Wnt signaling has an essential role in embryonic development as well as stem/progenitor cell renewal, and its aberrant activation is implicated in many diseases, including several cancers. -Catenin is a critical component of Wnt-mediated transcriptional activation. Here we show that ARF6 activation during canonical Wnt signaling promotes the intracellular accumulation of -catenin via a mechanism that involves the endocytosis of growth factor receptors and robust activation of extracellular signalregulated kinase (ERK). ERK promotes casein kinase 2-mediated phosphorylation of ␣-catenin, leading to destabilization of the adherens junctions and a subsequent increase in cytoplasmic pools of active -catenin and E-cadherin. ERK also phosphorylates LRP6 to amplify the Wnt transduction pathway. The aforementioned Wnt-ERK signaling pathway initiates lumen filling of epithelial cysts by promoting cell proliferation in three-dimensional cell cultures. This study elucidates a mechanism responsible for the switch in -catenin functions in cell adhesion at the adherens junctions and Wnt-induced nuclear signaling.
Complement activation in myasthenia gravis (MG) may damage muscle endplate and complement regulatory proteins such as decay-accelerating factor (DAF) or CD55 may be protective. We hypothesize that the increased prevalence of severe extraocular muscle (EOM) dysfunction among African MG subjects reported earlier may result from altered DAF expression. To test this hypothesis, we screened the DAF gene sequences relevant to the classical complement pathway and found an association between myasthenics with EOM paresis and the DAF regulatory region c.-198C4G SNP (odds ratio ¼ 8.6; P ¼ 0.0003). This single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) results in a twofold activation of a DAF 5 0 -flanking region luciferase reporter transfected into three different cell lines. Direct matching of the surrounding SNP sequence within the DAF regulatory region with the known transcription factor-binding sites suggests a loss of an Sp1-binding site. This was supported by the observation that the c.-198C4G SNP did not show the normal lipopolysaccharide-induced DAF transcriptional upregulation in lymphoblasts from four patients. Our findings suggest that at critical periods during autoimmune MG, this SNP may result in inadequate DAF upregulation with consequent complement-mediated EOM damage. Susceptible individuals may benefit from anti-complement therapy in addition to immunosuppression.
Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the most lethal gynaecological cancers, which usually has a poor prognosis due to late diagnosis. A large percentage of the OC cell population is in a nonproliferating and quiescent stage, which poses a barrier to success when using most chemotherapeutic agents. Recent studies have shown that several nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are effective in the treatment of OC. Furthermore, we have previously described the molecular mechanisms of NSAIDs' induction of cancer apoptosis. In this report, we evaluated various structurally distinct NSAIDs for their efficacies in inducing apoptosis in nonproliferating OC cells. Although several NSAIDs‐induced apoptosis, Flufenamic Acid, Flurbiprofen, Finasteride, Celocoxib, and Ibuprofen were the most potent NSAIDs inducing apoptosis. A combination of these agents resulted in an enhanced effect. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the combination of Flurbiprofen, which targets nonproliferative cells, and Sulindac Sulfide, that affects proliferative cells, strongly reduced tumor growth when compared with a single agent treatment. Our data strongly support the hypothesis that drug treatment regimens that target nonproliferating and proliferating cells may have significant efficacy against OC. These results also provide a rationale for employing compounds or even chemically modified NSAIDs, which selectively and efficiently induce apoptosis in cells during different stages of the cell cycle, to design more potent anticancer drugs. © 2012 IUBMB IUBMB Life, 64(7): 636–643, 2012
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