Department of Molecular Cell Biology & Toxicology, The Key Laboratory of Modern Toxicology, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, 140 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing 210029, People's Republic of China.
Apoptosis. 2011 Nov; 16(11):1177-93.
Arsenic trioxide (As2O3) has potential anti-cancer activity against a wide range of carcinomas via apoptosis induction or oncoprotein degradation. The mechanisms involved are not fully elucidated. Here, we demonstrated that As2O3 induced-apoptosis in HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells was in part triggered by tubulin polymerization. High expression of JWA promoted tubulin polymerization and increased the sensitivity of the cancer cells to As2O3. The activation of the p38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinases) signaling pathway was found to contribute to JWA-promoted tubulin polymerization. Our results suggest that JWA may serve as an effective enhancer of microtubule-targeted As2O3 anti-cancer therapy.
PMID: 21847655 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Source: National Library of Medicine.
