1. Academic Validation
  2. Two sesquiterpene aminoquinones protect against oxidative injury in HaCaT keratinocytes via activation of AMPKα/ERK-Nrf2/ARE/HO-1 signaling

Two sesquiterpene aminoquinones protect against oxidative injury in HaCaT keratinocytes via activation of AMPKα/ERK-Nrf2/ARE/HO-1 signaling

  • Biomed Pharmacother. 2018 Apr;100:417-425. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2018.02.034.
Li Liu 1 Wei Wu 1 Jing Li 1 Wei-Hua Jiao 1 Li-Yun Liu 1 Jie Tang 1 Lei Liu 1 Fan Sun 2 Bing-Nan Han 3 Hou-Wen Lin 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Research Center for Marine Drugs, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Department of Pharmacy, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, China.
  • 2 Research Center for Marine Drugs, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Department of Pharmacy, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, China. Electronic address: sunfan2017@163.com.
  • 3 Research Center for Marine Drugs, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Department of Pharmacy, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, China; Department of Development Technology of Marine Resources, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, China. Electronic address: hanbingnan@zstu.edu.cn.
  • 4 Research Center for Marine Drugs, State Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Department of Pharmacy, Ren Ji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200127, China. Electronic address: franklin67@126.com.
Abstract

Aims: To investigate the cytoprotective effects of two sesquiterpene aminoquinones isolated from the marine Sponge Dysidea fragilis, Dysidaminone H (DA8) and 3'-methylamino-avarone (DA14), we examined their effects against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced oxidative injury in human keratinocyte cell line and elucidated the underlying mechanisms.

Main methods: Cell viability was detected using a CCK-8 assay kit. Intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production was measured by fluorescence of 2, 7-Dichlorodi-hydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA). Messenger RNA and protein expression were measured by real-time quantitative PCR and western blotting analysis. Immunocytochemistry was performed to determine the intracellular location of nuclear factorerythroid 2 p45 related factor 2 (Nrf2). The antioxidant response element (ARE)-luciferase reporter gene assay and RNA interference were used to establish the role of ARE and Nrf2.

Key findings: DA8 and DA14 (DAs) resisted H2O2induced decline of cell viability by inhibiting the accumulation of ROS. Meanwhile, DAs increased HO-1 expression and ARE activity and induced Nrf2 expression, as well as the accumulation of Nrf2 in the cell nucleus. However, silencing of Nrf2 abolished DAs-induced HO-1 expression and ARE luciferase activation. In addition, DAs induced the phosphorylation of both cyclic AMP-activated protein kinase-α (AMPKα) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), while specific inhibitors of AMPKα and ERK abrogated HO1 upregulation and Nrf2 activation.

Significance: DAs provided cytoprotective effects against H2O2-induced cytotoxicity by activation of the Nrf2/ARE/HO-1 pathway via phosphorylation of AMPKα and ERK. The findings suggested that DA8 and DA14 might be the candidate therapeutic agents for skin diseases caused by oxidative injury.

Keywords

AMPKα/ERK; HO-1; Nrf2; Oxidative injury; Sesquiterpene aminoquinone.

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