Among the oncolytic virotherapy, an emerging treatment for tumor, adenoviruses are widely used at present in preclinical and clinical trials. Traditionally, oncolytic adenoviruses were developed based on the human adenovirus serotype 5 (AdHu5). However, AdHu5 has the drawbacks of preexisting anti-AdHu5 immunity in most populations, and extensive sequestration of Adhu5 by the liver through hexon...

Dysregulation of ceramide synthesis has been associated with metabolic disorders such as atherosclerosis and diabetes. We examined the changes in lipid homeostasis and gene expression in Huh7 hepatocytes when the synthesis of ceramide is perturbed by knocking down serine pal mitoyltransferase subunits 1, 2, and 3 (SPTLC123) or dihydroceramide desaturase 1 (DEGS1). Although knocking down all SPT...

Lipid esters stored in cytoplasmic lipid droplets (CLDs) of hepatocytes are used to synthesize very low-density lipoproteins (VLDLs), into which apolipoprotein B (ApoB) is integrated cotranslationally. In the present study, by using Huh7 cells, derived from human hepatoma and competent for VLDL secretion, we found that ApoB is highly concentrated around CLDs to make “ApoB-crescents.” ApoB-cresc...

Glibenclamide (Gli) is a widely employed drug in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and many lines of evidence have described its anti-tumor effects in some neoplasms. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of Gli on apoptosis of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and to analyze the underlying pathway involved in this action. Two HCC cell lines, HepG-2 and Huh7 were us...

Side population (SP) cell analysis and sorting have been successfully applied to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines to identify a minor cell population with cancer stem cell properties. However, the molecular mechanisms operating in SP cells remain unclear. The polycomb gene product BMI1 plays a central role in the self-renewal of somatic stem cells in a variety of tissues and organs and...

The human paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) is a serum high-density lipoprotein-associated phosphotriesterase secreted mainly by the liver. This enzyme is able to hydrolyze toxic organophosphate xenobiotics, endogenous oxidized phospholipids, and homocysteine thiolactone. Physiologically, it is thought to protect against cardiovascular diseases. The level of PON-1 gene expression is a major determinant of ...

G to A hypermutation of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and retroviruses appears as a result of deamination activities of host APOBEC proteins and is thought to play a role in innate antiviral immunity. Alpha and gamma interferons (IFN-alpha and -gamma) have been reported to upregulate the transcription of APOBEC3G, which is known to reduce the replication of HBV. We investigated the number of hypermut...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that levels of CXCL-8 are elevated in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and are highest in nonresponders to interferon (IFN) therapy and that CXCL-8 inhibits IFN antiviral action. CXCL-8 expression involves AU-rich elements (AREs) in 3' untranslated regions that regulate mRNA stability. CXCL-8 mRNA stability was, therefore, investigat...

MicroRNA-122 (miR-122), which is expressed at high levels in hepatocytes, is selectively stabilized by 3'-adenylation mediated by the cytoplasmic poly(A) polymerase GLD-2. Here, we report that poly(A)-specific ribonuclease (PARN) is responsible for the deadenylation and destabilization of miR-122. The 3'-oligoadenylated variant of miR-122 was detected in Huh7 cells when PARN was down-regulated....

Tamarins (Saguinus species) infected by GB virus B (GBV-B) have recently been proposed as an acceptable surrogate model for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The availability of infectious genomic molecular clones of both viruses will permit chimeric constructs to be tested for viability in animals. Studies in cells with parental and chimeric constructs would also be very useful for both basic...