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ABSTRACT: Inflammation is a primary event in atherogenesis. Oleoylethanolamide (OEA), a naturally occurring fatty-acid ethanolamide, lowers lipid levels in liver and blood through activation of the nuclear receptor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPARα). We designed and synthesized (Z)-(S)-9-octadecenamide, N-(2-hydroxyethyl, 1-methyl) (OPA), an OEA analog. The present study investigated the effect of OPA on the expression of adhesion molecules in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). OPA inhibited expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) stimulated by Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) via activation of PPARα. This inhibition of VCAM-1 and ICAM-1 expression decreased adhesion of monocyte-like cells to stimulated endothelial cells. These results demonstrate that OPA may have anti-inflammatory properties. Our results thus provide new insights into possible future therapeutic approaches to the treatment of atherosclerosis.
European journal of pharmacology 06/2011; 660(2-3):305-9. · 2.59 Impact Factor
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Zhongchen Liu,
Juan Wang,
Ping Yin,
Jinhua Qiu,
Ruizhen Liu,
Wenzhu Li,
Xin Fan,
Xiaofeng Cheng, Caixia Chen,
Jiakai Zhang,
Guohong Zhuang
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ABSTRACT: Despite impressive results obtained in animal models, the clinical use of Fas ligand (FasL) as an anticancer drug is limited by severe toxicity. Systemic toxicity of death ligands may be prevented by using genes encoding membrane-bound death ligands and by targeted transgene expression through either targeted transduction or targeted transcription. Selective induction of tumor cell death is a promising anticancer strategy. A fusion protein is created by fusing the extracellular domain of Fas ligand (FasL) to the peptide arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) that selectively targets avbeta3-integrins on tumor endothelial cells. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of RGD-FasL on tumor growth and survival in a murine hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumor model. Treatment with RGD-FasL displaying an obvious suppressive effect on the HCC tumor model as compared to that with FasL (p < 0.05) and resulted in a more additive effect on tumor growth delay in this model. RGD-FasL treatment significantly enhanced mouse survival and caused no toxic effect, such as weight loss, organ failure, or other treatment-related toxicities. Apoptosis was detected by flow cytometric analysis and TUNEL assays; those results also showed that RGD-FasL is a more potent inducer of cell apoptosis for H22 and H9101 cell lines than FasL (p <0.05). In conclusion, RGD-FasL appears to be a low-toxicity selective inducer of tumor cell death, which merits further investigation in preclinical and clinical studies. Furthermore, this approach offers a versatile technology for complexing target ligands with therapeutic recombinant proteins. To distinguish the anti-tumor effects of FasL in vivo, tumor and liver tissues were harvested to examine for evidence of necrotic cells, tumor cells, or apoptotic cells by Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining.
Cellular & molecular immunology 08/2009; 6(4):285-93. · 2.99 Impact Factor
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Zhongchen Liu,
Ruizhen Liu,
Jinhua Qiu,
Ping Yin,
Fanghong Luo,
Jinhua Su,
Wenzhu Li, Caixia Chen,
Xin Fan,
Jiakai Zhang,
Guohong Zhuang
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ABSTRACT: The prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is poor, even with the combined treatment of curative resection and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. To solve this problem, many biologic therapies have been investigated. Fas ligand (FasL, CD95L) is mainly expressed in activated T lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells, and plays a central role in both cell-mediated immunity and immune downregulation. Several studies have shown that FasL is expressed in HCC. In the present report, we prepared recombinant human pET-22b(+)/FasL protein and investigated the effect of FasL on HCC cells in vitro and on tumor growth in a murine HCC tumor model. The well-known cytotoxic chemotherapeutic reagent adriamycin (ADM) served as a control. We found that FasL effectively suppressed the viability of H22 tumor cells and significantly induced the apoptosis of H22 cells. The apoptotic levels of cells treated with FasL-ADM were significantly higher than those treated with FasL or ADM alone, and the FasL-ADM combination resulted in a more than additive effect on tumor growth delay in this model. The results suggested that combined treatment of FasL and other chemotherapeutic agents may be a new approach to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy for HCC.
Cellular & molecular immunology 07/2009; 6(3):167-74. · 2.99 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The recently identified decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) inhibits FasL-induced apoptosis by binding to FasL, and it is considered to play a key role in the immune escape system of neoplastic cells. In order to examine the involvement of DcR3 in the immunologic tolerance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), we investigated the amplification and expression of DcR3, FasL, and Fas in an HCC mice model using RT-PCR, western blotting, and ELISA, and analyzed the space-time relationship with various cytokines including the forkhead transcription factor forkhead/winged helix transcription factor gene (Foxp3), CTLA-4, TGF-beta, IL-10, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma. The RT-PCR results revealed that Fas expression preceded that of DcR3 during the early phases of tumorigenesis. Thereafter, the expression of DcR3 was up-regulated; however, the expression of Fas was down-regulated and eventually ceased. DcR3 and FasL were expressed and amplified simultaneously in muscle tumor. CTLA-4 expression was earlier than Foxp3, and both CTLA-4 and Foxp3 amplification and expression were consistent with that of DcR3. The results suggest that the elevated levels of DcR3, Foxp3, and CTLA-4 in tissue were positively correlated with tumor growth. The partial tumor immunoregulation inclined to negative modulation, and DcR3 may play an important role in inducing immunologic tolerance.
Cancer Investigation 01/2009; 26(10):965-74. · 1.85 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: To investigate the correlation between sensitivity to Fas ligand (FasL) and expression level of decoy receptor 3 (DcR3) on tumor cell surface, Fas/DcR3 mRNA expression was detected by RT-PCR. Anti-DcR3 mAb was used to detect expression level of DcR3 on surface of tumor cells by flow cytometry. Caspase-8, caspase-9, caspase-3, Bcl-2 expressions were analyzed by Western blot, respectively. Sensitivity to apoptosis induced by FasL was determined by Annexin V apoptosis kit. The expressions of DcR3 on the surface of tumor cells from high to low were approximately 35.3% in BGC823 cells, and 21.6% in MCF-7 cells, respectively. The apoptotic rates induced by FasL from low to high were 15.6% in BGC823 cells, and 58.2% in MCF-7 cells, respectively. There was a significant correlation between the expression levels of DcR3 with FasL-inducing apoptosis.
Cellular & molecular immunology 01/2008; 4(6):455-60. · 2.99 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The apoptosis inducing effects on tumor cell lines MGC803, BEL7402 and HL60 by Fas ligand and anti-human DR5 monoclonal antibodies (anti-DR5 mAb) and the underlying mechanism was studied. Fas/DR5 mRNA was detected by RT-PCR. Cytotoxicity exerted by FasL/anti-DR5 mAb on tumor cell lines was measured by MTT assay and the induced apoptosis was determined by agarose gel electrophoresis. Flow cytometry was employed to analyze the mode of cell death. The mRNA expression of DR5 in MGC803 and BEL7402 cells after giving anti-DR5 mAb was up-regulated compared with control group, while it was down-regulated in HL60 cells in the same condition. The mRNA expression of Fas in HL60 was higher after giving FasL compared with control group, while it was lower in MGC803 and BEL7402. MGC803 and BEL7402 were sensitive to anti-DR5 mAb but partially to FasL, and HL60 was sensitive to FasL but less sensitive to anti-DR5 mAb. Apoptosis induced by Fas ligand and anti-DR5 mAb vary among tumor cell lines. The underlying mechanism may be relevant to Fas/DR5 mRNA expression, which was presented as the release of caspase-8 and Bcl-2.
Cellular & molecular immunology 01/2007; 3(6):467-71. · 2.99 Impact Factor
