The present study aimed to investigate the protective role of Shaofu Zhuyu Decoction(SFZY) against endometriosis fibrosis in mice, and decipher the underlying mechanism through the phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten(PTEN)/protein kinase B(Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR) pathway. Eighty-five BALB/c female mice were randomly assigned into a blank group, a model group, high-, medium, and low-dose SFZY(SFZY-H, SFZY-M, and SFZY-L, respectively) groups, and a gestrinone suspension(YT) group. The model of endometriosis was induced by intraperitoneal injection of uterine fragments. The mice in different groups were administrated with corresponding groups by gavage 14 days after modeling, and the blank group and model group with equal volume of distilled water by gavage. The treatment lasted for 14 days. The body weight, paw withdrawal latency caused by heat stimuli, and total weight of dissected ectopic focus were compared between different groups. The pathological changes of the ectopic tissue were observed via hematoxylin-eosin(HE) and Masson staining. Real-time PCR was employed to measure the mRNA levels of α-smooth muscle actin(α-SMA) and collagen type Ⅰ(collagen-Ⅰ) in the ectopic tissue. The protein levels of PTEN, Akt, mTOR, p-Akt, and p-mTOR in the ectopic tissue were determined by Western blot. Compared with the blank group, the modeling first decreased and then increased the body weight of mice, increased the total weight of ectopic focus, and shortened the paw withdrawal latency. Compared with the model group, SFZY and YT increased the body weight, prolonged the paw withdrawal latency, and decreased the weight of ectopic focus. Furthermore, the drug administration, especially SFZY-H and YT(P<0.01), recovered the pathological and reduced the area of collagen deposition. Compared with the blank group, the modeling up-regulated the mRNA levels of α-SMA and collagen-Ⅰ in the ectopic focus, and such up-regulation was attenuated after drug intervention, especially in the SFZY-H and YT groups(P<0.05,P<0.01). Compared with the blank group, the modeling down-regulated the protein level of PTEN and up-regulated the protein levels of Akt, mTOR, p-Akt, and p-mTOR(P<0.01, P<0.001). Drug administration, especially SFZY-H and YT, restored such changes(P<0.01). SFZY may significantly attenuate the focal fibrosis in the mouse model of endometriosis by regulating the PTEN/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.
Female ; Animals ; Mice ; Humans ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/genetics* ; Choristoma ; Endometriosis/genetics* ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/genetics* ; RNA, Messenger ; Signal Transduction ; Body Weight ; Mammals ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/genetics*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the regulatory effects of miR-30e-5p on biological behaviors of colorectal cancer cells and the role of PTEN/CXCL12 axis in mediating these effects. METHODS: Bioinformatic analysis was performed to explore the differential expression of miR-30e-5p between colorectal cancer tissues and normal tissues. RT-qPCR was used to detect the differential expression of miR-30e-5p in intestinal epithelial cells and colorectal cancer cells. Bioinformatics and dual luciferase assay were used to predict and validate the targeting relationship between miR-30e-5p and PTEN. Human and murine colorectal cancer cell lines were transfected with miR-30e-5p mimics, miR-30e-5p inhibitor, miR-30e-5p mimics+LV-PTEN, or miR-30e-5p inhibitor + si-PTEN. The changes in biological behaviors of the cells were detected using plate clone formation assay, CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, scratch healing and Transwell assays. PTEN and CXCL12 expressions in the cancer cells were detected by Western blotting. The effects of miR-30e-5p inhibitor on colorectal carcinogenesis and development were observed in nude mice. RESULTS: Bioinformatic analysis showed that miR-30e-5p expression was significantly elevated in colorectal cancer tissues compared with the adjacent tissue (P < 0.01). Higher miR-30e-5p expression was detected in colorectal cancer cell lines than in intestinal epithelial cells (P < 0.01). Dual luciferase assay confirmed the targeting relationship between miR-30e-5p and PTEN (P < 0.05). Transfection with miR-30e-5p mimics significantly enhanced proliferation and metastasis and inhibited apoptosis of the colorectal cancer cells (P < 0.05), and co-transfection with LV-PTEN obviously reversed these changes (P < 0.05). MiR-30e-5p mimics significantly inhibited PTEN expression and enhanced CXCL12 expression in the cancer cells (P < 0.01), and miR-30e-5p inhibitor produced the opposite effect. Transfection with miR-30e-5p inhibitor caused cell cycle arrest in the cancer cells, which was reversed by co-transfection with si-PTEN (P < 0.05). In the in vivo experiments, the colorectal cancer cells transfected with miR-30e-5p inhibitor showed significantly lowered tumorigenesis. CONCLUSION Overexpression of miR-30e-5p promotes the malignant behaviors of colorectal cancer cells by downregulating PTEN to activate the CXCL12 axis.
Humans ; Animals ; Mice ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation/physiology* ; Mice, Nude ; Cell Movement/physiology* ; Colorectal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Luciferases/metabolism* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/metabolism* ; Chemokine CXCL12/metabolism*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence and mechanism of atorvastatin on glycolysis of adriamycin resistant acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cell line HL-60/ADM. METHODS: HL-60/ADM cells in logarithmic growth phase were treated with different concentrations of atorvastatin, then the cell proliferation activity was measured by CCK-8 assay, the apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry, the glycolytic activity was checked by glucose consumption test, and the protein expressions of PTEN, p-mTOR, PKM2, HK2, P-gp and MRP1 were detected by Western blot. After transfection of PTEN-siRNA into HL-60/ADM cells, the effects of low expression of PTEN on atorvastatin regulating the behaviors of apoptosis and glycolytic metabolism in HL-60/ADM cells were further detected. RESULTS: CCK-8 results showed that atorvastatin could inhibit the proliferation of HL-60/ADM cells in a concentration-dependent and time-dependent manner (r=0.872, r=0.936), and the proliferation activity was inhibited most significantly when treated with 10 μmol/L atorvastatin for 24 h, which was decreased to (32.3±2.18)%. Flow cytometry results showed that atorvastatin induced the apoptosis of HL-60/ADM cells in a concentration-dependent manner (r=0.796), and the apoptosis was induced most notably when treated with 10 μmol/L atorvastatin for 24 h, which reached to (48.78±2.95)%. The results of glucose consumption test showed that atorvastatin significantly inhibited the glycolytic activity of HL-60/ADM cells in a concentration-dependent and time-dependent manner (r=0.915, r=0.748), and this inhibition was most strikingly when treated with 10 μmol/L atorvastatin for 24 h, reducing the relative glucose consumption to (46.53±1.71)%. Western blot indicated that the expressions of p-mTOR, PKM2, HK2, P-gp and MRP1 protein were decreased in a concentration-dependent manner (r=0.737, r=0.695, r=0.829, r=0.781, r=0.632), while the expression of PTEN protein was increased in a concentration-dependent manner (r=0.531), when treated with different concentrations of atorvastatin for 24 h. After PTEN-siRNA transfected into HL-60/ADM cells, it showed that low expression of PTEN had weakened the promoting effect of atorvastatin on apoptosis and inhibitory effect on glycolysis and multidrug resistance. CONCLUSION Atorvastatin can inhibit the proliferation, glycolysis, and induce apoptosis of HL-60/ADM cells. It may be related to the mechanism of increasing the expression of PTEN, inhibiting mTOR activation, and decreasing the expressions of PKM2 and HK2, thus reverse drug resistance.
Humans ; Atorvastatin/pharmacology* ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/pharmacology* ; Sincalide/metabolism* ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm/genetics* ; TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism* ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute/drug therapy* ; Doxorubicin/pharmacology* ; Apoptosis ; RNA, Small Interfering/pharmacology* ; Glycolysis ; Glucose/therapeutic use* ; Cell Proliferation

Objective: To explore the effect of growth arrest-specific5 (GAS5) inhibition on the proliferation, colony formation, invasion, migration andepithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT), cancer cell stem of HCT-116 and its mechanism. Methods: The colorectal carcinoma (CRC) cell HCT116 was divided into blank control, negative control (NC), si-GAS5 and si-GAS5+ miR-21 inhibitor groups. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to test the expressions of miR-21 and GAS5 at 48 h after transfection. The binding site of GAS5 and miR-21 was determined by luciferase reporter array. Cell proliferation ability was detected by CCK-8 assay. Cell colony ability was detected by colony formation assay. Cell invasion and migration abilities were detected by Transwell assay. Cell cycle and apoptosis were examined by flow cytometer (FCM). The protein levels of EMT associated factors including Snail, N-cadherin, vimentin, E-cadherin, stem cell related factors including CD44, SOX2, Oct2, and PTEN/Akt signal pathway associated factors were examined by western blotting. Results: The expression levels of miR-21 in blank, NC, si-GAS5 group were 1.00±0.10, 1.00±0.10, 1.80±0.20, the absorbance values were 0.51±0.02, 0.50±0.01 and 0.65±0.01, the cell clones were 90±4, 91±5, 200±8, the invaded cells were 118±3, 119±3, 150±4, the migrated cells were 110±2, 108±2, 127±2, the cell ratios in G(1) phase were (49.3±2.1)%, (50.1±2.0)% and (42.2±1.1)%, the cell ratios in S phase were (19.2±1.2)%, (20.2±1.1)% and (28.3±2.2)%, the cell apoptotic ratios were (14.4±2.2)%, (14.5±2.1)% and (7.2±1.3)%. These results indicated that inhibition of GAS5 up regulated the expression level of miR-21, promoted cell proliferation, invasion and migration, decreased G(1)-phase cells and increased S-phase cells, and suppressed cell apoptosis (P<0.05). Moreover, inhibition of GAS5 up regulated the expressions of Snail, N-cadherin, vimentin, Sox2, CD44, Oct2 and p-Akt in HCT-116 cells (P<0.05), while down regulated the expressions of E-cadherin and PTEN (P<0.05). Inhibition of miR-21 reversed the impact of GAS5 knockdown on PTEN/Akt signaling pathway (P<0.05). Conclusion: GAS5 can act as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-21, and down regulation of GAS5 can promote the development of CRC by activating the miR-21/PTEN/Akt signaling pathway and promoting the acquisition of EMT and tumor cell stemness.
Humans ; Cadherins/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement/genetics* ; Cell Proliferation/genetics* ; Colorectal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/genetics* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism* ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/metabolism* ; Vimentin/metabolism*

Choriocarcinoma/pathology* ; Female ; Gene Deletion ; Humans ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/genetics* ; Pregnancy ; Sequence Deletion ; Stomach Neoplasms/surgery*

Tumor volume increases continuously in the advanced stage, and aside from the self-renewal of tumor cells, whether the oncogenic transformation of surrounding normal cells is involved in this process is currently unclear. Here, we show that oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC)-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) promote the proliferation, migration, invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of normal epithelial cells but delay their apoptosis. In addition, nuclear-cytoplasmic invaginations and multiple nucleoli are observed in sEV-treated normal cells, both of which are typical characteristics of premalignant lesions of OSCC. Mechanistically, miR-let-7c in OSCC-derived sEVs is transferred to normal epithelial cells, leading to the transcriptional inhibition of p53 and inactivation of the p53/PTEN pathway. In summary, we demonstrate that OSCC-derived sEVs promote the precancerous transformation of normal epithelial cells, in which the miR-let-7c/p53/PTEN pathway plays an important role. Our findings reveal that cancer cells can corrupt normal epithelial cells through sEVs, which provides new insight into the progression of OSCC.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell/pathology* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Movement ; Cell Proliferation ; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic ; Down-Regulation ; Epithelial Cells/metabolism* ; Extracellular Vesicles/pathology* ; Humans ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Mouth Neoplasms/pathology* ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/metabolism* ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53/metabolism*

Objective: To investigate the effect of adenovirus-mediated shRNA down-regulating phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) expression on vinculin, filamin A, and cortactin in activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Methods: Activated rats hepatic stellate cell line (HSC-T6) was cultured in vitro. Recombinant adenovirus Ad-shRNA/PTEN carrying PTEN targeted RNA interference sequence [short hairpin RNA (shRNA)] and empty control virus Ad-GFP were transfected into HSCs. The PTEN mRNA and protein expression of HSCs in each group were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR and Western blot. The expressional change of vinculin, filamin A and cortactin in HSCs of each group were detected by confocal laser scanning immunofluorescence microscope. Image-pro plus 6.0 software was used for image analysis and processing. The integrated optical density (IOD) of the fluorescence protein expression was measured. The experiment was divided into three groups: control group (DMEM instead of adenovirus solution in the adenovirus transfection step), Ad-GFP group (transfected with empty virus Ad-GFP only expressing green fluorescent protein), and Ad-shRNA/PTEN group (recombinant adenovirus Ad-shRNA/PTEN carrying shRNA targeting PTEN and expressing green fluorescent protein). One-way analysis of variance was used for comparison of mean value among the three groups, and LSD-test was used for comparison between the groups. Results: shRNA targeted PTEN was successfully transfected and the expression of PTEN mRNA and protein in HSC (P < 0.05) was significantly down-regulated. HSCs vinculin was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm. HSCs vinculin fluorescence IOD in the Ad-shRNA/PTEN group (19 758.83 ± 1 520.60) was higher than control (7 737.16 ± 279.93) and Ad-GFP group (7 725.50 ± 373.03) (P < 0.05), but there was no statistically significant difference between control group and Ad-GFP group (P > 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the fluorescence IOD of Filamin A among the three groups (P > 0.05), but the subcellular distribution of Filamin A among the three groups were changed. Filamin A in the Ad-shrNA /PTEN HSC group was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm. Filamin A HSC was mainly located in the nucleus.The filamin A HSC in the control group and Ad-GFP group was mainly located in the nucleus. The nucleocytoplasmic ratio of Filamin A in the AD-shrNA /PTEN group (0.60 ± 0.15) was significantly lower than control group (1.20 ± 0.15) and Ad-GFP group (1.08 ± 0.23), P < 0.05. but there was no statistically significant difference in filamin A nucleocytoplasmic ratio of HSC between the control group and the Ad-GFP group (P > 0.05). Cortactin HSCs in the three groups was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm. The cortactin fluorescence IOD of HSCs in the Ad-shRNA/PTEN group was significantly higher than control group (22 959.94 ± 1 710.42) and the Ad-GFP group (22 547.11 ± 1 588.72 ) (P < 0.05), while there was no statistically significant difference in the IOD of cortactin fluorescence in HSCs between the control group and the Ad-GFP group (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The down-regulation of PTEN expression raises the expression of microfilament-binding protein vinculin and cortactin, and changes the subcellular distribution of another microfilament binding protein filamin A, that is, translocation from nucleus to the cytoplasm in activated HSC in vitro.
Adenoviridae/metabolism* ; Animals ; Carrier Proteins ; Cell Proliferation ; Cortactin ; Filamins/genetics* ; Hepatic Stellate Cells/metabolism* ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/metabolism* ; RNA, Small Interfering/genetics* ; Rats ; Vinculin/genetics*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the the effects of leptin on the proliferation, differentiation and PTEN expression of rat retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) cultured under hypoxic condition. METHODS: SD rat RPCs were cultured in normoxic conditions or exposed to hypoxia in the presence of 0, 0.3, 1.0, 3.0, 10, and 30 nmol/L leptin for 12, 48 and 72 h, and the cell viability was assessed using cell counting kit 8 (CCK 8) assay. The RPCs in primary culture were divided into control group, hypoxia group, and hypoxia+leptin group, and after 48 h of culture, the cell medium was replaced with differentiation medium and the cells were further cultured for 6 days. Immunofluorescence staining was employed to detect the cells positive for β-tubulin III and GFAP, and Western blotting was used to examine the expression of PTEN at 48 h of cell culture. RESULTS: The first generation of RPCs showed suspended growth in the medium with abundant and bright cellular plasma and formed mulberry like cell spheres after 2 days of culture. Treatment with low-dose leptin (below 3.0 nmol/L) for 48 h obviously improved the viability of RPCs cultured in hypoxia, while at high concentrations (above 10 nmol/L), leptin significantly suppressed the cell viability (P < 0.05). The cells treated with 3.0 nmol/L leptin for 48 h showed the highest viability (P < 0.05). After treatment with 3.0 nmol/L leptin for 48 h, the cells with hypoxic exposure showed similar GFAP and β-tubulin Ⅲ positivity with the control cells (P>0.05), but exhibited an obvious down-regulation of PTEN protein expression compared with the control cells (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION In rat RPCs with hypoxic exposure, treatment with low dose leptin can promote the cell proliferation and suppress cellular PTEN protein expression without causing significant effects on cell differentiation.
Animals ; Cell Differentiation/drug effects* ; Cell Hypoxia/drug effects* ; Cell Proliferation/drug effects* ; Cells, Cultured ; Leptin/pharmacology* ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/metabolism* ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Retina/metabolism* ; Stem Cells/metabolism* ; Tubulin

The purpose of our study is to investigate the prognostic value of phosphatase and tensin homolog on chromosome 10 (PTEN) expression in patients with de novo metastatic castration naïve prostate cancer (mCNPC). A total of 205 patients with mCNPC at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center (Shanghai, China) were retrospectively examined. Immunohistochemical staining of PTEN was performed on prostate biopsy samples of these patients. Associations among clinicopathological features, patient survival and PTEN protein expression were analyzed. PTEN loss occurred in 58 of 205 (28.3%) patients. Loss of PTEN was significantly correlated with high metastatic volume (P = 0.017). No association between PTEN expression and Gleason score was observed. Patients with PTEN loss had significantly shorter progression-free survival (PFS, P < 0.001) and overall survival (OS, P < 0.001) compared with patients with intact PTEN expression. Multivariate analysis showed that elevated alkaline phosphatase, high metastatic volume and PTEN loss were independent poor prognostic factors for PFS. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS)#8805; 2 and PTEN loss were independent poor prognostic factors for OS. The adjusted hazard ratio of PTEN loss for PFS and OS was 1.67 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14-2.43, P = 0.008) and 1.95 (95% CI: 1.23-3.10, P = 0.005), respectively. PTEN loss was also significantly associated with shorter PFS (P = 0.025) and OS (P < 0.001) in patients with low-volume metastatic disease. Our data showed that PTEN loss is an independent predictor for shorter PFS and OS in patients with de novo mCNPC.
China/epidemiology* ; Humans ; Male ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/genetics* ; Prognosis ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether miR-372-5p regulates PI3K/AKT/CXCL12 signaling pathway by targeting PTEN to promote metastasis of colorectal cancer cells. METHODS: We detected the differential expression of miR-372-5p using RT-qRCR in colorectal cancer and adjacent tissues, colorectal cancer cells and normal intestinal epithelial cells. Bioinformatic analysis and double luciferase assay were performed for verification of the targeting relationship between miR-372-5p and PTEN. Western blotting was used to assess the effects of transfection with miR-372-5p inhibitor and miR-372-5p mimics alone, co-transfection with miR-372-5p inhibitor and si-PTEN, and co-transfection with miR-372-5p mimics and PI3K inhibitor on the expressions of PTEN and CXCL12 and the activation of PI3K/AKT signal pathway; Transwell assay and scratch assay were used to examine the changes in the migration ability of the transfected cells, the cells co-transfected with miR-372-5p mimics and si-CXCL12, and the cells treated with conditioned medium from HCT116 cells transfected with miR-372-5p mimics. RESULTS: The expression of miR-372-5p was significantly higher in colorectal cancer tissues than in adjacent tissues, and higher in HCT116 and SW620 cells than in NCM460 cells (P < 0.01). Double luciferase assay confirmed that PTEN was a potential target gene of miR-372-5p (P < 0.05). Transfection of HCT116 cells with miR-372-5p mimics obviously decreased PTEN protein expression, increase CXCL12 expression and the phosphorylation level of AKT, and lowered the cell migration ability, while transfection with miR-372-5p inhibitor produced the opposite effects (P < 0.05); si-PTEN obviously neutralized the effect of miR-372-5p inhibitor (P < 0.01). PI3K inhibitor significantly decreased CXCL12 expression and inhibited the cell migration (P < 0.05), and this effect was mitigated by miR-372-5p mimics (P < 0.01). Treatment with the conditioned medium from HCT116 cells transfected with miR-372-5p mimics significantly enhanced the migration ability of NCM460 cells, and this effect was suppressed by transfection with si-CXCL12 (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION MiR-372-5p activates PI3K/AKT signaling pathway by targeting PTEN and up-regulates CXCL12 expression to promoting metastasis of colorectal cancer cells.
Chemokine CXCL12/metabolism* ; Colorectal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Culture Media, Conditioned ; Humans ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/metabolism* ; Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/metabolism* ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction