No abstract

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is the most aggressive type of lung cancer with high mortality. One of the MYC family genes, MYC, MYCL or MYCN, is amplified in ~20% of the SCLCs; therefore, MYC proteins are potential therapeutic targets in SCLC patients. We investigated the therapeutic impact of Omomyc, a MYC dominant negative, in a panel of SCLC cell lines. Strikingly, Omomyc suppressed the growth of all tested cell lines by inducing cell cycle arrest and/or apoptosis. Induction of G1 arrest by Omomyc was found to be dependent on the activation of CDKN1A, in part, through the TP73 pathway. Our results strongly indicate that SCLC cells carrying amplification of MYC, MYCL or MYCN are addicted to MYC function, suggesting that MYC targeting would be an efficient therapeutic option for SCLC patients.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Conventional and newly emerging treatment procedures such as chemotherapy, catalytic therapy, photodynamic therapy, and radiotherapy have not succeeded in reversing the outcome of cancer diseases to any drastic extent, which has led researchers to investigate alternative treatment options. The extensive repertoire of traditional medicinal knowledge systems from various parts of the world are being re-investigated for their healing properties. It has been reported that several members of the Convolvulaceae, Iridaceae, and Liliaceae families have antitumor activity against some tumor cell lines. Here we first report that Convolvulus galaticus, Crocus antalyensis, and Lilium candidum species have cytotoxic activity on human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 cells. Plant samples were collected and identified, and their cytotoxic effects on the MCF-7 cell line were examined at different concentrations of methanol extracts. We found that all three plants have cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 cells but that C. galaticus has the strongest cytotoxic effect even in the lowest extract concentration tested (0.32 μg/mL). Our results indicate that these plant extracts have cytotoxic effects on human breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7 cells and that this cytotoxic effect comes from p53-mediated stimulation of apoptosis.

No abstract

Background: Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly aggressive malignancy. MYC family oncogenes are amplified and overexpressed in 20% of SCLCs showing that MYC oncogenes and Myc regulated genes are strong candidates as therapeutic targets for SCLC. c-Myc plays a fundamental role in cancer stem cell properties and malignant transformation. Several targets have been identified by activation/repression of MYC.Deregulated expression levels of lncRNAs have also been observed in many cancers. Objective: Purpose of the study is to investigate the lncRNA profiles depend on MYC expression levels in SCLC. Methods: First, we constructed lentiviral vectors for Myc overexpression/inhibition. MYC expression is suppressed by lentiviral shRNA vector in MYC amplified H82 and N417 cells and overexpressed by lentiviral inducible overexpression vector in MYC non-amplified H345 cells. LncRNA cDNA is transcribed from total RNA samples and 91 lncRNAs are evaluated by qRT-PCR. Results: We obtained that N417, H82 and H345 cells are seem to be addicted to Myc for their growth. Besides, Myc is found to regulate the expressions of genes related to invasion, stem cell properties, apoptosis and cell cycle (p21, Bcl2, cyclinD1, Sox2, Aldh1a1, N-Cadherin) and also lncRNAs. With this respect AK23948, ANRIL, E2F4AS, GAS5, MEG3, H19, L1PA16, SFMBT2, ZEB2NAT, HOTAIR, Sox2OT, PVT1 and BC200 expressions were in parallel with Myc expression whereas Malat1, PTENP1, Neat1, UCA1, SNHG3 and SNHG6 expressions were inversely correlated. Conclusion: Targeting Myc-regulated genes as a therapeutic strategy can be important for SCLC therapy. This study has importance for identifying Myc-regulated lncRNAs with regards to developing therapeutic strategy in SCLC.