BACKGROUND Autophagy is an important adaptive survival mechanism, which has been postulated to be involved in cancer metastasis. The purpose of this study was to investigate autophagy in metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS Immunohistochemical analysis of autophagic activity in metastatic and paired primary HCC tissues using LC3 as autophagosome marker was performed in sample...

Many anticancer agents as well as ionizing radiation have been shown to induce autophagy which is originally described as a protein recycling process and recently reported to play a crucial role in various disorders. In HCT116 human colon cancer cells, we found that curcumin, a polyphenolic phytochemical extracted from the plant Curcuma longa, markedly induced the conversion of microtubule-asso...

Macroautophagy/autophagy defects have been identified as critical factors underlying the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. The roles of the bioactive signaling lipid sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) and its catabolic enzyme SGPL1/SPL (sphingosine phosphate lyase 1) in autophagy are increasingly recognized. Here we provide in vitro and in vivo evidence for a previously unidentified route ...

PURPOSE The aims were two-fold: first, to examine the expression of Yes-activated protein (YAP), a key Hippo pathway regulator, in clinical thyroid papillary carcinoma samples and to correlate this with clinicopathological parameters; second, to explore the role of YAP in regulating cell growth and division in vitro. METHODS AND RESULTS YAP expression was determined by immunohistochemistry of...

Although non-medullary thyroid cancer (NMTC) generally has a good prognosis, 30-40% of patients with distant metastases develop resistance to radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy due to tumor dedifferentiation. For these patients, treatment options are limited and prognosis is poor. In the present study, expression and activity of autophagy was assessed in large sets of normal, benign and malignant...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of resveratrol on autophagy in the chronically diabetic nephropathy and to study the effects of the different expression of microRNAs after resveratrol (RSV) treated in db/db mice (diabetic mice). MATERIALS AND METHODS Db/m (non- diabetic) and db/db mice were randomly divided into intra gastric RSV treatment group or control group. Renal tissues were prepa...

Macroautophagy (mAG) is a lysosomal mechanism of degradation of cell self-constituents damaged due to variety of stress factors, including ionizing irradiation. Activation of mAG requires expression of mAG protein Atg8 (LC3) and conversion of its form I (LC3-I) to form II (LC3-II), mediated by redox-sensitive Atg4 protease. We have demonstrated upregulation of this pathway in the innate host de...

This study aims to investigate effects of Piwil2 on autohpagy in a DN rat model. Sixty health SD rats were selected and divided into four group, including normal group, control, DN and Piwil2 therapy group. DN model (DN group) was established by injecting the streptozotocin (50 mg/kg) into rats. Piwil2 therapy group was injected with viral plasmid carrying Piwil2 mRNA to DN rats. The urinary pr...