{"title":"Stimulation of Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase (sGC) by Cinaciguat Attenuates Sepsisinduced Cardiac Injury","authors":"Wanqian Li, Cheng Zheng, Xijiang Zhang, Binhui Wang, Enjian Shen, Lingjun Wang, Guang Chen, Ronghai Lin","doi":"10.2174/0118761429387280250506114040","DOIUrl":"10.2174/0118761429387280250506114040","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Cinaciguat is a soluble Guanylyl Cyclase (sGC) activator that plays a crucial role in cardiovascular diseases. Previous research has shown that cinaciguat is involved in the progression of cardiomyopathy, which encompasses cardiac enlargement, heart dysfunction, and doxorubicin-induced heart damage. However, its therapeutic potential in sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy remains unknown.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study examined the impact of cinaciguat on Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced myocardial injury and the underlying molecular mechanisms.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The mice model was established through intraperitoneal injection of LPS (10 mg/kg), and an <i>in vitro</i> model was generated by stimulating H9C2 cells with LPS (10 μg/ml) for 12 h. Subsequently, the sGC activator cinaciguat was used to assess its effects on LPS-induced cardiac injury. Additionally, echocardiography was conducted 12 hours after modeling to analyze cardiac function in mice. We used various methods to evaluate inflammation, and apoptosis, including Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine Triphosphate Nick End Labeling (TUNEL) assay, Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining, western blotting and Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Additionally, the protein kinase cGMP-dependent 1 (PRKG1)/cAMP-Response Element Binding protein (CREB) signaling pathway and Mitochondrial Ferritin (FtMt) in LPS-induced cardiac injury was assessed via Western blot analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>LPS-induced cardiac dysfunction and increased levels of cardiac injury markers Cardiac Troponin T (cTnT) <i>in vivo</i> . This change was accompanied by an increase in inflammatory cytokines through Interleu-1β (IL-1β), Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNF-α), and Interleu-6 (IL-6). The expression of apoptosis, such as cleaved caspase-3, Bax, and Bcl-2, was also upregulated. However, these effects were reversed via treatment with cinaciguat. Additionally, cinaciguat alleviated LPS-induced cardiac inflammation and apoptosis by activating the PRKG1/CREB signaling pathway, and promoting FtMt expression. The same results were also obtained in H9C2 cardiomyocytes.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>We demonstrated that cinaciguat alleviated LPS-induced cardiac dysfunction, inflammation, and apoptosis through the PRKG1/CREB/FtMt pathway, thereby protecting against LPS-induced cardiac injury. This study identified a new strategy for treating cardiac injury caused by sepsis.</p>","PeriodicalId":93964,"journal":{"name":"Current molecular pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":"e18761429387280"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144113135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yasaman Naeimzadeh, Zahra Heidari, Vahid Razban, Sahar Khajeh
{"title":"Deregulated MicroRNAs involved in P53 Signaling Pathway in Breast Cancer with Focus on Triple-negative Breast Cancer.","authors":"Yasaman Naeimzadeh, Zahra Heidari, Vahid Razban, Sahar Khajeh","doi":"10.2174/0118761429263841230926014118","DOIUrl":"10.2174/0118761429263841230926014118","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Breast cancer (BC), as a heterogenous disease, is the most common cancer among women worldwide. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive and malignant subtype with a poor prognosis and a high rate of relapse and metastasis that is closely linked to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). It is well-documented that miRNAs play oncogenic (oncomiR) or tumor-suppressive (TS-miR) roles in controlling apoptosis (apoptomiR), differentiation, cell proliferation, invasion, migration, etc. Regarding the regulatory roles of miRNAs in the expression levels of various genes, dysfunction or deregulated expression of these molecules can lead to various disorders, including various types of cancers, such as BC. Many miRNAs have been identified with critical contributions in the initiation and development of different types of BCs due to their influence on the p53 signaling network.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>The aim of this review was to discuss several important deregulated miRNAs that are involved in the p53 signaling pathway in BC, especially the TNBC subtype. Finally, miRNAs' involvement in tumor properties and their applications as diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic agents have been elaborated in detail.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The miRNA expression profile of BC is involved in tumor-grade estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression, and other pathological properties from luminal A to TNBC/basal-like subtypes via p53 signaling pathways.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Developing our knowledge about miRNA expression profile in BC, as well as molecular mechanisms of initiation and progression of BC can help to find new prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic biomarkers, which can lead to a suitable treatment for BC patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":93964,"journal":{"name":"Current molecular pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":"e18761429263841"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71430440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christos Markatos, Georgia Biniari, Vlasios Karageorgos, Oleg G Chepurny, Maria Venihaki, George G Holz, Theodore Tselios, George Liapakis
{"title":"Two GnRH-mitoxantrone Conjugates, Con-3 and Con-7, Target Endometrial Cancer Cells","authors":"Christos Markatos, Georgia Biniari, Vlasios Karageorgos, Oleg G Chepurny, Maria Venihaki, George G Holz, Theodore Tselios, George Liapakis","doi":"10.2174/0118761429343090250121052955","DOIUrl":"10.2174/0118761429343090250121052955","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Endometrial cancer is one of the most common gynecological malignancies. Endometrial cancer cells express the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and its receptor (GnRH-R). Among the various therapeutic approaches for the treatment of endometrial cancer is the use of GnRH conjugates, such as the AN-152, created by linking the [D-Lys6] GnRH with the cytotoxic doxorubicin through an ester bond. An undesirable property of these conjugates is their vulnerability to plasma carboxylesterases, which cleave the ester bond to release doxorubicin before reaching the cancer cells.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>To overcome this problem, we recently developed the Con-3 and Con-7, which are GnRH analogs conjugated through a disulfide bond with the cytotoxic mitoxantrone. In this study, we determined the cytotoxic properties of the Con-3 and Con-7 on the Ishikawa endometrial cancer cells, assuming that their interaction with the GnRH-R of cells exposes the conjugated mitoxantrone to the cellular thioredoxin. The cellular thioredoxin reduces the disulfide bond of Con-3 & Con-7 to release mitoxantrone, which accumulates in the cancer cells and exerts its cytotoxic actions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Indeed, treatment of Ishikawa cells with Con-3, Con-7, or the free unconjugated mitoxantrone increased their apoptosis and decreased their proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner, displaying half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of 0.64 - 1.15 μM. In specific, the IC50 values on days 2, 3, and 4 were 1.45, 0.64, and 0.83 μΜ, respectively, for Con-3, 0.91, 0.82 μΜ, and 1.00 μΜ, respectively for Con-7 and 1.15, 0.98, 0.78 μM, respectively for mitoxantrone.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>In contrast, the free, mitoxantrone-unconjugated peptides did not affect the proliferation of Ishikawa cells. The Con-3 and Con-7 could put the basis for the development of a new class of anticancer drugs for endometrial cancer, which will act as \"prodrugs\" that deliver the cytotoxic mitoxantrone in a GnRH-R-specific manner.</p>","PeriodicalId":93964,"journal":{"name":"Current molecular pharmacology","volume":" ","pages":"e18761429343090"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143124274","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}