title: Recombinant VAA-I from Viscum album induces apoptotic cell death of hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC7721 cells.
abstract: Researchers have proposed that VAA-I, a specific plant lectin found in Viscum album, has therapeutic effects on cancer and autoimmune diseases. VAA-I has shown some promising treatment results in some types of tumor cell lines, especially SMMC-7721 cells (human hepatocellular carcinoma cells). However, few details are known about the mechanism and process of cell death induced by VAA-I in tumor cells. In this study, the cell morphology results showed that SMMC-7721 cells treated with VAA-I exhibited several features typical of apoptotic cell death, which was confirmed by the Caspase inhibition assay. Fluo-3-acetoxymethyl ester (AM) fluorescence imaging techniques showed that rVAA-I significantly elevated the intracellular calcium level ([Ca2+]i) in SMMC-7721 cells. These findings suggest that apoptosis may play the most important role in SMMC-7721 cell death induced by rVAA-I. Finally, in the SMMC-7721 cells treated with rVAA-I, a series of genes in the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway were expressed differentially, and further found that PI 3-kinase pathway is involved in rVAA-I signal transduction in SMMC-7721 cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, the First Clinical Hospital, Jilin University, Jilin, China.
authors.forename: Xueliang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Shuang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yahui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shuli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Guangyi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism*; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D045304:Cytochromes c / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D010843:Pichia / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology; D054788:Ribosome Inactivating Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D054790:Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 2; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013997:Time Factors; D014118:Toxins, Biological / Q000494:pharmacology*; D028182:Viscum album / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D047428:Protein Kinase Inhibitors; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D054790:Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 2; D014118:Toxins, Biological; C488865:VAA-I protein, Viscum album; D045304:Cytochromes c; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D054788:Ribosome Inactivating Proteins; D020169:Caspases; D002118:Calcium