No abstract

Infection-associated inflammation can alter the expression levels and functions of cytochrome P450s (CYPs). Cyp gene expression is regulated by the activation of several nuclear receptors, including pregnane X receptor (PXR), constitutive androstane receptor (CAR), and aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). These receptors can be activated by xenobiotics, including medicines. Here, to study the xenobiotic-induced fluctuations in CYP during inflammation, we examined the effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment on the level of mRNAs encoding hepatic CYPs induced by xenobiotic-activated nuclear receptors, in mice. Both the mRNA induction of Cyp genes and the metabolic activities of CYP proteins were examined. LPS treatment caused a significant decrease in the induced expression of the mRNAs for Cyp3a11, 2c29, 2c55, and 1a2, but not for Cyp2b10. To assess the CYP enzymatic activities, CYP3A-mediated testosterone 6β-hydroxylation and the intrinsic clearance (CL int ) of nifedipine in liver microsomes were measured in mice treated with the xenobiotic pregnenolone-16alpha-carbonitrile (PCN) with or without LPS administration. Both assays revealed that the CYP3A activity, which was induced by PCN, declined significantly after LPS treatment, and this decline correlated with the Cyp3a11 mRNA level. In addition, we found that the mRNAs for interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α were increased after treatment with LPS plus xenobiotics. Our findings demonstrated that LPS treatment reduces the PXR-and AhR-mediated, and possibly CAR-mediated Cyp gene expression and further suggest that these decreases are dependent on inflammatory cytokines in the liver.

Naloxone, a potent and specific opioid antagonist, has been shown in previous studies to have an influx clearance across the rat blood-brain barrier (BBB) two times greater than the efflux clearance. The purpose of the present study was to characterize the influx transport of naloxone across the rat BBB using the brain uptake index (BUI) method. The initial uptake rate of [(3)H]naloxone exhibited saturability in a concentration-dependent manner (concentration range 0.5 microM to 15 mM) in the presence of unlabeled naloxone. These results indicate that both passive diffusion and a carrier-mediated transport mechanism are operating. The in vivo kinetic parameters were estimated as follows: the Michaelis constant, K(t), was 2.99+/-0.71 mM; the maximum uptake rate, J(max), was 0.477+/-0.083 micromol/min/g brain; and the nonsaturable first-order rate constant, K(d), was 0.160+/-0.044 ml/min/g brain. The uptake of [(3)H]naloxone by the rat brain increased as the pH of the injected solution was increased from 5.5 to 8.5 and was strongly inhibited by cationic H(1)-antagonists such as pyrilamine and diphenhydramine and cationic drugs such as lidocaine and propranolol. In contrast, the BBB transport of [(3)H]naloxone was not affected by any typical substrates for organic cation transport systems such as tetraethylammonium, ergothioneine or L-carnitine or substrates for organic anion transport systems such as p-aminohippuric acid, benzylpenicillin or pravastatin. The present results suggest that a pH-dependent and saturable influx transport system that is a selective transporter for cationic H(1)-antagonists is involved in the BBB transport of naloxone in the rat.

We evaluated the features of cell death induced by CDF (cyclophosphamide [CPA], doxorubicin [DOX], 5-fluorouracil [5-FU]) multi-drug administration in vitro using the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Used individually, DOX and 5-FU induced 60% cell death in MCF-7 cells, at 5 m mg/ml and 25 m mg/ml, respectively, by the 4th day following drug treatment. CPA was the least cytotoxic of the 3 drugs, causing only 20% cell death, even at the high concentration of 500 m mg/ml. Treating cells with a mixture of all three anticancer drugs resulted in 60% cell death, on the second and third day following drug treatment. The nature of the cytotoxicity of CPA, DOX, and 5-FU was investigated, because these drugs are sometimes used to induce apoptosis. Biochemical analysis showed faint DNA fragmentation in the case of DOX or all three drugs, but not for treatment with CPA or 5-FU. In contrast, the morphological apoptotic feature of a condensed nucleus was observed only for CPA and 5-FU. Flow cytometric data agreed with the morphological results in that the FACS cytogram for DOX and for all three drugs was different from that for CPA or 5-FU given alone. These observations suggested that the cell death induced by these anticancer drugs in the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 is a mixture of apoptotic and non-apoptotic, but it becomes completely non-apoptotic in the case of multi-drug administration.

Luteolin, a flavone found in some vegetables, has been reported to exhibit antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and anticancer activities. In the present study, we found that luteolin has biphasic effects on the viability of the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. That is, cell viability increased at relatively low luteolin concentrations and decreased at relatively high concentrations. Focusing on the proliferative effect at low concentrations, we showed that luteolin has a cytoprotective effect on MCF-7 cells when administered with doxorubicin. Moreover, luteolin attenuated doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity even in the presence of the estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist ICI 182,780 and the ER-negative MDA-MB-453 human breast cancer cell line. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) were generated after doxorubicin treatment of MCF-7 cells. In contrast, luteolin attenuated doxorubicin-induced ROS generation. Levels of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 in luteolin-treated MCF-7 cells were significantly higher than those in doxorubicin-treated MCF-7 cells. Our results suggest that a low concentration of luteolin attenuates doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity to MCF-7 cells through a combination of antioxidant activity and an increase in levels of Bcl-2 protein.Key words luteolin; MCF-7 human breast cancer cell; doxorubicin; cytotoxicity Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers and is the leading type of cancer in Japanese women.

Background: Antidepressants have variable therapeutic effects, depending on genetic and environmental factors. Approximately 30% of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients do not respond significantly to antidepressants such as paroxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). However, the biological mechanisms behind this phenomenon are mostly unknown. Here, we examined the role of patients' epigenetic background in SSRI efficacy. Methods: Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis of the peripheral blood of Japanese MDD patients was performed by using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. Results: We compared the results of the 10 patients who best responded to paroxetine (BR) with the 10 worst responders (WR), and found 623 CpG sites with a >10% difference in DNA methylation level. Among them, 218 sites were nominally significant between BR and WR (p < 0.05), and 2 sites (cg00594917 and cg07260927) were significantly different after false discovery rate (FDR) correction (q < 0.05). The methylation difference was greatest at cg00594917, located in the first exon of the PPFIA4 gene, which codes for liprin-α (p = 0.00012). Hierarchical cluster analysis of 23 CpG sites in the PPFIA4 gene distinguished BR and WR, except for 1 WR patient. The cg07260927 site was located in the 5′UTR of the heparin sulfate-glucosamine 3-sulfotransferase 1 (HS3ST1) gene (p = 0.00013). Hierarchical cluster analysis of 28 CpG sites in HS3ST1 distinguished BR and WR, except for 1 WR and 2 BR patients. Conclusion: Our results suggest that patients' DNA methylation profile at specific genes such as PPFIA4 and HS3ST1 is associated with individual variations in therapeutic responses to paroxetine.

Apoptosis of NG108-15 neuroblastoma x glioma hybrid cells (NG108-15 cells) is induced by a morphine alkaloid derivative, buprenorphine hydrochloride (Bph). In a previous report, we used various apoptosis inhibitors to identify the "death pathway," and found that caspase inhibitors Ac-YVAD-CHO (Ac-Tyr-Val-Ala-Asp-CHO) and Ac-DEVD-CHO (Ac-Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-CHO) did not inhibit this particular apoptosis. Here, we tested Z-VAD-FMK (Z-Val-Ala-Asp[OMe]-CH2F) and Z-DEVD-FMK (Z-Asp[OMe]-Glu-[OMe]Val-Asp[OMe]-CH2F) for their ability to inhibit Bph-induced NG108-15 apoptosis. These tri- or tetra-peptide caspase inhibitors have a fluoromethyl ketone in their C-terminus instead of an aldehyde, and thus are more permeable than Ac-YVAD-CHO and AC-DEVD-CHO. Our observations of DNA ladder formation, cell morphology changes, and caspase-3 activities all indicated that these cell membrane-permeable caspase inhibitors completely inhibited the apoptosis, providing strong evidence that this apoptosis occurs through the caspase cascade "death pathway." Our previous report also showed that pretreatment of NG108-15 cells with TPCK (N-tosyl-L-phenylalanyl chloromethyl ketone) prevented DNA fragmentation and decreased the cell viability in Bph-induced apoptosis. The comparison of caspase-3 activities in Bph-induced samples with or without TPCK pretreatment revealed that caspase-3 was activated in both samples. Taken together, these results indicate that the Bph-induced apoptosis of NG108-15 cells occurs via the conventional caspase-dependent death pathway and that TPCK pretreatment results in a DNA ladder-deficient apoptosis.

No abstract