Abstract Aromatic essential oils have been used in cancer treatment to enhance immunity, induce sedation, and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. Recently, essential oils have been reported to have anti-tumor effects. We have been investigating anti-tumor aroma of essential oils as a novel treatment for glioblastoma and have found that hiba essential oil has a proliferation inhibitory effect. In this study, we investigated the antitumor effect of lemongrass essential oil for glioblastoma and its antitumor aromatherapy. Human glioblastoma cells (U87, T98G) and mouse brain tumor cells (RSV-M) were used. Lemongrass essential oil was added to each tumor cell line, and growth inhibition was observed in all cell lines. In addition, lemon grass essential oil showed growth inhibition effect when the tumor cells were separated from the oil, as was the case with direct administration, suggesting that the lemongrass essential oil components that evaporated acted on tumor cells in the surrounding area. The antitumor component of lemongrass essential oil was isolated and identified as citral, an antitumor factor, by gas chromatography. Analysis of the effects of citral showed that it strongly inhibited MARK4 activity and growth in three cell lines. The mechanism revealed that citral decreased the phosphorylation of Tau protein. MARK4 is highly expressed in glioblastoma and has been reported to be involved in cell proliferation. This study suggests a potential mechanism for citral to inhibit tumor cell proliferation via MARK4 in malignant gliomas. Citral is a volatile monoterpene and may exert its antitumor effect by evaporation diffusion. Lemongrass essential oil contains citral, which shows antitumor effects, and is expected to be applied to a new glioblastoma therapy using "aroma".
Abstract Oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2 (Olig2) promotes proliferation of normal neural stem/progenitor cells and glioma cells. However, the mechanisms underlying the regulation of Olig2 remain largely unknown. Here we identified Olig2 as a critical phosphorylation target for cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2). CDK2-mediated Olig2 phosphorylation stabilizes Olig2 protein from proteasomal degradation. Phosphorylated Olig2 binds to the E-Box regions of p27 promoter and represses p27 transcription, which in turn activates CDK2 in positive feedback manner. CDK2-mediated Olig2 phosphorylation promotes cell cycle progression, cell proliferation, and tumorigenesis. Olig2 inhibition disrupted cell cycle control mechanism by decreasing CDK2 and elevating apoptosis-related molecules. Inhibition of CDK2 activity disrupted Olig2-CDK2 interactions and attenuated Olig2 protein stability. In addition, Olig2-high glioma initiating cells are highly sensitive to CDK2 inhibitor treatment, indicating that Olig2 can be a biomarker for personalized treatment for glioblastoma patients with CDK2 inhibitors. Further investigation on these mechanisms may lead to novel targeted therapy on GBMs with high Olig2 expression. Citation Format: Norihiko Saito, Nozomi Hirai, Sho Sato, Yu Hiramoto, Satoshi Fujita, Haruo Nakayama, Morito Hayashi, Takatoshi Sakurai, Satoshi Iwabuchi. Molecular mechanism of OLIG2-CDK2 interaction in glioma cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 5826.
Abstract INTRODUCTION In meningioma surgery, the removal of the tumor and tumor-attached dura mater is essential. Due to its high affinity, absorbable artificial dura mater is used for the reconstruction of dural defects. In this study, we report a pathological examination of dural-like tissue in a case of meningioma that recurred at the same site after the use of absorbable artificial dura mater during initial surgery. METHOD We investigated two cases in which absorbable artificial dura mater was used for dural reconstruction during meningioma resection, and subsequently, a recurrent lesion was identified at the site of the dural reconstruction. We examined MRI images and surgical and pathological findings at the time of recurrence in these cases. RESULT All patients underwent total resection, and the pathological diagnosis was atypical meningioma. MRI images at the time of recurrence revealed multiple meningiomas along the artificial dura site. Gross findings during recurrent surgery indicated that the absorbable dura had been replaced by dura-like tissue, with the tumor also attached to the same site. Pathological findings showed bundles of fibrous tissue within the dura-like tissue, albeit with a sparser density compared to autologous dura mater. Meningioma cell invasion and angiogenesis were also observed in the dural-like tissue. DISCUSSION In all cases, multiple meningiomas were found along the dural-like tissue. This suggests that meningioma cells invading the dural-like tissue may have used it as a scaffold for meningioma recurrence. Future studies are necessary to determine the appropriateness of absorbable artificial dura mater for dural defect sites during malignant meningioma surgery.
Primary cutaneous cryptococcosis developing in a 27-year-old farming wife is described. The skin manifestation is a triangular erythematous plaque on the right infra-orbital region resembling that of discoid lupus erythematosus. Administration of 600 mg aτιphotericin B by infusion resulted in a complete cure of the lesion in 100 days.