Project description:The Keap1/Nrf2 signaling pathway is a tractable target for the pharmacological prevention of tumorigenesis. 3H-1,2-dithiole-3-thione (D3T) and 1-[2-cyano-3,12-dioxooleana-1,9(11)-dien-28-oyl]imidazole (CDDO-Im) are representative members of two classes of Nrf2-activating chemopreventive agents. Natural dithiolethiones have been widely used in clinical trials for cancer chemoprevention. Synthetic triterpenoids, however, have been shown to be significantly more potent Nrf2 activators and are under clinical evaluation for the treatment of chronic kidney disease. This study seeks to characterize the structure-activity relationship between D3T and CDDO-Im in mouse liver tissue. To this end we treated Wt and Nrf2-null mice with 300 umol/kg bw D3T and 3, 10, and 30 umol/kg bw CDDO-Im every other day for 5 days and evaulated global gene expression changes as a product of both treamtent and genotype using Affymetrix microarray.
Project description:Genetic versus chemoprotective activation of Nrf2 signaling: overlapping yet distinct hepatic gene expression profiles between Keap1 knockout and triterpenoid treated mice; Loss of Nrf2 signaling increases susceptibility to acute toxicity, inflammation, and carcinogenesis in mice due to the inability to mount adaptive responses. By contrast, disruption of Keap1 (a cytoplasmic modifier of Nrf2 turnover) protects against these stresses in mice; although dominant negative mutations in Keap1 have been identified recently in some human cancers. Global characterization of Nrf2 activation is important to exploit this pathway for chemoprevention in healthy, yet at-risk individuals and also to elucidate the consequences of hijacking the pathway in Keap1-mutant human cancers. This analysis also enables a global characterization of the pharmacodynamic action of CDDO-Im at a low dose that is relevant to chemoprevention. Experiment Overall Design: Liver-targeted conditional Keap1-null (CKO) mice provide a model of genetic activation of Nrf2 signaling. By coupling global gene expression analysis of CKO mice with analysis of pharmacologic activation using the synthetic oleanane triterpenoid CDDO-Im, we are able to gain insight into pathways affected by Nrf2 activation. CDDO-Im is an extremely potent activator of Nrf2 signaling. CKO mice were used to identify genes modulated by genetic activation of Nrf2 signaling. The CKO response was compared to hepatic global gene expression changes in wild-type mice treated with CDDO-Im at a maximal Nrf2 activating dose. n=3/group, male 9 week old mice were used. Mice were treated with a single dose of vehicle (10% Cremophor-EL, 10% DMSO, and PBS) or 30 umol CDDO-Im/kg body weight by gavage and sacrificed 6 h later.
Project description:Nrf2 is an important therapeutic target as activation of this pathway detoxifies harmful insults and reduces oxidative stress. However, the role of Nrf2 in cancer biology is controversial. Protection against oxidative stress and inflammation can confer a survival advantage to tumor cells, leading to a poor prognosis, and constitutive activation of Nrf2 has been detected in numerous tumors. In our study, we examined the role of two clinically relevant classes of Nrf2 activators, the synthetic triterpenoids (CDDO-Im and CDDO-Me) and dimethyl fumarate (DMF) in lung cancer. Using microarrays, we attempt to examine whether these Nrf2 activators have an effect on the same subset of Nrf2 genes.
Project description:Oltipraz is an activator of Nrf2 but is also an activator of other pathways including those mediated by constitutive activated receptor (CAR). To identify genes regulated by oltipraz that were Nrf2-dependent, we compared gene expression after exposure in wild-type and Nrf2-null mice. Wild-type or Nrf2-null mice were treated each day for 4 days with 75 mg/kg/day/day oltipraz in corn oil or corn oil alone. There were 4 biological replicates used for each of the 4 genotype-treatment groups. Gene expression in the livers of the mice was evaluated using Affymetrix mouse exon arrays (MoEx-1_0-st-v1).
Project description:Whole livers were collected from rats treated with or without CDDO-Im. Total RNA was purified using Sepazol-RNA I Super G. Gene expression was measured in livers.
Project description:The transcription factor Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) regulates an array of cytoprotective genes, yet studies in transgenic mice have led to conflicting reports on its role in liver regeneration. We aimed to test the hypothesis that pharmacological activation of Nrf2 would enhance liver regeneration. Wild type (WT) and Nrf2 null mice were administered bardoxolone methyl (CDDO-Me), a potent activator of Nrf2 that has entered clinical development, and then subjected to partial hepatectomy (PHx). CDDO-Me enhanced the rate of restoration of liver volume and improved liver function (multispectral optoacoustic imaging in wild type, but not Nrf2 null, mice following two-thirds partial hepatectomy. These effects were associated with an increase in hepatocyte hypertrophy and proliferation, the suppression of immune and inflammatory signals, and metabolic remodeling in the remnant liver tissue.
Project description:Nrf2 (NF-E2-related-factor-2) contributes to the maintenance of glucose homeostasis in vivo. Nrf2 suppresses blood glucose levels by protecting pancreatic β-cells from oxidative stress and improving peripheral tissue glucose utilization. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which Nrf2 contributes to the maintenance of glucose homeostasis, we generated skeletal muscle (SkM)-specific Keap1-knockout (Keap1MuKO) mice that express abundant Nrf2 in SkM and then examined Nrf2-target gene expression in this tissue. In Keap1MuKO mice, blood glucose levels were significantly downregulated, and the levels of glycogen branching enzyme (Gbe1) mRNA, along with those of glycogen branching enzyme (GBE) protein, were significantly upregulated in mouse SkM. Consistent with this result, chemical Nrf2-inducers promoted Gbe1 mRNA expression in both mouse SkM and C2C12 myotubes. Chromatin-immunoprecipitation analysis demonstrated that Nrf2 binds the Gbe1 upstream promoter regions. In Keap1MuKO mice, muscle glycogen content was strongly reduced, and forced GBE expression in C2C12 myotubes promoted glucose uptake. Therefore, our results demonstrate that Nrf2-induction in SkM increases GBE expression and reduces muscle glycogen content, resulting in improved glucose tolerance. Chromatin occupancy of Nrf2 under CDDO-Im-treated condition were generated by deep sequencing, in dupliplicate
Project description:RPMI8226 Cells were treated with various concentrations of CDDO-2P-Im for 6 hours and then RNA was extracted for gene expression changes