Hematological toxicity （bone marrow suppression） is the most common dose-limiting adverse effect of chemotherapies. The nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 （Nrf2） is a pivotal coordinator of cellular defensive responses against chemical insults in many tissues including bone marrow. In the present study, the effects of tert-butylhydroquinone （tBHQ） on the expression of Nrf2-regulated genes in peripheral blood cells and cyclophosphamide （CTX）-induced hematotoxicity in mice were investigated. CTX induced apoptosis of peripheral blood nucleated cells and leukopenia in mice, accompanied by mobilization of bone marrow hematopoietic cells, tBHQ treatment induced the expression of Nrf2-regulated genes such as heine oxygenase 1 （HO1） and glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subtmit （GCLC） in RAW264.7 mouse macrophage cells and peripheral blood cells both in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, pretreatment with tBHQ alleviated CTX-induced mouse peripheral blood cell apoptosis and leukopenia in vivo, indicating possible involvement of Nrf2 in the protection against CTX-induced hematotoxicity. This study provides new information on the chemotherapy-induced hematotoxicity, and suggests Nrf2 could serve as a target for the development of chemoprotectants against hematotoxicity.
Colorectal cancer （CRC） is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths, and inflammatory bowel diseases and dysregulated cell proliferation play important roles in colorectal carcinogenesis. Therefore, inhibition of inflammatory signaling and cell proliferation is used as a major strategy for chemoprevention of CRC. In the present study, it was found that IC5, a dithiocarbamate derivative, could inhibit the proliferation of LoVo human colon cancer cells in a concentration-dependent manner, with an IC50 of 22 gM. The anti-proliferation effect of IC5 was accompanied by a significant cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase. Further study revealed that IC5 significantly inhibited NF-~B signaling in LoVo cells, suggesting that IC5 could inhibit inflammatory responses. We then evaluated the in vivo efficacy of IC5 to inhibit colitis-associated colorectal carcinogenesis using an azoxymethane （AOM）/dextran sodium sulfate （DSS） mouse model. AOM/DSS treatment resulted in a CRC incidence of 58.3%, while the incidences were decreased to 37.5% and 25% in mice orally administered with 50 and 100 mg/kg IC5, respectively. In addition, IC5 also reduced the plasma levels of alanine aminotransferase and asparatate aminotransferase. Taken together, these results suggested that IC5 could prevent colitis-associated colorectal carcinogenesis, and more attention should be paid to it as a cancer chemopreventive agent in further investigation.
Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 （Nrf2） controls the expression of a wide array of antioxidant response element （ARE）-driven genes, which are involved in stress response and metabolism regulation. The role of Nrf2/ARE signaling in resistances of cancer cells to radiotherapy and chemotherapy has been widely accepted. However, much less is known about the relevance of Nrf2 to chemotherapy-associated toxicities, such as hepatotoxicity. In the present study, nine chemotherapeutic agents were firstly tested in embryonic fibroblasts （MEFs） and hepatocytes isolated from Nrf2 deficient or wild-type mice. The results indicate that the cytotoxicity of oxaliplatin in hepatocytes was significantly higher than that in MEFs and enhanced by Nrf2 deficiency. Furthermore, oxaliplatin treatment caused more pronounced steatosis and severer liver injury in Nrf2-/- mice compared with wild-type counterparts, as evidenced by dramatically elevated serum transaminase and bilirubin, increased accumulation of fat, inflammatory infiltration and blood congestion. The increased hepatotoxicity in Nrf2 deficient mice was possibly caused by decreased expression of antioxidant genes and glutathione depletion. Our results demonstrated that oxaliplatin-induced hepatotoxicity was significantly impacted by Nrf2 status, therefore Nrf2 could potentially serve as a biomarker to predict or a target to prevent hepatotoxicity of oxaliplatin.
Lanthanum ions （La3＋） have been reported to exert profound effects on the proliferation of NIH 3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts. In the present studies, the pro-proliferative effect of La3＋ on NIH 3T3 cells was further characterized, and its impacts on the cell cycle kinetics were analyzed in detail by cell cycle arrest-and-release and pulse BrdU-labeling and chasing experiments. The results show that La3＋ promoted the proliferation of NIH 3T3 cells after 12 h and the ECs0 was 2.4 ktM after 48 h. Such effect was also confirmed by enhanced BrdU incorporation. La3＋ stimulated more cells to pass through the G1/S checkpoint into S phase, but did not change the length of cell cycle. Furthermore, La3＋-treatment increased the protein levels and nuclear localization of cyclin D 1 and c-Myc, two key regulators of G1/S checkpoint, as demonstrated by immunostaining. The pro-proliferative effects of La3＋ share striking similarity with that of Gd3＋, and provided new information regarding the cellular biological activities of lanthanides.
