Branched-chain amino acids enhance premature senescence through mammalian target of rapamycin complex I-mediated upregulation of p21 protein.

Bibliographic Details
Title: Branched-chain amino acids enhance premature senescence through mammalian target of rapamycin complex I-mediated upregulation of p21 protein.
Authors: Masayuki Nakano, Akio Nakashima, Taiki Nagano, Shintaro Ishikawa, Ushio Kikkawa, Shinji Kamada
Source: PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 11, p e80411 (2013)
Publisher Information: Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2013.
Publication Year: 2013
Collection: LCC:Medicine
LCC:Science
Subject Terms: Medicine, Science
More Details: Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have been applied as an oral supplementation to patients with liver cirrhosis. BCAAs not only improve nutritional status of patients but also decrease the incidence of liver cancer. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) links cellular metabolism with growth and proliferation in response to nutrients, energy, and growth factors. BCAAs, especially leucine, have been shown to regulate protein synthesis through mTOR activities. On the other hand, cellular senescence is suggested to function as tumor suppressor mechanisms, and induced by a variety of stimuli including DNA damage-inducing drugs. However, it is not clear how BCAA supplementation prevents the incidence of liver cancer in patients with cirrhosis. Here we showed that human cancer cells, HepG2 and U2OS, cultured in medium containing BCAAs with Fischer's ratio about 3, which was shown to have highest activities to synthesize and secrete of albumin, had higher activities to induce premature senescence and elevate mTORC1 activities. Furthermore, BCAAs themselves enhanced the execution of premature senescence induced by DNA damage-inducing drugs, which was effectively prevented by rapamycin. These results strongly suggested the contribution of the mTORC1 pathway to the regulation of premature senescence. Interestingly, the protein levels of p21, a p53 target and well-known gene essential for the execution of cellular senescence, were upregulated in the presence of BCAAs. These results suggested that BCAAs possibly contribute to tumor suppression by enhancing cellular senescence mediated through the mTOR signalling pathway.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 1932-6203
Relation: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3819289?pdf=render; https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080411
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/e42ff7eee4094d95bab0ee587934ecc2
Accession Number: edsdoj.42ff7eee4094d95bab0ee587934ecc2
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:19326203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0080411
Published in:PLoS ONE
Language:English