All Published Research

The inhibition of β-catenin/LEF-1 signaling is an emerging strategy in cancer therapy. However, clinical targeted treatment of the β-catenin/LEF-1 complex remains relatively ineffective. Therefore, development of specific molecular targets is a key approach for identifying new cancer therapeutics. Thus, we attempted to synthesize a peptide (TAT-NLS-BLBD-6) that could interfere with the interaction of β-catenin and LEF-1 at nuclei in human breast cancer cells. TAT-NLS-BLBD-6 directly interacted with β-catenin and inhibited breast cancer cell growth, invasion, migration, and colony formation as well as increased arrest of sub-G1 phase and apoptosis; it also suppressed breast tumor growth in nude mouse and zebrafish xenotransplantation models, showed no signs of toxicity, and did not affect body weight. Furthermore, the human global gene expression profiles and Ingenuity Pathway Analysis software showed that the TAT-NLS-BLBD-6 downstream target genes were associated with the HER-2 and IL-9 signaling pathways. TAT-NLS-BLBD-6 commonly down-regulated 27 candidate genes in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells, which are concurrent with Wnt downstream target genes in human breast cancer. Our study suggests that TAT-NLS-BLBD-6 is a promising drug candidate for the development of effective therapeutics specific for Wnt/β-catenin signaling inhibition.

Overexpression of Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) related with a role in ovarian cancer tumorigenesis while little is known about the molecular mechanism alteration by HE4 up regulation. Here we reported that overexpressed HE4 promoted ovarian cancer cells proliferation, invasion and metastasis. Furthermore, human whole genome gene expression profile microarrays revealed that 231 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were altered in response to HE4, in which MAPK signaling, ECM receptor, cell cycle, steroid biosynthesis pathways were involved. The findings suggested that overexpressed HE4 played an important role in ovarian cancer progression and metastasis and that HE4 has the potential to serve as a novel therapeutic target for ovarian cancer.

Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been demonstrated playing important roles in the procession of prostate cancer cells transformation from androgen-dependence to androgen-independence. Methods We conducted the miRNA microarray and realtime PCR analyses in both androgen-dependent (ADPC) and androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC) tissues. We also explored the role of hsa-miR-146a-5p (miR-146a) in MSKCC prostate cancer clinical database. Moreover, the impact of miR-146a on prostate cancer cells apoptosis were detected by Hoechst staining and fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS). Its target is predicted by DIANA LAB online database and the result was assumed by western blotting and luciferase assay. Results We demonstrated that miR-146a was down-regulated in AIPC tissues and cell lines compared to that in the ADPC tissues. In MSKCC data re-analyses, we found that miR-146a was underexpressed in metastatic prostate cancer tissues and those with Gleason score >8, moreover, low level of miR-146a represented a high biochemical relapse rate after radical prostatectomy. In the functional analyses, we transfected miR-146a mimics into CPRC cell lines and found miR-146a induced cells apoptosis. In mechanic analyses, we found that miR-146a inhibited the basal level of Rho-associated, coiled-coil containing protein kinase 1 (ROCK1) expression by targeting its 3’UTR and an inverse correlation of expression between miR-146a and ROCK1 was observed. Moreover, caspase 3 activity was stimulated by miR-146a overexpression. Conclusion miR-146a has a critical role in the process of AIPC prostate cancer cells apoptosis through regulation of ROCK/Caspase 3 pathway. Targeting this pathway may be a promising therapeutic strategy for future personalized anti-cancer treatment.