The biologic/cytotoxic effects of dispersed nanographene platelets (NGPs) on human osteosarcoma cells (MG63 cell line) were first studied by examining cell viability, cycle, apoptosis, change in morphology, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, and inflammation. The results shown that the cell cytotoxicity of the dispersed NGPs exhibited dose-dependent characters, which had no obvious cytotoxic effects to MG63 cells at the concentration less than 10 μg mL(-1), whereas could postpone cell cycle, promote cell apoptosis, damage cell microstructure, induce serious tumor necrosis factor-α expression and greatly reduce ALP activity of MG63 cells at higher concentration of NGPs (>10 µg mL(-1)). Besides, NGPs had little influence on the LDH leakage. The cytotoxic mechanism of NGPs to MG63 cells was speculated to be intracellular activity with no physical damage of plasma membrane.
The ubiquitin‐proteasome system is a crucial mechanism for regulating protein levels in cells, with substrate‐specific E3 ubiquitin ligases serving as an integral component of this system. Among these ligases are SMAD‐specific E3 ubiquitin‐protein ligase 1 (SMURF1) and SMAD‐specific E3 ubiquitin‐protein ligase 2 (SMURF2), which belong to the neural precursor cell‐expressed developmentally downregulated 4 (NEDD4) subfamily of Homologous to E6‐AP COOH terminus (HECT)‐type E3 ligases. As E3 ligases, SMURFs have critical functions in regulating the stability of multiple proteins, thereby maintaining physiological processes such as cell migration, proliferation, and apoptosis. The occurrence of many diseases is attributed to abnormal cell physiology and an imbalance in cell homeostasis. It is noteworthy that SMURFs play pivotal roles in disease progression, with the regulatory functions being complex and either facilitative or inhibitory. In this review, we elucidate the mechanisms by which SMURF1 and SMURF2 can regulate disease progression in non‐cancerous diseases. These significant findings offer potential novel therapeutic targets for various diseases and new avenues for research on SMURF proteins.
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