ASBT(SLC10A2): A promising target for treatment of diseases and drug discovery.

Bile acids has gradually become a new focus in various diseases, and ASBT as a transporter responsible for the reabsorption of ileal bile acids, is a key hinge associated to the bile acids-cholesterol balance and bile acids of enterohepatic circulation. The cumulative studies have also shown that ASBT is a promising target for treatment of liver, gallbladder, intestinal and metabolic diseases. This article briefly reviewed the process of bile acids enterohepatic circulation, as well as the regulations of ASBT expression, covering transcription factors, nuclear receptors and gut microbiota. In addition, the relationship between ASBT and various diseases were discussed in this paper. According to the structural classification of ASBT inhibitors, the research status of ASBT inhibitors and potential ASBT inhibitors of traditional Chinese medicine (such resveratrol, jatrorrhizine in Coptis chinensis) were summarized. This review provides a basis for the development of ASBT inhibitors and the treatment strategy of related diseases.

Activation of p53 contributes to pseudolaric acid B-induced senescence in human lung cancer cells in vitro.

AIM: Pseudolaric acid B (PAB), a diterpene acid isolated from the root bark of Pseudolarix kaempferi Gordon, has shown to exert anti-tumor effects via inducing cell cycle arrest followed by apoptosis in several cancer cell lines. Here we reported that PAB induced a mitotic catastrophe in human lung cancer A549 cells, which resulted in senescence without apoptosis or necrosis. METHODS: Three human lung cancer cell lines (A549, H460 and H1299 cells) were examined. Cell growth inhibition was assessed with MTT assay. Cell cycle distribution was determined using a flow cytometer. Cell nuclear morphology was observed under a fluorescence microscope. Senescent cells were detected using SA-ß-Gal staining. Apoptotic and senescent protein expression was examined using Western blot analysis. The expression of p53 and p21 in the cells was downregulated by siRNAs. RESULTS: Treatment with PAB (5-80 µmol/L) inhibited the growth of A549 cells in dose- and time-dependent manners. Prolonged treatment with PAB (20 µmol/L) caused G2/M arrest at day 1 followed by mitotic catastrophe from day 2, which eventually resulted in cell senescence between days 3 and 4 without cell death (apoptosis or necrosis). Knockdown of p53 expression with siRNA significantly suppressed PAB-induced senescence in A549 cells (p53 wild). Furthermore, PAB-induced senescence was also observed in human lung cancer H460 cells (p53 wild), but not in human lung cancer H1299 cells (p53 null). CONCLUSION: The anti-tumor action of PAB against human lung cancer A549 cells in vitro involves the induction of senescence through activation of the p53 pathway.

Hydroxyl radical (·OH) played a pivotal role in oridonin-induced apoptosis and autophagy in human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells.

Oridonin, a diterpenoid compound extracted and purified from Rabdosia rubescen, has been reported to induce tumor cell apoptosis through tyrosine kinase pathway. To further examine the mechanism of oridonin, we selected human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cell as a test object. Besides apoptosis, oridonin also induced A431 cell autophagy, and this autophagy antagonized apoptosis and played a protective role for A431 cells. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) played a pivotal role in induction of cytotoxicity. Therefore, a ROS scavenger, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) combined with oridonin was appiled. Results of morphologic observation, flow cytometric analysis and Western blot analysis showed that NAC could significantly reverse both ROS generation and down-regulation of mitochondrial membrane potential in oridonin treated cells. NAC inhibited oridonin induced apoptosis through both the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways. NAC effectively inhibited both oridonin-induced apoptosis and autophagy by reducing intracellular oxidative stress. To further examine the mechanism of ROS, exogenous enzyme antioxidants (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT)) and non-enzyme antioxidants (glutathione (GSH)) were applied to detect the effect of oridonin on ROS generation. Only GSH exerted a similar role with NAC, suggesting that hydroxyl radical (·OH) played the major role in oridonin-induced cell death. Oridonin could decrease the GSH level in A431 cells in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, after treatment with ·OH donor, Fenton reagent, the changes in A431cells were similar to the results of oridonin treatment. All the results proved that ·OH played the pivotal role in oridonin induced apoptosis and autophagy in A431 cells.

Nitric oxide (•NO) generation but not ROS plays a major role in silibinin-induced autophagic and apoptotic death in human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells.

Silibinin, a major active constituent of silymarin, is clinically used as a hepatoprotectant, and in recent years, it has been used for the treatment of cancer in China. Because the mechanism of silibinin action on cancer cells was still unclear, we investigated the contribution of silibinin to the induction of apoptosis and autophagy via generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (•NO) in human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells. Silibinin inhibited the cell growth in a dose-and time-dependent manner. Obvious autophagy was observed after treatment with different doses of silibinin. At a high dose (400 µM), silibinin induced apoptosis through both the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways. Loss of mitochondrial membrane potential by silibinin led to mitochondrial dysfunction and decreased ROS levels, suggesting that silibinin might act as an antioxidant in this process. Furthermore, silibinin induced •NO generation in a time-and dose-dependent manner. The •NO scavenger PTIO could effectively clear •NO and exerted a minor cell protection effect through partial inhibition of silibinin-induced apoptosis and autophagy.

The tyrphostin AG1478 augments oridonin-induced A431 cell apoptosis by blockage of JNK MAPK and enhancement of oxidative stress.

Oridonin, a diterpenoid compound, extracted and purified from Rabdosia rubescen has been reported to have cytotoxic effect on tumour cells through apoptosis, and tyrosine kinase pathways are involved in these processes. A specific epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor AG1478 was used to examine the relationship between EGFR signal pathways and oridonin-induced apoptosis and autophagy in EGFR abundant human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells. Inhibition of EGFRaugmented oridonin-induced A431 cell apoptosis, while the changes of expression of downstream proteins, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, Bax, cytochrome c, pro-caspase-3, Fas, FADD and pro-caspase-8 suggested that both the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways are involved in these processes. Pretreatment with AG1478 aggravated oridonin-induced loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and increased ROS generation in A431 cells, while a ROS scavenger, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) completely reversed oridonin- and AG1478-induced ROS generation and apoptosis. Therefore, AG1478 augmented oridonin-induced apoptosis by enhancing oxidative stress. Pretreatment with AG1478 decreased the expression of downstream MAPK proteins ERK, JNK and P38 and their phosphorylated forms to varying degrees compared with oridonin alone treatment. Then after administration of ERK, JNK and P38 inhibitors, only JNK inhibitor SP600125 effectively augmented oridonin-induced apoptosis and ROS generation. Therefore, in EGFR downstream pathways, JNK played a major role in preventing oridonin-induced apoptosis. Autophagy antagonised apoptosis and exerted a protective effect in A431 cells, and both AG1478 and SP600125 decreased oridonin-induced autophagy. Inhibition of EGFR augmented oridonin-induced apoptosis and this was caused by enhanced oxidative stress, and JNK played a major protective role by increasing autophagy, leading to antagonising apoptosis and ROS generation.

Silibinin induces the generation of nitric oxide in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells.

Increasing research has concentrated on the anti-tumour efficacy of silibinin, a flavonolignan that is clinically used as an hepatoprotectant. However, previous work has found that silibinin-induced apoptosis is accompanied by protective superoxide (O(2)*-) generation in MCF-7 cells. This study further reports the formation of reactive nitrogen species (RNS) in the same system. It finds that silibinin induces nitric oxide (*NO) generation in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, the results support that there exists an inter-regulation pattern between RNS and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. In addition, silibinin is also found to induce RNS and ROS generation in the isolated populations of mouse peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and a simple in vivo model of Caenorhabditis elegans.