a b s t r a c tInducers of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) commonly promote cancer cell viability whereas inhibitors of Hsp90 reduce it. The anticancer agent celastrol, interferes with signal transduction pathways involving these heat shock proteins. The objective of this in vitro study was to silence inducible Hsp70 and to promote celastrol-induced tumor cell death. Hsp70 siRNA loaded chitosan-TPP carriers were prepared by ionic gelation and characterized by photon correlation spectroscopy and asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation combined with dynamic light scattering. Viability of human leukemia and glioblastoma cells and Hsp70 silencing was determined following treatment with chitosan-TPP-Hsp70 siRNA particles. The results showed that silencing of Hsp70 by chitosan-TPP-Hsp70 siRNA treatment significantly reduced cell viability, and enhanced antiproliferative effects of celastrol in leukemia and glioblastoma cells. In glioblastoma spheroids, higher concentrations of celastrol and Hsp70 siRNA in chitosan-TPP nanocarriers were necessary to induce cell death.

In the mammalian kidney, nonglycosylated and glycosylated forms of aquaporin protein 1 (AQP1) coexist in the luminal and basolateral plasma membranes of proximal tubule and descending thin limb. Factors that influence AQP1 expression in (patho)physiological conditions are poorly known. Thus far, only angiotensin II and hypertonicity were found to upregulate AQP1 expression in rat proximal tubule in vivo and in vitro (Bouley R, Palomino Z, Tang SS, Nunes P, Kobori H, Lu HA, Shum WW, Sabolic I, Brown D, Ingelfinger JR, Jung FF. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 297: F1575-F1586, 2009), a phenomenon that may be relevant for higher blood pressure observed in men and male experimental animals. Here we investigated the sex-dependent AQP1 protein and mRNA expression in the rat kidney by immunochemical methods and qRT-PCR in tissue samples from prepubertal and intact gonadectomized animals and sex hormone-treated gonadectomized adult male and female animals. In adult rats, the overall renal AQP1 protein and mRNA expression was ∼80% and ∼40% higher, respectively, in males than in females, downregulated by gonadectomy in both sexes and upregulated strongly by testosterone and moderately by progesterone treatment; estradiol treatment had no effect. In prepubertal rats, the AQP1 protein expression was low compared with adults and slightly higher in females, whereas the AQP1 mRNA expression was low and similar in both sexes. The observed differences in AQP1 protein expression in various experiments mainly reflect changes in the glycosylated form. The male-dominant expression of renal AQP1 in rats, which develops after puberty largely in the glycosylated form of the protein, may contribute to enhanced fluid reabsorption following the androgen- or progesterone-stimulated activities of sodium-reabsorptive mechanisms in proximal tubules.

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