Molecular characterization of autophagic and apoptotic signaling induced by sorafenib in liver cancer cells (original) (raw)

2018, Journal of cellular physiology

Sorafenib is the unique accepted molecular targeted drug for the treatment of patients in advanced stage of hepatocellular carcinoma. The current study evaluated cell signaling regulation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK), Akt, and 5'AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) leading to autophagy and apoptosis induced by sorafenib. Sorafenib induced early (3-12 hr) ER stress characterized by an increase of P-eIF2α/eIF2α, C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), IRE1α, and sXBP1, but a decrease of activating transcription factor 6 expression, overall temporally associated with the increase of P-JNK1/2/JNK1/2, P-AMPKα, P-Foxo3a, P-AKt/AKt and P-Foxo3a/Foxo3a ratios, and reduction of P-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)/mTOR and protein translation. This pattern was related to a transient increase of tBid, Bim , Beclin-1, Bcl-xL, Bcl-2, autophagy markers, and reduction of myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1) expression. The progressive increase of CHOP expression, a...