A ligand-activated transcription factor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is recently revealed to play a key role in embryogenesis and tumorigenesis (Feng et al. [1], Safe et al. [2]) and 2-(1'H-indole-3'-carbonyl)-thiazole-4-carboxylic acid methyl ester (ITE) (Song et al. [3]) is an endogenous AhR ligand that possesses anti-tumor activity. In order to gain insights into how ITE acts via the AhR ...

Flavonoid compounds have been shown to trigger cell cycle arrest at G0/G1, S and G2/M checkpoints, allowing cells to repair DNA damage before entry into mitosis. Jaceosidin, a flavonoid compound, has been reported to induce apoptosis in various cancer cell lines. In our previous study, we established that jaceosidin induces apoptosis in U87 glioblastoma cells through G2/M phase arrest. However ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Shikonin was reported to induce necroptosis in leukemia cells, but apoptosis in glioma cell lines. Thus, it is needed to clarify whether shikonin could cause necroptosis in glioma cells and investigate its underlying mechanisms. METHODS Shikonin and rat C6 glioma cell line and Human U87 glioma cell line were used in this study. The cellular viability was assayed by MTT....

Extensive invasion and angiogenesis are hallmark features of malignant glioblastomas. Here, we co-cultured U87 human glioblastoma cells and human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC) to demonstrate the exchange of microRNAs that initially involve the formation of gap junction communications between the two cell types. The functional inhibition of gap junctions by carbenoxolone blocks the tran...

Nodal is a member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily that plays critical roles during embryogenesis. Recent studies in ovarian, breast, prostate, and skin cancer cells suggest that Nodal also regulates cell proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion in cancer cells. However, it appears to exert both tumor-suppressing and tumor-promoting effects, depending on the cell type. To f...

Members of the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) family have been identified as regulators of oncogenic transformation in several human malignancies. A prominent member of this family, NFAT1, is associated with tumor cell survival, apoptosis, migration and invasion. Here, we investigated the role of NFAT1 in glioma cells. In 111 clinical samples, microarray analysis demonstrated that N...

Pannexin‑1 (Panx‑1) is abundantly expressed in vertebrates and has been shown to assemble into high‑conductance single‑membrane channels, which are permeable to large molecules and regulate cellular function. However, the association between Panx‑1 and astrocyte proliferation is poorly understood. This study provides evidence for a difference in cell proliferation between wild‑type and Panx‑1‑k...

Accumulating evidence has indicated that expression levels of YKL-40, a secreted glycoprotein, were elevated in multiple advanced human cancers. Recently, we have identified an angiogenic role of YKL-40 in cancer development.However, blockade of the function ofYKL-40,which implicates therapeutic value, has not been explored yet. Our current study sought to establish a monoclonal anti–YKL-40 ant...

As the majority of gliomas arise through malignant transformation of astrocytes, we aimed at investigating the interaction between malignant glioma cells and astrocytes in a co-culture experimental model. For this purpose we analyzed the expression of genes and proteins involved in tumor promotion and invasion, such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), ...

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is over-expressed in gliomas and has become one of the most compelling tumor targets. In this study, we found that oligomer procyanidins (F2) can suppress the expressions of HIF-1α and its target genes in U87 cells, and also down-regulate the EGFR/PI3K/AKT/mTOR and MAPK/ERK1/2 pathways in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, hypoxia-induced formation of tubular str...