1. Inhibition of neuroblastoma proliferation by PF-3758309, a small-molecule inhibitor that targets p21-activated kinase 4
- Author
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Xiaolu Li, Li-Xiao Xu, Xiaolan Chen, Wei-Wei Du, Guang-Hui Qian, Chun Yang, Yi Wu, Jian Wang, Shaoyan Hu, He Zhao, Jian Pan, Fang Fang, Jun Lu, Xin Ding, Junli Ren, Zhi-Heng Li, Mei Li, Yunyun Xu, and Yan-Fang Tao
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,0301 basic medicine ,Cancer Research ,Cell cycle checkpoint ,Cell Survival ,MAP Kinase Signaling System ,Cell ,Biology ,neuroblastoma ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cell Line, Tumor ,Neuroblastoma ,medicine ,Humans ,Pyrroles ,Protein Kinase Inhibitors ,Cell Proliferation ,Neoplasm Staging ,Oncogene ,Kinase ,Cell Cycle ,apoptosis ,Articles ,General Medicine ,Cell cycle ,medicine.disease ,Up-Regulation ,Cell biology ,Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ,PF-3758309 ,growth arrest ,030104 developmental biology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,p21-Activated Kinases ,Oncology ,PAK4 ,Apoptosis ,Cancer cell ,Cancer research ,Pyrazoles ,Female - Abstract
Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid childhood tumor. Despite the availability of advanced multimodal therapy, high-risk patients still have low survival rates. p21-activated kinase 4 (PAK4) has been shown to regulate many cellular processes in cancer cells, including migration, polarization and proliferation. However, the role of PAK4 in neuroblastoma remains unclear. In the present study, we demonstrated that PAK4 was overexpressed in neuroblastoma tissues and was correlated with tumor malignance and prognosis. To investigate the function of PAK4 in neuroblastoma, we used a small-molecule inhibitor that targets PAK4, that is, PF-3758309. Our results showed that PF-3758309 significantly induced cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase and apoptosis in neuroblastoma cell lines. Meanwhile, the inhibition of PAK4 by PF-3758309 increased the expression of CDKN1A, BAD and BAK1 and decreased the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax. In addition, we screened the target genes of PAK4 by PCR array and found that 23 genes were upregulated (including TP53I3, TBX3, EEF1A2, CDKN1A, IFNB1 and MAPK8IP2) and 20 genes were downregulated (including TNFSF8, Bcl2-A1, Bcl2L1, SOCS3, BIRC3 and NFKB1) after PAK4 inhibition by PF-3758309. Moreover, PAK4 was found to regulate the cell cycle and apoptosis via the ERK signaling pathway. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated, for the first time, the expression and function of PAK4 in neuroblastomas and the inhibitory effect of PF-3758309, which deserves further investigation as an alternative strategy for neuroblastoma treatment.
- Published
- 2017