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Osimertinib is a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has been evaluated in glioblastoma (GBM) in pre-clinical and clinical trials. However, the precise mechanism whereby Osimertinib induces GBM cell death as well as the underlying resistance mechanism to Osimertinibremain unclear. Here we show that Osimertinib induced paraptosis in GBM cells as evidenced by the formation of cytoplasmic vacuoles, accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins, and upregulation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress markers like CHOP. In addition, apoptosis or autophagy was not responsible for Osimertinib-induced cell death. RNA-seq analysis revealed that ER stress was the mostly deregulated pathway upon Osimertinib exposure. Consistently, pharmacologically targeting the PERK-eIF2α axis impaired Osimertinib-induced paraptosis. Noteworthy, we show that the expression of thyroid receptor-interacting protein 13 (TRIP13), an AAA+ATPase, alleviated Osimertinib-triggered paraptosis, thus conferring resistance. Intriguingly, an AKT inhibitor MK-2206 downregulated TRIP13 abundance and synergized with Osimertinib to suppress TRIP13-high GBM cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Thus, this study reveals a novel mechanism of action associated with the anti-GBM effects of Osimertinib, which involves ER stress-regulated paraptosis. Furthermore, we identify a TRIP13-driven resistance mechanism against Osimeritinib in GBM and offer a MK-2206-based combination strategy to overcome such resistance.

Mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), the active metabolite of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), has been known to have adverse effects on the reproductive system, urologic systems, hepatic, developmental toxicities and carcinogenicity. However, the effect of MEHP on cardiovascular toxicity remains unclear. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of MEHP and the possible molecular mechanism. We found that treatment of EA.hy 926 cells with MEHP induced autophagy at earlier time (6 h) in this study. Lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) occurred, after treatment with MEHP for 12 h, followed by the release of cathepsin B. Autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3MA) attenuated MEHP-induced LMP and the release of cathepsin B in EA.hy 926 cells. Additionally, MEHP induced collapse of mitochondrial transmembrane potential, which was evidenced by JC-1 staining. Addition of 3MA relieved MEHP-induced apoptosis as assessed by the expression of caspase 3 and TUNEL assay, indicating that MEHP-induced apoptosis was autophagy-dependent. Cathepsin B inhibitor, CA-074 Me, suppressed MEHP-induced the mitochondria release of cytochrome c and apoptosis as well. In summary, our results suggest that MEHP induced autophagy-dependent apoptosis in EA.hy 926 cells through the lysosomal-mitochondrial axis. This study provides new mechanistic insights into MEHP-induced cardiovascular toxicity.

The objective of our study was to construct recombinant adenovirus (rAd) AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3, which expresses autocatalytic caspase-3 driven by human telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter (hTERTp) with a two-step transcription amplification (TSTA) system and investigate its antitumor effects on ovarian cancer in vitro and in vivo. Fluorescent detection was used to detect EGFP expression in various cells. Cell viabilities were determined using the Cell Counting Kit-8 and flow cytometry. RT-PCR and immunoblotting assays were used to detect cellular apoptotic activities. Tumor growth and survival of tumor-bearing mice were studied. The hTERTp-TSTA system showed the strongest activity in hTERT-positive cancer cells when compared with hTERTp and cytomeglovirus promoter (CMVp). In contrast, it showed no activity in hTERT‑negative HUVECs. AdHTVP2G5‑rev-casp3 markedly suppressed the survival of AO cells in a dose-dependent modality with a viability rate of 17.8 ± 3.5% at an MOI of 70, which was significantly lower than that by AdHT-rev-casp3 and Ad-rev-casp3 (rAds which express rev-caspase-3 driven by hTERTp and CMVp, respectively). In contrast, AdHTVP2G5‑rev-casp3 induced little HUVEC death with a viability rate of 92.7 ± 5.2% at the same MOI. Additionally, AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 (MOI=70) caused significant apoptosis in AO cells with an apoptotic rate of 42%. The tumor growth suppression rate of AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 was 81.52%, significantly higher than that of AdHT-rev-casp3 (54.94%) or Ad-rev-casp3 (21.35%). AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 significantly improved the survival of tumor-bearing mice with little liver damage, with a mean survival of 258 ± 28 days. These results showed that AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 caused effective apoptosis with significant tumor selectivity, strongly suppressed tumor growth and improved mouse survival with little liver toxicity. It can be a potent therapeutic agent for tumor targeted treatment of ovarian cancer.

Serious infections in intensive care unit patients caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Klebsiella pneumoniae represent a major threat worldwide owing to increased mortality and limited treatment options. With the application of tigecycline for MDR pathogens, tigecycline-non-susceptible K. pneumoniae isolates have recently emerged in China. To identify the susceptibility profile of MDR K. pneumoniae to tigecycline and evaluate the molecular characterization of tigecycline resistance, 214 MDR K. pneumoniae isolates were collected from blood samples of patients in intensive care units. MICs and clonal relatedness were determined by standard broth microdilution and multilocus sequence typing, respectively. Expression levels of efflux pumps and their global regulators were examined using real-time PCR. Mutations of local repressor were identified by PCR and sequencing. Our results show that the tigecycline resistance rate of 214 MDR K. pneumoniae isolates was 6.07 %. ST11 was the predominant clone type of tigecycline-non-susceptible K. pneumoniae isolates. Expression of efflux pump AcrB and global regulator RamA correlated with tigecycline MICs (AcrB: x 2=8.91, P=0.03; RamA: x 2=13.91, P

Background Induction of cell apoptosis and regulation of cell cycle are very attractive for treatments of tumors including ovarian carcinoma. Flavopiridol is a potent small molecular cyclin-dependent kinase(cdk) inhibitor, but its antitumor efficacy is not satisfied yet. Caspase-3 play a major role in the transduction of apoptotic signals and the execution of apoptosis in mammalian cells. We have successfully constructed the recombinant adenovirues AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 containing autocatalytic caspase-3 (rev-caspase-3) driven by amplified hTERT promoter system (TSTA-hTERTp). In this study, we applied it with flavopiridol to investigate their antitumor effect on ovarian cancer in vitro and in vivo. Methods Cell viabilities were determined using Cell Counting Kit 8 and flow cytometry. RT-PCR and immunoblotting assays were used to detect cellular apoptotic activities. Tumor growth and survival of mice bearing tumors were studied. Results Flavopiridol or AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 at low dosage alone was mildly cytotoxic in vitro with a viability rate of 86.5 ± 4.7% for 300 nM flavopiridol and 88.9 ± 5.4% for AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 (MOI 20). By contrast, significant synergism of their sequential combination was observed, and the treatment of AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 (MOI 20) infection for 72 h, followed by flavopiridol (300 nM) for 48 h, can result in the most synergistic cell death, with cell survival rate and apoptotic rate of 11.6% and 69.7%, respectively. The sequential combination showed synergistic tumor suppression rate of 77.8%, which was significantly higher than that of AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 (33.6%) or flavopiridol (40.1%) alone. The mean survival of mice treated with the combination was 286 ± 8 d, which was synergistically longer than that of mice treated with AdHTVP2G5-rev-casp3 (141 ± 14d), flavopiridol (134 ± 10 d) or controls (106 ± 11 d) (P