Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. TNF- activated NF-B p65 nuclear translocation. Collectively, our studies indicate that DMDD has significant potential as a safe and efficient therapeutic agent for the treatment of breast malignancy. (Oxalidaceae) is usually a perennial plant widely distributed in Southeast Asia. Its roots have been Gardiquimod TFA employed in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for thousands of years as a remedy for arthralgia and chronic paroxysmal headaches. Previously, a cyclohexanedione, 2-Dodecyl-6-methoxycyclohexa-2,5-diene-1,4-dione (DMDD) (Physique ?(Figure1),1), was isolated from your roots of and found to exhibit hypoglycemic and anti-lipid peroxidative effects in diabetic mice [2, 3, 4]. Apart from their use as pesticides as well as synthetic precursors to many organic compounds, cyclohexanediones and their derivatives have also attracted considerable attention because of their broad range of biological properties such as antimicrobial, antimalarial, and antitumor activities [5, 6, 7, 8]. However, the effects of DMDD on human cancers have not yet been investigated. Open in a separate window Physique 1 Chemical structure of DMDD Because of recent studies linking diabetes and breast malignancy [9, 10, 11, 12] and the fact that this antidiabetic drug metformin can effectively treat breast malignancy [13, 14], we decided to investigate whether DMDD could be used as an antitumor agent against breast malignancy. Tumor cells have a myriad of aberrant physiological properties compared to normal healthy cells and these differences have been targeted in the development of anticancer brokers. Potential anticancer therapeutics have included agents that can induce apoptosis, increase oxidative stress, inhibit the global transcriptional regulator nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-B), or suppress the relaxed cell cycle of malignancy cells. Numerous studies have shown that a wide range of anticancer brokers induce apoptosis in malignancy cells from mitochondria. Cytochrome recruits Apaf-1 and caspase-9 and forms an apoptosome complex, which subsequently cleaves caspase-9. Crosstalk can occur between the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways. Both pathways activate caspase-3, -6 and -7, and induce a variety of cellular events including proteolysis and DNA fragmentation, which causes cell death [15, 16]. Oxidative stress is an imbalance between the production of free radicals, referred to as oxidants or reactive oxygen species (ROS), and a cell’s ability to eliminate them by protective mechanisms is crucial for its survival [17]. Oxidative stress often occurs from exposure to ultra-violet (UV) light, environmental stress, or toxins. When cells undergo oxidative Gardiquimod TFA stress, ROS accumulate in the cells and damage intracellular molecules including proteins, lipids, DNA and RNA [18]. Studies have shown that oxidative stress plays a Rabbit Polyclonal to B-Raf (phospho-Thr753) crucial role in a number of conditions such as vascular disease, neurodegeneration, anemia, auto-immune diseases, inflammatory responses and malignancy [19, 20]. ROS levels have opposing effects: ROS activation below a specific threshold promotes cell survival; however, excessive ROS are known Gardiquimod TFA to be toxic, leading to cell death [21]. It is well established that oxidative stress induced by malignancy therapy is essential to fight cancers. Examples of chemotherapeutic treatments that Gardiquimod TFA increase ROS are paclitaxel, doxorubicin, and cisplatin [22]. Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-B) is usually a transcription factor that plays a critical role across many cellular processes including embryonic and neuronal development, immune responses to infection, inflammation, cell proliferation, apoptosis and tumorigenesis [23, Gardiquimod TFA 24, 25]. Because the NF-B pathway regulates the transcription of anti-apoptotic and cell proliferation genes, it is often critical for the survival of cancer cells. There has been increasing interest in targeting the NF-B signaling pathway as a therapeutic option for cancer treatments. A variety of widely used anticancer brokers suppress proliferation and induce apoptosis of various malignancy cells by regulating NF-B activities [23, 26]. In the present study, we exhibited that this cyclohexanedione DMDD dramatically inhibits the proliferation of human breast, lung and bone malignancy cells < 0.001 or *< 0.01) (Physique ?(Figure2B2B). Open in a separate window Physique 2 Multiplex HCS analysis of DMDD-induced cytotoxicity in MCF-7 and BT20 cellsCells were treated with different concentrations of DMDD for 24 h and the alteration in nuclear size, cell permeability, and mitochondrial membrane potential was simultaneously quantified by.