OBJECTIVE(S) The present study was designed to investigate the antibacterial function and pharmacological effect of elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum) on U2OS human osteosarcoma cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seven kinds of bacteria were reconstituted, inoculated and tested in this research to evaluate elephant garlic antibacterial activity. By the means of FACS analysis, c...

Osteosarcoma is the most common type of solid bone cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related death in pediatric patients. Many patients are not cured by the current osteosarcoma therapy consisting of combination chemotherapy along with surgery and thus new treatments are urgently needed. In the last decade, cancer stem cells have been identified in many tumors such as leukemia, brai...

Carboxypeptidase E (CPE), a prohormone processing enzyme, has been implicated in the progression of multiple malignancies. However, the biological role and molecular mechanisms of CPE in osteosarcoma remain elusive. In this study, we assessed the effects of CPE on cell proliferation, tumorigenicity, migration, and invasion in osteosarcoma. Our results showed that silencing of CPE significantly ...

Osteosarcoma is a bone cancer that develops commonly in children and adolescents. However, osteosarcoma treatments often fail by the development of chemoresistance to apoptosis, and the molecular mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we propose that autophagy is responsible for osteosarcomatous resistance to apoptosis. We implicate PERK-mediated autophagy as a significant contributor to apo...

Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), a zinc-finger transcription factor, is an essential regulator in many cellular processes, including differentiation, proliferation, inflammation, pluripotency, and apoptosis. Along with these roles in normal cells and tissues, KLF4 has been reported as a tumor suppressor or an oncogene in many cancers. However, the role of KLF4 in osteosarcoma is largely unknown. H...

Recently, a member of the voltage-dependent potassium channel (Kv) family, the Ether à go-go 1 (Eag1) channel was found to be necessary for cell proliferation, cycle progression and tumorigenesis. However, the therapeutic potential of the Eag1 channel in osteosarcoma remains elusive. In the present study, a recombinant adenovirus harboring shRNA against Eag1 was constructed to silence Eag1 expr...

In this study, we investigated the role of the spindle checkpoint protein SPC24 in osteosarcoma progression. SPC24 knockdown in 143B and U2OS osteosarcoma cells decreased cell growth, survival and invasiveness. The SPC24 knockdown cells also exhibited low EGFR, Ras and phospho-ERK levels and high E-cadherin levels, suggesting inhibition of EGFR/Ras/ERK signaling and epithelial-to-mesenchymal tr...

Sulforaphane (SFN), a naturally occurring isothiocyanate, is an attractive agent due to its potent anticancer effects. SFN suppresses the proliferation of various cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we report that SFN inhibited the proliferation of cultured murine osteosarcoma LM8 cells. Twenty micromolar SFN completely inhibited the growth of LM8 cells and caused G2/M-phase arres...

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor in adolescents and young adults. However, the involvement of serine/threonine phosphatase type 5 (PP5) in osteosarcoma remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the functional role of PP5 in osteosarcoma cells. Firstly, we found that PP5 is widely expressed in several human osteosarcoma cell lines. Then we used lentivirus...

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor in humans, especially in childhood. However, the genetic etiology for its pathogenesis remains elusive. It is known that microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the development of tumor progression. Here we show that microRNA-9 (miR-9) is a potential oncogene upregulated in osteosarcoma cells. Knockdown of miR-9 in osteosarcoma resulted in suppresse...