| Summary: | 博士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 生命科學系 === 104 === Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. NSCLC accounts for about 75% to 80% of lung cancer cases. Chemotherapy adverse side effects and resistance to current anticancer agents have been the pressing problems in the success of lung cancer therapy. Anticancer drugs are in urgent need especially for lung cancer. A program to develop a new anti-lung cancer agent by screening novel synthetic compounds was initiated.
EMMQ was selected by MTT cell viability assay. The cell growth rate of A549 and H460 NSCLC cells was reduced by a low concentration of EMMQ treatment. Our study revealed that EMMQ induced apoptosis in NSCLC cells with wild-type p53, while the drug is less potent to against p53-null cells. The study elucidated that EMMQ-induced apoptosis is was mediated through the intrinsic pathway involving DNA damage, activation of p53, interference of mitochondrial ΔΨm that led to release of cytochrome c and down regulation Bcl-2, activation of caspase family proteins, and finally cleavage of PARP polymerase cleavage.
In vivo study showed that EMMQ reduced tumorigenesis and significantly suppressed growth rate of xenograft tumors in nude mice. In addition, metastasis studies demonstrated that EMMQ may inhibit wild-type p53 cells migration at low concentration. In conclusion, EMMQ was demonstrated as an effective p53 regulator in NSCLC cells. Our findings indicate that EMMQ may serve as a promising new and potential therapeutic agent for human lung cancer.
Human liver cancer is the fifth most frequently diagnosed cancer worldwide. The important limitation in the clinical battle against this tumor is its marked intrinsic and acquired refractivity to the available chemotherapies. Anticancer agents effective against chemo-resistant cells are greatly needed for liver cancer treatment. Previously, our study have identified EMMQ as an effective drug in the treatment of lung cancer cells in vitro and in animal models. In this work, results show EMMQ treatment may inhibit cell growth and induce apoptosis in HCC. EMMQ induced apoptosis in HCC cells with wild-typed p53, and is less potent in cells with mutant p53 and in p53-null. The study also demonstrated that EMMQ induces apoptosis through two major pathways. First, the compound induced cell death through the intrinsic pathway by first damaging DNA increasing expression of p53 and γ-H2AX and decreasing cyclin D1 and CDK 2, finally leading to G1 arrest in HepG2 cells as studied cell cycle. Second, the tumor suppressor gene p53 was activated following a reduction of ΔΨm, ROS generation and down-regulating Akt, Bcl-2, Bax, cytochrome c, caspase-3 and cleavage of PARP, the critical events leading to cell death in HepG2 cells treated with EMMQ. The in vitro findings indicate that EMMQ is a promising candidate for the treatment of liver cancer.
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