How anti-neoplastic agents induce MDR (multidrug resistance) in cancer cells and the role of GSH (glutathione) in the activation of pumps such as the MRPs (MDR-associated proteins) are still open questions. In the present paper we illustrate that a doxorubicin-resistant human colon cancer cell line (HT29-DX), exhibiting decreased doxorubicin accumulation, increased intracellular GSH content, an...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs, which are important in the development of multidrug resistance in cancer by regulating gene expression at the post‑transcriptional level. The present study investigated the functional effects of miR‑522 in chemoresistant colon cancer cells. The results demonstrated that miR‑522 was significantly downregulated in doxorubicin (DOX) resistant colon cel...

Tetrandrine has been shown to reduce cancer cell proliferation and to inhibit metastatic effects in multiple cancer models in vitro and in vivo. However, the effects of tetrandrine on the underlying mechanism of HT29 human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell metastasis remain to be fully elucidated. The aim of the present study was focused on tetrandrine‑treated HT29 cells following epidermal growth...

Caveolin-1 expression and function were investigated in human colon cancer. Low levels of caveolin-1 mRNA and protein were detected in several colon carcinoma cell lines. Moreover, caveolin-1 protein levels were significantly reduced in human tumor epithelial mucosa (3.6 +/- 1.4-fold) when compared with normal colon mucosa for a majority (10 of 15) of the patients characterized. To directly ass...

Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), a contagious viral disease that commonly affects infants and children with blisters and flu like symptoms, is caused by a group of enteroviruses such as Enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus A16 (CA16). However some HFMD caused by EV71 may further develop into severe neurological complications such as encephalitis and meningitis. The route of transmission...

Hypoxia-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been identified as essential for tumor progression and metastasis. The present study examined the effects of an antioxidant, dieckol, on hypoxia‑induced EMT in HT29 human colorectal cancer cells. HT29 cells were treated with a hypoxia‑inducing agent, CoCl2, and an increase in the levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) an...

The mostly undifferentiated parental HT29 (HT29p) human colonic adenocarcinoma cell line and a differentiated subpopulation selected by the anti-cancer drug 5-fluorouracil (HT29-Fu) (Lesuffleur et al. (1991) Int. J. Cancer 49, 721-730) display strikingly different behavior when grown on laminin coatings: the former grows as aggregates while the latter grows as monolayers. In an attempt to expla...

Zinc enhances epithelial proliferation, protects the digestive epithelial layer and has profound antiulcerative and antidiarrheal roles in the colon. Despite the clinical significance of this ion, the mechanisms linking zinc to these cellular processes are poorly understood. We have previously identified an extracellular Zn(2+) sensing G-protein coupled receptor (ZnR) that activates Ca(2+) sign...

Butyrate, a fermentation product of the large bowel microflora, is potentially protective against the development of colorectal cancer. In vitro, butyrate has been shown to induce apoptosis and inhibit proliferation in numerous cancer cell lines, including colorectal cancer. Although these tumor suppressing properties of butyrate are well-documented in experimental systems, the mechanisms under...