Piperine, a piperidine alkaloid present in black pepper, inhibits the growth of cancer cells, although the mechanism of action is not well understood. In this study, we show that piperine (75-150 µM) inhibited the growth of several colon cancer cell lines but had little effect on the growth of normal fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Piperine inhibited HT-29 colon carcinoma cell proliferation by causing G1 phase cell cycle arrest that was associated with decreased expression of cyclins D1 and D3 and their activating partner cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6, as well as reduced phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein and up-regulation of p21/WAF1 and p27/KIP1 expression. In addition, piperine caused hydroxyl radical production and apoptosis that was partially dependent on the production of reactive oxygen species. Piperine-treated HT-29 cells showed loss of mitochondrial membrane integrity and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1, as well as caspase activation and reduced apoptosis in the presence of the pan-caspase inhibitor zVAD-FMK. Increased expression of the endoplasmic reticulum stress-associated proteins inositol-requiring 1α protein, C/EBP homologous protein, and binding immunoglobulin protein, and activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, as well as decreased phosphorylation of Akt and reduced survivin expression were also observed in piperine-treated HT-29 cells. Furthermore, piperine inhibited colony formation by HT-29 cells, as well as the growth of HT-29 spheroids. Cell cycle arrest and endoplasmic reticulum stress-associated apoptosis following piperine treatment of HT-29 cells provides the first evidence that piperine may be useful in the treatment of colon cancer.

Background Staphylococcus epidermidis (SE) is a nosocomial pathogen that causes catheter-associated bacteremia in the immunocompromised, including those at the extremes of age, motivating study of host clearance mechanisms. SE-derived soluble components engage TLR2; but additional signaling pathways have also been implicated, and TLR2 can play complex, at times detrimental, roles in host defense against other Staphylococcal spp. The role of TLR2 in responses of primary blood leukocytes to live SE and in clearance of SE bacteremia, the most common clinical manifestation of SE infection, is unknown.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe studied TLR2-mediated recognition of live clinical SE strain 1457 employing TLR2-transfected cells, neutralizing anti-TLR antibodies and TLR2-deficient mice. TLR2 mediated SE-induced cytokine production in human embryonic kidney cells, human whole blood and murine primary macrophages, in part via recognition of a soluble TLR2 agonist. After i.v. challenge with SE, early (1 h) cytokine/chemokine production and subsequent clearance of bacteremia (24–48 h) were markedly impaired in TLR2-deficient mice.Conclusions/SignificanceTLR2 mediates recognition of live SE and clearance of SE bacteremia in vivo.

Gad-1 and Gad-2 are antimicrobial peptide (AMP) sequences encoded by paralogous genes. They are rich in histidine, which suggests that their activity might be pH-dependent. We examined their structure-function relationships with a view to learning how to improve AMP therapeutic ratios. Activity assays with Gram-negative bacteria and cancer cell lines demonstrate that Gad-2 is substantially more active at slightly acidic pH than it is at neutral pH. By contrast, the activity of Gad-1 at lower pH is similar to its activity at pH7. Circular dichroism spectra indicate that the greater functional plasticity of Gad-2 correlates with a greater structural plasticity; Gad-2's percent helicity varies dramatically with altered pH and lipid environment. Interestingly, Gad-2's highest levels of helicity do not correspond to the conditions where it is most active. High resolution solution NMR structures were determined in SDS micelles at pH5, conditions that induce an intermediate level of helicity in the peptides. Gad-1 is more helical than Gad-2, with both peptides exhibiting the greatest helical tendencies in their central region and lowest helicity in their N-termini. The high resolution structures suggest that maximum activity relies on the appropriate balance between an N-terminal region with mixed hydrophobic/hydrophilic structure features and an amphipathic central and C-terminal region. Taken together with previous studies, our results suggest that to improve the therapeutic ratio of AMPs, consideration should be given to including sequential histidine-pairs, keeping the overall charge of the peptide modest, and retaining a degree of structural plasticity and imperfect amphipathicity.

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