028418

Abstract Background: Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) represents the epithelial cell cancer with high aggressiveness whose five-year survival rate is poor with standard treatment. Calcyclin-binding protein (CACYBP) shows aberrant expression within several malignant tumors, but the role of CACYBP in CCA remains unknown. Methods: Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis was used to identify CACYBP overexpression in clinical samples of CCA patients. Moreover, its correlation with clinical outcome was revealed. Furthermore, CACYBP’s effect on CCA cell growth and invasion was investigated in vitro and in vivo using loss-of-function experiments. Results: CACYBP showed up-regulation in CCA, which predicts the dismal prognostic outcome. CACYBP had an important effect on… More >

KAI DANG, HAFIZ MUHAMMAD UMER FAROOQ, YUAN GAO, XIAONI DENG, AIRONG QIAN^*

BIOCELL, Vol.47, No.2, pp. 269-281, 2023, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2023.023766

Abstract As a key coordinator of metabolism, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is vitally involved in skeletal muscle maintenance. AMPK exerts its cellular effects through its function as a serine/threonine protein kinase by regulating many downstream targets and plays important roles in the development and growth of skeletal muscle. AMPK is activated by phosphorylation and exerts its function as a kinase in many processes, including synthesis and degradation of proteins, mitochondrial biogenesis, glucose uptake, and fatty acid and cholesterol metabolism. Skeletal muscle atrophy is a result of various diseases or disorders and is characterized by a decrease in muscle mass. The pathogenesis… More >

Wenwei Jiang^*, Xinyu Cai^*, Tianyang Xu^*, Kaiyuan Liu^*, Dong Yang^*, Lin Fan^*, Guodong Li^*, Xiao Yu^†

Oncology Research, Vol.28, No.4, pp. 409-421, 2020, DOI:10.3727/096504020X15868639303417

Abstract Osteosarcoma (OS), the most common bone cancer, causes high morbidity in children and young adults. TRIM46 is a member of the family of tripartite motif (TRIM)-containing proteins that serve as important regulators of tumorigenesis. Here we investigate the possible role of TRIM46 in OS and the underlying molecular mechanism. We report an increase in the expression of TRIM46 in OS and its association with tumor size, Enneking’s stage, and patient prognosis. TRIM46 knockdown inhibits OS cell viability and cell cycle progression and induces apoptosis, while TRIM46 overexpression exerts inverse effects, which are inhibited by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR )… More >

Hao Luo^1,#,*, Yanjie Ji^2,#, Xinrong Gao¹, Xinying Liu¹, Yunzhao Wu³, Yingli Wu^3,*

Oncologie, Vol.24, No.1, pp. 85-99, 2022, DOI:10.32604/oncologie.2022.021705

Abstract The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is an important pathway for cellular protein degradation. The components of this pathway, including the proteasome, ubiquitinase, and deubiquitinase, are highly specialized and strictly regulated. The ubiquitin-specific protease 2 (USP2) belongs to the ubiquitin-specific proteases, a subgroup of deubiquitinating enzymes. USP2 plays essential roles in regulating cell survival, cell cycle, circadian rhythm, cell metabolism, inflammatory response, antiviral response, and metastasis by interacting with certain proteins such as Cyclin D1, PER1, CRY1, HDM2/p53, FASN, LDLR, TRAF6, TBK1, and TGFBR1-TGFBR2 complex. Elevation of USP2 has been observed in a variety of cancers, including glioma, testicular cancer, breast cancer,… More >

JIANMIN PAN¹, XIN LI¹, JUANJUAN LI¹, HUI LIU², ZHUONI HOU¹, ZONGQI YANG¹, LING XU^1,*

BIOCELL, Vol.46, No.7, pp. 1751-1762, 2022, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2022.019455

Abstract Plant U-box (PUB) E3 ubiquitin ligases play important roles in hormone signaling pathways and in response to different abiotic stresses, but little is known about U-box genes in Danshen (root of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge). Here, we identified and characterized 70 SmPUB genes based on its genome sequence. Phylogenetic analysis of U-box genes from S. miltiorrhiza and Arabidopsis suggested that they can be clustered into seven subgroups (I–VII). Typical U-box domains were found in all identified SmPUB genes through the analysis of conserved motifs. Moreover, qRT-PCR was applied to analyze the relative expression levels of U-box genes in S. miltiorrhiza roots… More >