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Heliomycin (also known as resistomycin) is an antibiotic with a broad spectrum of biological activities. However, low aqueous solubility and poor knowledge of its chemical properties have limited the development of this natural product. Here, we present an original scheme for the introduction of aminoalkylamine residues at positions 3, 5, and 7 of heliomycin and, using this, have prepared a series of novel water-soluble derivatives. The addition of side chains to the heliomycin scaffold significantly improves their interaction with different DNA secondary structures. One derivative, 7-deoxy-7-(2-aminoethyl)amino-10-O-methylheliomycin (8e), demonstrated affinity, stabilization potential, and good selectivity toward i-motif-forming DNA sequences over the duplex and G-quadruplex. Heliomycin derivatives therefore represent promising molecular scaffolds for further development as DNA-i-motif interacting ligands and potential chemotherapeutic agents.

Background: Although considered a rare form of skin cancer, malignant melanoma has steadily increased internationally and is a main cause of cancer-associated death worldwide. The treatment options for malignant melanoma are very limited. Accumulating data suggest that the natural compound, capsaicin, exhibits preferential anticancer properties to act as a nutraceutical agent. Here, we explored the underlying molecular events involved in the inhibitory effects of capsaicin on the growth of melanoma cells.Methods: The cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) and isothermal dose response fingerprint (ITDRFCETSA) were utilized to validate the binding of capsaicin with the tumor-associated NADH oxidase, tNOX (ENOX2) in melanoma cells. We also assessed the cellular impact of capsaicin-targeting of tNOX on A375 cells by flow cytometry and protein analysis. The essential role of tNOX in tumor- and melanoma-growth limiting abilities of capsaicin was evaluated in C57BL/6 mice.Results: Our data show that capsaicin directly targets cellular tNOX to inhibit its enzymatic activity and enhance protein degradation capacity. The inhibition of tNOX by capsaicin is accompanied by the attenuation of SIRT1, a NAD+-dependent deacetylase that enhances ULK1 acetylation to induce ROS-dependent autophagy in melanoma cells. Capsaicin treatment of mice implanted with melanoma cancer cells suppressed tumor growth by down-regulating tNOX and SIRT1, which was also seen in an in vivo xenograft study with tNOX-depleted melanoma cells. Conclusions: Together, our findings suggest that tNOX expression is important for the growth of melanoma cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo, and that inhibition of the tNOX-SIRT1 axis contributes to inducting cytotoxic ROS-dependent autophagy in melanoma cells.

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a precancerous condition with symptoms of limited mouth opening and areca nut chewing habit has been implicated in its pathogenesis. Hinokitiol, a natural tropolone derived from Chamacyparis taiwanensis, has been reported to improve oral lichen planus and inhibit various cancer cells. Here, we showed that hinokitiol reduced the myofibroblast activities in fBMFs and prevented the arecoline-induced transdifferentiation. Treatment of hinokitiol dose-dependently downregulated the myofibroblast markers as well as various EMT transcriptional factors. In particular, we identified that Snail was able to bind to the E-box in the α-SMA promoter. Our data suggested that exposure of fBMFs to hinokitiol mitigated the hallmarks of myofibroblasts, while overexpression of Snail eliminated the effect of hinokitiol. These findings revealed that the inhibitory effect of hinokitiol on myofibroblasts was mediated by repression of α-SMA via regulation of Snail and showed the anti-fibrotic potential of hinokitiol in the treatment of OSF.

A series of new 4,11-diaminoanthra[2,3-b]furan-5,10-dione derivatives with different side chains were synthesized. Selected 2-unsubstituted derivatives 11-14 showed high antiproliferative potency on a panel of mammalian tumor cell lines including multidrug resistance variants. Compounds 11-14 utilized multiple mechanisms of cytotoxicity including inhibition of Top1/Top2-mediated DNA relaxation, reduced NAD(+)/NADH ratio through tNOX inhibition, suppression of a NAD(+)-dependent sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) deacetylase activity, and activation of caspase-mediated apoptosis. Here, for the first time, we report that tumor-associated NADH oxidase (tNOX) and SIRT1 are important cellular targets of antitumor anthracene-9,10-diones.

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) has been recognized as one of the oral potentially malignant disorders. Areca nut chewing is implicated in this pathological fibrosis, and it causes chronic inflammation and persistent activation of myofibroblasts. As yet, existing treatments only provide temporary symptomatic relief and there is a lack of an effective intervention to cure OSF. Therefore, development of approaches to ameliorate myofibroblast activities becomes a crucial objective to prevent the malignant progression of OSF. In this study, we examined the inhibitory effect of glabridin, an isoflavane extracted from licorice root, on the myofibroblast characteristics in human fibrotic buccal mucosal fibroblasts (fBMFs). Our results showed that myofibroblast activities, including collagen gel contractility, migration, invasion and wound healing abilities were reduced after exposure of glabridin in a dose-dependent manner. Most importantly, we demonstrated that the arecoline-induced myofiroblast activities were abolished by glabridin treatment. Additionally, the expression of the myofibroblast marker α-smooth muscle actin and other fibrogenic marker, type I collagen, in fBMFs were dose-dependently downregulated. Moreover, we showed that the production of TGF-β was suppressed by glabridin in fBMFs and the protein expression of phospho-Smad2 was decreased as well. In summary, our data suggested that glabridin repressed the myofibroblast features in fBMFs via TGF-β/Smad2 signaling pathway. Glabridin also prevented the arecoline-increased myofibroblast activities, and could serve as a natural anti-fibrosis compound for OSF.

A series of 4-aminomethyl derivatives of heliomycin 1 was prepared using the Mannich reaction. The modification significantly improved aqueous solubility of the initially poorly soluble antibiotic. Testing the antiproliferative efficacy revealed a potent activity of heliomycin as well as its new derivatives on a panel of mammalian tumor cells including drug resistant variants. In contrast to 1 the new derivatives 7a, 7l, 7p generated a high level of ROS associated with induction of apoptosis in T24 bladder cancer cells. Introduction of 4-aminomethyl moiety increased the affinity to DNA and the ability to inhibit topoisomerase 1 making 7p the most promising candidate for further preclinical evaluation. Thus, aminomethylation is the first-in-class successful transformation of the antibiotic 1 resulting in an improved water solubility of derivatives and promising properties in search of novel anticancer drug candidates.

Capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-noneamide), which is an active component in red chili peppers, is used as a chemopreventive agent that shows favorable cytotoxicity against cancer cells. Accumulating evidence indicates that capsaicin preferentially inhibits a tumor-associated NADH oxidase (tNOX, ENOX2) that is ubiquitously expressed in cancer but not in non-transformed cells. This attenuates cancer cell growth by inducing apoptosis. The capsaicin-mediated inhibition of tNOX was recently shown to prolong the cell cycle. However, the molecular events underlying this regulation have not yet been investigated. In the present study, we used a cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) to detect &ldquo, target engagement&rdquo, of capsaicin and its consequent impact on cell cycle progression. Our results indicated that capsaicin engaged with tNOX and triggered the proteasomal degradation of tNOX, which leads to the inhibition of NAD+-dependent SIRT1 deacetylase. Ultimately, the acetylation levels of c-Myc and p53 were enhanced, which suppressed the activation of G1 cyclin/Cyclin-dependent kinase complexes and triggered cell cycle arrest in cancer cells. The results obtained when tNOX was overexpressed in non-cancer cells validated its importance in cell cycle progression. These findings provide the first molecular insights into the regulatory role of tNOX and the anti-proliferative property of capsaicin in regulating the cell cycle of bladder cancer cells.

Ursolic acid (UA), a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpene acid found in many medicinal herbs and edible plants, triggers apoptosis in several tumor cell lines but not in human bone cancer cells. Most recently, we have demonstrated that UA exposure reduces the viability of human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells through enhanced oxidative stress and apoptosis. Interestingly, an inhibitor of osteoclast-mediated bone resorption, zoledronic acid (ZOL), also a third-generation nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate, is effective in the treatment of bone metastases in patients with various solid tumors. In this present study, we found that UA combined with ZOL to significantly suppress cell viability, colony formation, and induce apoptosis in two lines of human osteosarcoma cells. The pre-treatment of the antioxidant had reversed the oxidative stress and cell viability inhibition in the combined treatment, indicating that oxidative stress is important in the combined anti-tumor effects. Moreover, we demonstrated that ZOL combined with UA significantly induced autophagy and co-administration of autophagy inhibitor reduces the growth inhibitory effect of combined treatment. Collectively, these data shed light on the pathways involved in the combined effects of ZOL and UA that might serve as a potential therapy against osteosarcoma.

Ursolic acid (UA), a naturally occurring pentacyclic triterpene acid found in many medicinal herbs and edible plants, has been shown to trigger apoptosis in several lines of tumor cells in vitro. We found that treatment with UA suppressed the viability of human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells and induced cell cycle arrest at sub-G1 and G2/M phases. Furthermore, exposure to UA induced intracellular oxidative stress and collapse of mitochondrial membrane permeability, resulting in the subsequent activation of apoptotic caspases 8, 9, and 3 as well as PARP cleavage, and ultimately apoptosis in MG-63 cells. Moreover, protein analysis of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)-related protein expression showed an increase in activated ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 MAPK in UA-treated MG-63 cells. In addition, UA-induced apoptosis was significantly abolished in MG-63 cells that had been pretreated with inhibitors of caspase 3, 8, and 9 and ERK1/2. Furthermore, UA-treated MG-63 cells also exhibited an enhancement in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, whereas anti-apoptotic XIAP and survivin were down-regulated. Taken together, we provide evidence demonstrating that UA mediates caspase-dependent and ERK1/2 MAPK-associated apoptosis in osteosarcoma MG-63 cells.

Bladder cancer is one of the most frequent cancers among males, and its poor survival rate reflects problems with aggressiveness and chemo-resistance. Recent interest has focused on the use of chemopreventatives (nontoxic natural agents that may suppress cancer progression) to induce targeted apoptosis for cancer therapy. Capsaicin, which has anti-cancer properties, is one such agent. It is known to preferentially inhibit a tumor-associated NADH oxidase (tNOX) that is preferentially expressed in cancer/transformed cells. Here, we set out to elucidate the correlation between tNOX expression and the inhibitory effects of capsaicin in human bladder cancer cells. We showed that capsaicin downregulates tNOX expression and decreases bladder cancer cell growth by enhancing apoptosis. Moreover, capsaicin was found to reduce the expression levels of several proteins involved in cell cycle progression, in association with increases in the cell doubling time and enhanced cell cycle arrest. Capsaicin was also shown to inhibit the activation of ERK, thereby reducing the phosphorylation of paxillin and FAK, which leads to decreased cell migration. Finally, our results indicate that RNA interference-mediated tNOX depletion enhances spontaneous apoptosis, prolongs cell cycle progression, and reduces cell migration and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. We also observed a downregulation of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in these tNOX-knockdown cells, a deacetylase that is important in multiple cellular functions. Taken together, our results indicate that capsaicin inhibits the growth of bladder cancer cells by inhibiting tNOX and SIRT1 and thereby reducing proliferation, attenuating migration, and prolonging cell cycle progression.

Cancer chemoprevention is employed to block or reverse the progression of malignancies. To date, several thousands of agents have been found to possess chemopreventative activity, one of which is capsaicin, a component of chili peppers that exhibits antigrowth activity against various cancer cell lines. However, the role of capsaicin in tumorigenesis remains controversial because both cancer prevention and promotion have been proposed. Here, we made the unexpected discovery that treatment with low concentrations of capsaicin up-regulates tNOX (tumor-associated NADH oxidase) expression in HCT116 human colon carcinoma cells in association with enhanced cell proliferation and migration, as evidenced by down-regulation of epithelial markers and up-regulation of mesenchymal markers. Importantly, tNOX-knockdown in HCT116 cells by RNA interference reversed capsaicin-induced cell proliferation and migration in vitro and decreased tumor growth in vivo. Collectively, these findings provide a basis for explaining the tumor-promoting effect of capsaicin and might imply that caution should be taken when using capsaicin as a chemopreventive agent.

Gastric cancer is a common human malignancy and a major contributor to cancer-related deaths worldwide. Unfortunately, the prognosis of most gastric cancer patients is poor because they are generally diagnosed at a late stage after the cancer has already metastasized. Most current research, therefore, emphasizes selective targeting of cancer cells by apoptosis-inducing agents. One such therapeutic agent is capsaicin, a component of chili peppers that has been shown to possess anti-growth activity against various cancer cell lines. Here, we examined the effect of capsaicin on SNU-1 and TMC-1 gastric cancer cells and found differing outcomes between the two cell lines. Our results show that capsaicin induced significant cytotoxicity with increases in oxidative stress, PARP cleavage, and apoptosis in sensitive SNU-1 cells. In contrast, TMC-1 cells were much less sensitive to capsaicin, exhibiting low cytotoxicity and very little apoptosis in response to capsaicin treatment. Capsaicin-induced apoptosis in SNU-1 cells was associated with down-regulation of tumor-associated NADH oxidase (tNOX) mRNA and protein. On the contrary, tNOX expression was scarcely affected by capsaicin in TMC-1 cells. We further showed that tNOX-knockdown sensitized TMC-1 cells to capsaicin-induced apoptosis and G1 phase accumulation, and led to decreased cell growth, demonstrating that tNOX is essential for cancer cell growth. Collectively, these results indicate that capsaicin induces divergent effects of the growth of gastric cancer cells that parallel its effects on tNOX expression, and demonstrate that forced tNOX down-regulation restored capsaicin-induced growth inhibition in TMC-1 cells.

Capsaicin is considered a chemopreventive agent by virtue of its selective antigrowth activity, commonly associated with apoptosis, against cancer cells. However, noncancerous cells possess relatively higher tolerance to capsaicin, although the underlying mechanism for this difference remains unclear. Hence, this study aimed to elucidate the differential effects of capsaicin on cell lines from lung tissues by addressing the signal pathway leading to two types of cell death. In MRC-5 human fetal lung cells, capsaicin augmented silent mating type information regulation 1 (SIRT1) deacetylase activity and the intracellular NAD(+)/NADH ratio, decreasing acetylation of p53 and inducing autophagy. In contrast, capsaicin decreased the intracellular NAD(+)/NADH ratio, possibly through inhibition of tumor-associated NADH oxidase (tNOX), and diminished SIRT1 expression leading to enhanced p53 acetylation and apoptosis. Moreover, SIRT1 depletion by RNA interference attenuated capsaicin-induced apoptosis in A549 cancer cells and autophagy in MRC-5 cells, suggesting a vital role for SIRT1 in capsaicin-mediated cell death. Collectively, these data not only explain the differential cytotoxicity of capsaicin but shed light on the distinct cellular responses to capsaicin in cancerous and noncancerous cell lines.

Phenoxodiol, a synthetic isoflavene with clinical efficacy in the management of ovarian and other forms of human cancer, blocked the activity of a cancer-specific and growth-related cell surface ECTO-NOX protein with both oxidative (hydroquinone) and protein disulfide-thiol interchange activity designated tNOX. Purified recombinant tNOX bound phenoxodiol with high affinity (Kd of 50 nM). The tNOX protein appeared to be both necessary and sufficient for the cancer-specific cytotoxicity of phenoxodiol. Growth inhibition of fibroblasts from embryos of mice expressing a tNOX transgene, but not from wild-type mice, was inhibited by phenoxodiol followed by apoptosis. Both the oxidative and protein disulfide-thiol interchange activities that alternate to generate the complex set of oscillations with a period length of 22 min (24 min for the constitutive counterpart CNOX) that characterize ECTO-NOX proteins respond to phenoxodiol. Oxidation of NADH or reduced coenzyme Q10 was rapidly blocked by phenoxodiol. In contrast, the protein disulfidethiol interchange activity measured either by the restoration of activity to scrambled and inactive RNase or from the cleavage of dithiodipyridine (EC50 of 50 nM) was inhibited progressively over an interval of 60 min that spanned three cycles of activity. Inhibition of the latter paralleled the inhibition of cell enlargement and the consequent inability of inhibited cells to initiate traverse of the cell cycle. Activities of constitutive ECTO-NOX (CNOX) forms of either cancer or noncancer cells were unaffected by phenoxodiol to help explain how the cytotoxic effects of phenoxodiol may be restricted to cancer cells.

NADH oxidases of low specific activities from urine of cancer patients were found to be inhibited or stimulated by the vanilloid capsaicin (8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-noneamide). Similar activities, inhibited or stimulated by capsaicin, were reported previously for sera of cancer patients but not for sera of normal volunteers or for patients with disorders other than cancer. Like those from sera, the activities from urine were resistant to heat and to digestion with proteinase K. Two different fractions with capsaicin-responsive NADH oxidase activities were obtained by FPLC. One fraction in which the 33-kDa band was the major component exhibited NADH oxidase activity stimulated by capsaicin. Another fraction in which 66-kDa and 45-kDa bands were major components exhibited NADH oxidase activities inhibited by capsaicin. A monoclonal antibody generated to a ca 34-kDa form of the NADH oxidase from sera reacted with a urine protein of a ca 33-kDa band in the capsaicin-stimulated fraction. The 33-kDa protein was of low abundance and was estimated to be present in amounts between 5 and 100 microgram/L, depending on the particular patient.

Our laboratory described a ca. 34-kDa protein of the HeLa S cell surface that bound an antitumor sulfonylurea N-(4-methylphenylsulfonyl)-N'-(4-chlorophenyl) urea (LY181984) with high affinity and that exhibited NADH oxidase and protein disulfide-thiol interchange activities also inhibited by LY181984. The quinone site inhibitor 8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-noneamide (capsaicin) also blocked these same enzymatic activities. Using capsaicin inhibition as the criterion, the drug-responsive oxidase was released from the surface of HeLa S cells and purified. The activity of the released capsaicin-inhibited oxidase was resistant to heating at 50 degrees C and to protease digestion. After heating and proteinase K digestion, the activity was isolated in >90% yield by FPLC as an apparent 50- to 60-kDa multimer. Final purification by preparative SDS-PAGE yielded a capsaicin-inhibited NADH oxidase activity of a specific activity indicative of >500-fold purification relative to the plasma membrane. The final activity correlated with a ca. 34-kDa band on SDS-PAGE. Matrix-assisted laser desorption mass spectroscopy as well as reelectrophoresis of the 34-kDa band indicated that the ca. 34-kDa material was a stable mixture of 22-, 17-, and 9.5-kDa components which occasionally migrated as a ca. 52-kDa complex. The purified complex tended to multimerize and formed insoluble 10- to 20-nm-diameter amyloid rods. The components of the purified 34-kDa complex were blocked to N-terminal amino acid sequencing and were resistant to further protease digestion. After multimerization into amyloid rods, the protein remained resistant to proteases even under denaturing conditions and to cyanogen bromide either with or without prior alkylation.

Retinol stimulates the formation of transition vesicles in situ and in all free systems based on rat liver. The stimulation is on vesicle formation from transitional endoplasmic reticulum and not on vesicle fusion with donor membranes. Vesicle budding in the cell free system requires a nucleoside triphosphate and is sensitive to inhibition by thiol reagents. In this report we develop and test a model whereby a retinol-modulated NADH:protein disulfide reductase (NADH oxidase) with protein disulfide-thiol interchange activity is implicated in the vesicle budding mechanism. The protein has the ability to restore activity to scrambled, inactive RNase A and is stimulated or inhibited by retinol depending on the redox environment. Under reducing conditions and in the presence of a chemical reductant such as GSH, the partial reaction stimulated by retinol appears to be the oxidation of membrane thiols. This is the first report of an enzymatic mechanism to explain specific retinol effects both in vivo and in vitro on membrane trafficking not given by retinoic acid.

Plasma membranes of plant cells are characterized by a plant hormone (auxin)-responsive oxidation of NADH. The latter proceeds under argon. Also, when NADH oxidation is stimulated 50% by auxin addition, oxygen consumption is reduced by 40%. These findings are reconciled by direct assays using 5,5'-dithiobis-(2nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) (Ellman's reagent) that show protein disulfides to be electron acceptors for auxin-stimulated NADH oxidation. In the presence of an external reducing agent such as NADH, cysteine, or dithiothreitol, protein disulfides of the membrane are reduced with a concomitant stoichiometric increase in free thiols. In the absence of an external reducing agent, or in the presence of oxidized glutathione, DTNB-reactive thiols of the plasma membrane are decreased in the presence of auxins. Several auxin-reductant combinations were effective, but the same reductants plus chemically related and growth-inactive auxin analogs were not. A cell surface location of the affected thiols demonstrated with detergents and impermeant thiol reagents suggests that the protein may have a different physiological role than oxidation of NADH. For example, it may carry out some other role more closely related to the function of the auxin hormones in cell enlargement such as protein disulfide-thiol interchange.

A ca. 33.5-kDa protein has been identified as a soluble NADH oxidase activity of culture media conditioned by growth of HeLa cells. The protein appears to be derived from a 34-kDa protein of the HeLa plasma membrane. Both proteins are characterized by an ability to oxidize NADH in the absence of exogenous electron acceptors. The activity is inhibited by 8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-noneamide (capsaicin). The soluble and the plasma membrane forms of the activity exhibit a similar EC50 of about 5 nM for inhibition of the activity by capsaicin. The activity was purified from culture media conditioned by growth of HeLa cells using DEAE ion exchange chromatography, G-200 size exclusion chromatography, and preparative SDS-PAGE. Purification was monitored on the basis of the capsaicin-inhibited oxidation of NADH, including the final electrophoretic purification. Activity was restored following SDS-PAGE by reduction with dithiothreitol or reduced glutathione in the presence of NADH followed by the addition of 0.03% hydrogen peroxide and preincubation in the presence of NADH for 5-15 min. For affinity purification, the vanillylamine portion of capsaicin was linked to agarose. The agarose-linked vanillylamine bound a ca. 33.5-kDa protein band with capsaicin-inhibited NADH activity from total defined culture media conditioned by growth of HeLa cells. The NADH oxidase activity of both the soluble and the plasma membrane-associated form of the activity was inhibited by antisera corresponding to the 33.5-kDa protein. The antisera also immunoprecipitated and reacted on Western blots with both the soluble (33.5 kDa) and plasma membrane (34 kDa)-associated forms of the capsaicin-inhibited activity. The results identify the capsaicin-inhibited NADH oxidase of the conditioned media of HeLa cells as being a ca. 33.5-kDa shed form of the previously reported capsaicin-inhibited NADH oxidase of the HeLa cell plasma membrane.

ECTO-NOX proteins are growth-related cell surface proteins that catalyze both hydroquinone or NADH oxidation and protein disulfide interchange and exhibit time-keeping and prion-like properties. A bacterially expressed truncated recombinant 46 kDa ENOX2 with full ENOX2 activity bound ca 2 moles copper and 2 moles of zinc per mole of protein. Unfolding of the protein in trifluoroacetic acid in the presence of the copper chelator bathocuproine resulted in reversible loss of both enzymatic activities and of a characteristic pattern in the Amide I to Amide II ratios determined by FTIR with restoration by added copper. The H546-V-H together with His 562 form one copper binding site and H582 represents a second copper site as determined from site-directed mutagenesis. Bound copper emerges as having an essential role in ENOX2 both for enzymatic activity and for the structural changes that underly the periodic alternations in activity that define the time-keeping cycle of the protein.

Disulfide-thiol interchange proteins with hydroquinone (NADH) oxidase activities (designated NOX for plasma membrane-associated NADH oxidases) occur as extrinsic membrane proteins associated with the plasma membrane at the outer cell surface. The cancer-associated NOX protein, designated tNOX, has been cloned. The 34-kDa plasma membrane-associated form of the protein contains no strongly hydrophobic regions and is not transmembrane. No myristoylation or phosphatidylinositol anchor motifs were discovered. Evidence for lack of involvement of a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-linkage was derived from the inability of treatment with a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C or with nitrous acid at low pH to release the NOX protein from the surface of HeLa cells or from plasma membranes isolated from HeLa cells. Binding of NOX protein to the plasma membrane via amino acid side chain modification or by attachment of fatty acids also is unlikely based on use of specific fatty acid antisera to protein bound fatty acids and as a result of binding to the cancer cell surface of a truncated form of recombinant tNOX. Incubation of cells or plasma membranes with 0.1 M sodium acetate, pH 5, at 37°C for 1 h, was sufficient to release tNOX from the HeLa cell surface. Release was unaffected by protease inhibitors or divalent ions and was not accelerated by addition of cathepsin D. The findings suggest dissociable receptor binding as a possible basis for their plasma membrane association.

We have described a drug-responsive form of a cell surface NADH oxidase (hydroquinone oxidase) of cancer cells (tNOX) that exhibits unusual characteristics including resistance to proteases, resistance to cyanogen bromide digestion, and an ability to form amyloid filaments closely resembling those of spongiform encephalopathies and all of which are characteristics of PrP(sc) (PrP(res)), the presumed infective and proteinase K resistant particle of the scrapie prion. The tNOX protein from the HeLa cell surface copurified with authentic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (muscle form) (GAPDH). Surprisingly, the tNOX-associated muscle GAPDH also was proteinase K resistant. In this paper, we show that combination of authentic rabbit muscle GAPDH with tNOX renders the GAPDH resistant to proteinase K digestion. This property, that of converting the normal form of a protein into a likeness of itself, is one of the defining characteristics of the group of proteins designated as prions.

Cell membrane redox systems carry electrons from intracellular donors and transport them to extracellular acceptors. This phenomenon appears to be universal. Numerous reviews have emphasized not only the bioenergetic mechanisms of redox systems but also the antioxidant defense mechanisms in which they participate. Moreover, significant progress has been made in the modulation of the membrane redox systems on cell proliferation. Because membrane redox systems play a key role in the regulation of cell growth, they need to be somehow linked into the signaling pathways resulting in either controlled or unregulated growth by both internal and external signals. Ultimately, these sequential events lead to either normal cell proliferation or cancer cell formation. However, much less is known about the involvement of membrane redox in transformation or tumorgenesis. In this review, the facts and ideas are summarized concerning the redox systems and tumorgenesis in several aspects, such as the regulation of cell growth and the effect on cell differentiation and on signaling pathways. In addition, information on a unique tumor-associated nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) oxidase (tNOX) protein is reviewed.