Tanshinone IIA (Tan-IIA) is extracted from Danshen and known to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in many cancer cells. We aimed to elucidate its anticancer activity and molecular mechanism in human lung cancer A549 cells. The cytotoxicity of Tan-IIA in A549 cells were measured by the MTT assay. The effects of Tan-IIA on the cell cycle, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), calcium a...

Several pathogenic fungal organisms enter eukaryotic cells and manipulate the host cell environment to favor their own growth and survival. Aspergillus fumigatus is a saprophytic fungus that causes invasive lung disease in the immunocompromised host. To determine whether A. fumigatus could enter eukaryotic cells, we studied the uptake of two different GFP-expressing A. fumigatus strains into A5...

OBJECTIVE Expression of Notch1 gene in lung cancer A549 cells was reduced using small interfering RNA (small interfering RNA, siRNA) and the effect of Notch1 gene on proliferation and chemo sensitivity of lung cancer A549 cells was studied. MATERIALS AND METHODS The Notch1 siRNA was transfected into A549 cells by liposome to inhibit the expressions of Notch1 gene in A549 cells. Real-time poly...

MAPK-activating death domain protein (MADD) binds to the tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) receptor and acts as a key downstream mediator in the TRAIL-induced apoptosis pathway. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of MADD in normal human and adenocarcinoma tissues of the lungs and its influence on proliferation and apoptosis of A549 human lung aden...

The survivin protein, a member of the inhibitors of apoptosis (IAP) family, has gained popularity as a therapeutic target for cancer due to its selective expression in tumor cells and its significant involvement in tumor cell viability. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the survivin-small interfering RNA (siRNA) plasmid on sur...

In lung cancers the Notch signaling may function as an oncogene or a tumor suppressor depending on the tumor cell types. In this study we examined the expression of Notch receptors in the human lung adenocarcinoma cell lines A549 and SPC-A-1. We over-expressed the active form of Notch1 (NIC) in A549 cells by constitutive transfection to evaluate the effects of the Notch signaling on lung adenoc...

Effects of carboxymethyllysine (CML), an advanced glycation end-product (AGE), at 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 μmol/l upon invasion and migration of A549 cells, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, were investigated. Results showed that CML at used test doses did not affect A549 cell growth. However, CML at 4-16 μmol/l enhanced both invasion and migration, and stimulated the release of reactive oxygen...

B-cell receptor-associated protein 31 (BAP31) is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane protein which plays a role as a molecular chaperone for the newly synthesized transmembrane proteins. BAP31 is also an important apoptosis regulator for extrinsic apoptosis induction in the ER membrane. Recent studies have shown that BAP31 is also expressed on the surface of embryonic stem cells. However, th...

The aim of the present study was to investigate cobra neurotoxin (cobrotoxin) activity in A549 cell lines transplanted into nude mice, and to explore its molecular mechanism. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) method was used to detect the growth inhibition rate of cobrotoxin in human lung A549 adenocarcinoma cells and HFL1 lung fibroblasts. Cell colony forma...

BACKGROUND Effective cancer chemotherapy remains an important issue in cancer treatment, and signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (Stat3) activation leads to cellular resistance of anticancer agents. Polymers are ideal vectors to carry both chemotherapeutics and small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) to enhance antitumor efficacy. In this paper, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (...