Aberrant expression of oncogenes and/or tumor suppressors play a fundamental effect on the pathogenesis and tumorigenicity of cervical cancer (CC). B-cell CLL/lymphoma 3 (BCL3) was previously found to be a putative proto-oncogene in human cancers and regulated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), a critical oncogene, in CC cell line. However, its expression status, clinical significance and biological functions in CC remain largely unclear. The expressions of BCL3 and STAT3 in CC specimens were determined by immunohistochemistry. MTT, colony formation assays and flow cytometry analysis were carried out to test proliferation and cell cycle of CC cells. Here, the levels of BCL3 were overexpressed in CC compared to adjacent cervical tissues. Furthermore, high levels of BCL3 protein were confirmed by immunoblotting in CC cells as compared with normal cervical epithelial cells. The positive expression of BCL3 was correlated with adverse prognostic features and reduced survival rate. In addition, BCL3 regulated STAT3 abundance in CC cells. STAT3 was found to be upregulated and positively correlated with BCL3 expression in CC specimens. BCL3 overexpression resulted in prominent increased proliferation and cell cycle progression in Hela cells. By contrast, inhibition of BCL3 in CaSki cells remarkably suppressed proliferative ability and cell cycle progression. In vivo studies showed that knockdown of BCL3 inhibited tumor growth of CC in mice xenograft model. Notably, we confirmed that STAT3 mediated the oncogenic roles of BCL3 in CC. In conclusion, we suggest that BCL3 serves as an oncogene in CC by modulating proliferation and cell cycle progression, and its oncogenic effect is mediated by its downstream target gene, STAT3.

Background: Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) immunotherapy controls the progression of human cervical cancer. Here, we explored the detailed molecular mechanisms played by melatonin in human cervical cancer (HeLa cells) death in the presence of TNF-α injury, with a particular attention to the mitochondrial homeostasis. Methods: HeLa cells were incubated with TNFα and then cell death was determined via MTT assay, TUNEL staining, caspase ELISA assay and western blotting. Mitochondrial function was detected via analyzing mitochondrial membrane potential using JC-1 staining, mitochondrial oxidative stress using flow cytometry and mitochondrial apoptosis using western blotting. Results: Our data exhibited that treatment with HeLa cells using melatonin in the presence of TNF-α further triggered cancer cell cellular death. Molecular investigation demonstrated that melatonin enhanced the caspase-9 mitochondrion death, repressed mitochondrial potential, increased ROS production, augmented mPTP opening rate and elevated cyt-c expression in the nucleus. Moreover, melatonin application further suppressed mitochondrial ATP generation via reducing the expression of mitochondrial respiratory complex. Mechanistically, melatonin augmented the response of HeLa cells to TNF-α-mediated cancer death via repressing mitophagy. TNF-α treatment activated mitophagy via elevating Parkin expression and excessive mitophagy blocked mitochondrial apoptosis, ultimately alleviating the lethal action of TNF-α on HeLa cell. However, melatonin supplementation could prevent TNF-α-mediated mitophagy activation via inhibiting Parkin in a CaMKII-dependent manner. Interestingly, reactivation of CaMKII abolished the melatonin-mediated mitophagy arrest and HeLa cell death. Conclusions: Overall, our data highlight that melatonin enhances TNF-α-induced human cervical cancer HeLa cells mitochondrial apoptosis via inactivating the CaMKII/Parkin/mitophagy axis.

Endophytes may participate in the conversion of metabolites within medicinal plants, influencing the efficacy of host. However, the distribution of endophytes within medicinal plants P. notoginseng and how it contributes to the conversion of saponins are not well understood. Here, we determined the distribution of saponins and endophytes within P. notoginseng compartments and further confirm the saponin conversion by endophytes. We found metabolites showed compartment specificity within P. notoginseng. Potential saponin biomarkers, such as Rb1, Rg1, Re, Rc and Rd, were obtained. Endophytic diversity, composition and co-occurrence networks also showed compartment specificity, and bacterial alpha diversity values were highest in root compartment, consistently decreased in the stem and leaf compartments, whereas those of fungi showed the opposite trend. Potential bacterial biomarkers, such as Rhizobium, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Klebsiella, Pantoea and fungal biomarkers Phoma, Epicoccum, Xylariales, were also obtained. Endophytes related to saponin contents were found by Spearman correlation analysis, and further verification experiments showed that Enterobacter chengduensis could convert ginsenoside Rg1 to F1 at a rate of 13.24%; Trichoderma koningii could convert ginsenoside Rb1 to Rd at a rate of 40.00% and to Rg3 at a rate of 32.31%; Penicillium chermesinum could convert ginsenoside Rb1 to Rd at a rate of 74.24%.

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