Cimetidine induces apoptosis of human salivary gland tumor cells

It has been reported that cimetidine, a histamine type-2 receptor (H2R) antagonist, inhibits the growth of glandular tumors such as colorectal cancer. However, its effects against salivary gland tumors are still unknown. We demonstrated previously that human salivary gland tumor (HSG) cells spontaneously express the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) and also that HSG cell proliferation could be controlled via a homophilic (NCAM-NCAM) binding mechanism and that NCAM may be associated with perineural invasion by malignant salivary gland tumors. In the present study, we investigated the effects of cimetidine via the expression of NCAM on tumor growth and perineural/neural invasion in salivary gland tumor cells. Expression of both NCAM mRNA and protein was found to decrease in a dose-dependent manner upon treatment with cimetidine for 24 h. The MTT assay and confocal laser microscopy clearly showed that HSG cells underwent apoptosis after treatment with cimetidine. Activation of caspases 3, 7, 8 and 9 was observed in HSG cells after cimetidine treatment, thus confirming that the apoptosis was induced by the activated caspases. Apaf-1 activity was also detected in HSG cells in a dose-dependent manner after treatment with cimetidine. We also found that the cimetidine-mediated down-regulation of NCAM expression in HSG cells did not occur via blocking of the histamine receptor, even though H2R expression was observed on HSG cells, as two other H2R antagonists, famotidine and ranitidine, did not show similar effects. We demonstrated for the first time that cimetidine can induce significant apoptosis of salivary gland tumor cells, which express NCAM, at least in part by down-regulation of NCAM expression on the cells. These findings suggest that the growth, development and perineural/neural invasion of salivary gland tumor cells can be blocked by cimetidine administration through down-regulation of NCAM expression, as well as induction of apoptosis.     

Etodolac induces apoptosis and inhibits cell adhesion to bone marrow stromal cells in human myeloma cells

OBJECTIVES: Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is reported to regulate apoptosis and to be an important cellular target for therapy. METHODS: We examined whether etodolac, meloxicam, and thalidomide inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in myeloma cell lines (RPMI 8226 and MC/CAR cells). RESULTS: Etodolac induced apoptosis more strongly compared with thalidomide or meloxicam. Etodolac induced down-regulation of Bcl-2 protein and mRNA, activation of Caspase-9, -7 and -3, cIAP-1 and Survivin, and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, when myeloma cells were coincubated with 50 microM etodolac on bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), myeloma cell adhesion to BMSCs was significantly inhibited compared with thalidomide or meloxicam coincubation, and the adhesion molecules VLA-4, LFA-1 (CD11a), CXCX4, and CD44 were suppressed on myeloma cells treated with etodolac. Moreover, 50-100 microM racemate of etodolac significantly inhibited the proliferation of myeloma cells compared to 100 microM R-etodolac or S-etodolac. CONCLUSIONS: Etodolac induced loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and apoptosis via a COX-2-independent pathway, suppressed the expression of adhesion molecules, and inhibited myeloma cell adhesion to BMSCs compared with thalidomide or meloxicam. The activities of etodolac potentially extend to the treatment of patients with myeloma resistant to standard chemotherapy, including thalidomide.     

Chemoresistance induces enhanced adhesion and transendothelial penetration of neuroblastoma cells by down-regulating NCAM surface expression

Background  

Drug resistance to chemotherapy is often associated with increased malignancy in neuroblastoma (NB). One explanation for the link between resistance and malignancy might be that resistance facilitates cancer progression and invasion. To investigate this hypothesis, adhesion, transendothelial penetration and NCAM (CD56) adhesion receptor expression of drug-resistant versus drug-sensitive NB tumor cells were evaluated.     

Induction of apoptosis in human salivary gland tumor cells by anti-NCAM antibody

Neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) is a type of cell surface glycoprotein and a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily. It has been reported that NCAM may be associated with perineural invasion by malignant salivary gland tumors such as adenoid cystic carcinoma. We have previously demonstrated that NCAM is constitutively expressed in the human salivary gland tumor cell line HSG, in vitro. In the present study, we have aimed to clarify the hypothesis that NCAM-mediated inhibition of salivary gland tumor proliferation is caused by homophilic binding and involves the prevention of signal transduction for perineural invasion using HSG cells. NCAM mRNA and protein expression was found to decrease in a dose-dependent manner upon treatment with the anti-NCAM antibody (MAb NCAM) for 24 h. The MTT assay showed a significant reduction in the number of viable HSG cells. Confocal laser microscopy showed that HSG cells underwent apoptosis after treatment with MAb NCAM. The activation of caspases 3, 7 and 9 was observed in HSG cells after treatment with MAb NCAM, thus confirming that apoptosis was induced by the activated caspases. Apaf-1 activity was also detected in HSG cells in a dose-dependent manner after treatment with MAb NCAM. The up-regulation of TGF-beta1-mediated NCAM expression appeared to lead to the activation of homophilic NCAM binding, further accelerating HSG cell proliferation. In addition, the localization of NCAM in adenoid cystic carcinomas (ACCs) was examined using an immunohistochemical method. NCAM was slightly to moderately positive in 9 of 13 cases (69.2%) of ACC. These findings suggest that NCAM is associated not only with a cell-to-cell adhesion mechanism, but also with tumorigenesis, including growth, development and perineural invasion in human salivary gland tumors.     

PTEN inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis by downregulating cell surface IGF-IR expression in prostate cancer cells

PTEN is a tumor suppressor gene that is frequently mutated in human tumors. It functions primarily as a lipid phosphatase and plays a key role in the regulation of phosphatidylinositol-3'-kinase. PTEN appears to play a crucial role in modulating apoptosis by reducing the levels of PtdIns(3,4,5)P3, a phospholipid that activates AKT, a central regulator of apoptosis. To understand the role of PTEN in regulating cell proliferation and apoptosis, we stably overexpressed PTEN in PC3 cells, which are prostate cancer cells that lack PTEN. Overexpression of PTEN in two different clones inhibited cell proliferation and increased serum starvation-induced apoptosis, as compared to control cells. Interestingly, PTEN overexpression resulted in a 44-60% reduction in total insulin-like growth factor-I receptor (IGF-IR) protein levels and a 49-64% reduction in cell surface IGF-IR expression. [35S]methionine pulse experiments in PC3 cells overexpressing PTEN demonstrated that these cells synthesize significantly lower levels of the IGF-IR precursor, whereas PTEN overexpression had no effect on IGF-IR degradation. Taken together, our results show that PTEN can regulate cell proliferation and apoptosis through inhibition of IGF-IR synthesis. These results have important implications for understanding the roles of PTEN and the IGF-IR in prostate cancer cell tumorigenesis.     

Loss of neural cell adhesion molecule induces tumor metastasis by up-regulating lymphangiogenesis

Reduced expression of neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) has been implicated in the progression to tumor malignancy in cancer patients. Previously, we have shown that the loss of NCAM function causes the formation of lymph node metastasis in a transgenic mouse model of pancreatic beta cell carcinogenesis (Rip1Tag2). Here we show that tumors of NCAM-deficient Rip1Tag2 transgenic mice exhibit up-regulated expression of the lymphangiogenic factors vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-C and -D (17% in wild-type versus 60% in NCAM-deficient Rip1Tag2 mice) and, with it, increased lymphangiogenesis (0% in wild-type versus 19% in NCAM-deficient Rip1Tag2 mice). Repression of VEGF-C and -D function by adenoviral expression of a soluble form of their cognate receptor, VEGF receptor-3, results in reduced tumor lymphangiogenesis (56% versus 28% in control versus treated mice) and lymph node metastasis (36% versus 8% in control versus treated mice). The results indicate that the loss of NCAM function causes lymph node metastasis via VEGF-C- and VEGF-D-mediated lymphangiogenesis. These results also establish Rip1Tag2;NCAM-deficient mice as a unique model for stochastic, endogenous tumor lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis in immunocompetent mice.     

Characterization of neural cell adhesion molecules (NCAM) expressed by Ewing and neuroblastoma cell lines

The status of the neural cell adhesion molecule NCAM gene which is mapped to human chromosome 11q23-24 has been investigated in Ewing-tumor-derived cell lines which present the t(11;22)(q23-24;q12) translocation characteristic of this malignancy. No rearrangement was detected when 2 different non-overlapping probes to mouse NCAM were used. The expression of the NCAM gene was analysed at both the protein and messenger levels in material extracted from Ewing cell lines, human neuroblastoma cell line and fetal mouse brain. Immune blot and immunoprecipitation studies showed that the neuroblastoma cell line contained more NCAM material than the Ewing lines. In neuroblastoma but not in Ewing, the NCAM material had the electrophoretic characteristics of molecules with long polysialic acid chains. After treatment with endosialidase, the diffusely migrating neuroblastoma material was resolved into 3 discrete bands of 120, 140 and 180 kDa. In Ewing extract, high-molecular-weight NCAM species were also detected with a 3-band pattern more reminiscent of mature brain. Endoglycosidase F treatment of Ewing NCAM indicated that all 3 species were largely N-glycosylated. Northern blot analysis confirmed that NCAM was expressed more abundantly in neuroblastoma than in Ewing cell lines. Among the 4 NCAM messengers (7.0, 6.5, 4.3 and 4.1 kb) detected in the neuroblastoma, the 6.5 kb species was largely predominant. The Ewing messenger RNA pattern was clearly different as the largest 7.0-kb species was virtually absent and the other bands were of similar intensities.     

Silibinin inhibits cell growth and induces apoptosis by caspase activation, down-regulating survivin and blocking EGFR-ERK activation in renal cell carcinoma

Silibinin as an effective anti-cancer and chemopreventive agent in various epithelial cancer models has been reported inhibition of cancer cell growth through mitogenic signaling pathways. However, whether it could inhibit renal cell carcinoma growth and what are the underlying mechanisms is still not well elucidated. Since EGFR-MAPK and apoptosis pathways play important roles in renal cell carcinoma survival. Here, for the first time we evaluated the inhibitory proliferation effects of silibinin in renal cell carcinoma growth and examined whether silibinin modulates EGFR-MAPK and tumor apoptosis cascades signals. Our results indicated that silibinin effectively inhibits the renal cancer carcinoma Caki-1 cell proliferation and induces apoptosis through inhibiting the activation of EGFR and ERK and the expression of survivin, up-regulating the expression of p53 and triggering the cascades of caspase pathways. Our results suggested silibinin might be as one of the candidate chemopreventive agents for renal cell carcinoma therapy.     

Hypoxia inhibits tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand-induced apoptosis by blocking Bax translocation

The hypoxic environment in solid tumors results from oxygen consumption by rapid proliferation of tumor cells. Hypoxia has been shown to facilitate the survival of tumor cells and to be a cause of malignant transformation. Hypoxia also is well known to attenuate the therapeutic activity of various therapies in cancer management. These observations indicate that hypoxia plays a critical role in tumor biology. However, little is known about the effects of hypoxia on apoptosis, especially on apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), a potent apoptosis inducer that has been shown to specifically limit tumor growth without damaging normal cells and tissues in vivo. To address the effects of hypoxia on TRAIL-induced apoptosis, HCT116 human colon carcinoma cells were exposed to hypoxic or normoxic conditions and treated with soluble TRAIL protein. Hypoxia dramatically inhibited TRAIL-induced apoptosis in HCT116 cells, which are highly susceptible to TRAIL in normoxia. Hypoxia increased antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family member proteins and inhibitors of apoptosis proteins. Interestingly, these hypoxia-increased antiapoptotic molecules were decreased by TRAIL treatment to the levels lower than those of the untreated conditions, suggesting that hypoxia inhibits TRAIL-induced apoptosis via other mechanisms rather than up-regulation of these antiapoptotic molecules. Additional characterization revealed that hypoxia significantly inhibits TRAIL-induced translocation of Bax from the cytosol to the mitochondria in HCT116 and A549 cells, with the concomitant inhibition of cytochrome c release from the mitochondria. Bax-deficient HCT116 cells were completely resistant to TRAIL regardless of oxygen content, demonstrating a pivotal role of Bax in TRAIL-induced apoptotic signaling. Thus, our data indicate that hypoxia inhibits TRAIL-induced apoptosis by blocking Bax translocation to the mitochondria, thereby converting cells to a Bax-deficient state.     

Cyclin B1 depletion inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in human tumor cells

Cyclin B1 is the regulatory subunit of M-phase promoting factor, and proper regulation of cyclin B1 is essential for the initiation of mitosis. Increasing evidence indicates that the deregulation of cyclin B1 is involved in neoplastic transformation, suggesting the suppression of cyclin B1 could be an attractive strategy for antiproliferative therapy. In the present work, we analysed the impact of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) targeted to cyclin B1 on different human tumor cell lines. Cyclin B1 siRNAs reduced the protein level of cyclin B1 in HeLa, MCF-7, BT-474 and MDA-MB-435 tumor cells and efficiently reduced the kinase activity of Cdc2/cyclin B1 in HeLa cells. siRNA-treated cells were arrested in G2/M phase in all tumor cell lines tested. Proliferation of tumor cells from different origins was suppressed by 50-80% 48 h after transfection and apoptosis was increased from 5 to 40-50%. Furthermore, tumor cells showed less colony-forming ability after siRNA treatment. In contrast, primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells exhibited only a slight change in cell cycle, and neither apoptosis nor clear inhibition of proliferation was observed after cyclin B1 siRNA treatment for 48 h. These results indicate that siRNAs against cyclin B1 could become a powerful antiproliferative tool in future antitumor therapy.     

Restoration of XAF1 expression induces apoptosis and inhibits tumor growth in gastric cancer

XAF1 (XIAP‐associated factor 1) is a novel XIAP binding protein that can antagonize XIAP and sensitize cells to other cell death triggers. Our previous results have shown that aberrant hypermethylation of the CpG sites in XAF1 promoter is strongly associated with lower expression of XAF1 in gastric cancers. In our study, we investigated the effect of restoration of XAF1 expression on growth of gastric cancers. We found that the restoration of XAF1 expression suppressed anchorage‐dependent and ‐independent growth and increased sensitivity to TRAIL and drug‐induced apoptosis. Stable cell clones expressing XAF1 exhibited delayed tumor initiation in nude mice. Restoration of XAF1 expression mediated by adenovirus vector greatly increased apoptosis in gastric cancer cell lines in a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner and sensitized cancer cells to TRAIL and drugs‐induced apoptosis. Adeno‐XAF1 transduction induced cell cycle G2/M arrest and upregulated the expression of p21 and downregulated the expression of cyclin B1 and cdc2. Notably, adeno‐XAF1 treatment significantly inhibited tumor growth, strongly enhanced the antitumor activity of TRAIL in a gastric cancer xenograft model in vivo, and significantly prolonged the survival time of animals bearing tumor xenografts. Complete eradication of established tumors was achieved on combined treatment with adeno‐XAF1 and TRAIL. Our results document that the restoration of XAF1 inhibits gastric tumorigenesis and tumor growth and that XAF1 is a promising candidate for cancer gene therapy. © 2009 UICC     

Sulforaphane induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in murine osteosarcoma cells in vitro and inhibits tumor growth in vivo

Sulforaphane (SFN), a naturally occurring isothiocyanate, is an attractive agent due to its potent anticancer effects. SFN suppresses the proliferation of various cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we report that SFN inhibited the proliferation of cultured murine osteosarcoma LM8 cells. Twenty micromolar SFN completely inhibited the growth of LM8 cells and caused G2/M-phase arrest. SFN induced the expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1) protein causing the cell cycle arrest in a dose-dependent manner. SFN induced apoptosis which was characterized by the appearance of cells with sub-G1 DNA content and the cleavage and activation of caspase-3. We showed that SFN induced the growth arrest and up-regulated the expression of p21(WAF1/CIP1) protein in a p53-independent manner in human osteosarcoma MG63 cells. We found that intraperitoneal administration of SFN (1 or 2 mg, 5 times/week) significantly inhibited the growth of LM8 xenografts to <30% of the controls in a preclinical animal model without causing any toxicity. In osteosarcoma cells, our findings provide in vivo evidence for the efficacy of SFN against the advanced growth of tumor. We showed that SFN induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells and inhibits tumor xenograft growth. Furthermore, SFN is a potent inducer of p21(WAF1/CIP1) in osteosarcoma cells. These results raise the possibility that SFN may be a promising candidate for molecular-targeting chemotherapy against osteosarcoma.     

siRNA directed against Livin inhibits tumor growth and induces apoptosis in human glioma cells

Livin, a novel member of the human inhibitors of apoptosis protein family, plays an important role in tumor progression and occurrence by inhibiting cell apoptosis. It is selectively expressed in the most common human neoplasms and appears to be involved in tumor cell resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. The present study was designed to investigate the potential of using RNA interference (RNAi) technique to downregulate Livin expression, and the subsequent effect on human glioma cells. The results showed that knockdown of Livin expression by short interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly inhibited glioma cell proliferation and increased cell apoptosis through cell arrest in the G₁/G₀ phase of cell cycle in vitro. Furthermore, Livin siRNA significantly suppressed tumor growth in nude mice. Together, these findings suggest that RNAi-mediated downregulation of Livin expression could lead to potent antitumor activity in glioma cells and might serve as a novel therapeutic strategy in clinic.     

Targeted expression of maspin in tumor vasculatures induces endothelial cell apoptosis

Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, is required for normal tissue development and pathological conditions such as tumorigenesis. Most solid tumors can not grow beyond a few millimeters without the recruitment of neovessels since cancer cells require access to blood vessels for nutrients and to escape the local environment and metastasize to other tissue and organ sites. Targeting tumor vessel endothelium therefore should serve as an effective therapy for cancers. Maspin is a serpin that exhibits antiangiogenic properties. In this report, we show that when maspin overexpression is targeted in vivo to endothelial cells, it actively induces endothelial cell apoptosis. Intravascular administration of adenovirus-maspin to mice bearing mammary tumors disrupts tumor-induced angiogenesis. Interestingly, tumor neovessels become leaky after maspin treatment, whereas normal mature vessels are not affected by maspin treatment. We further demonstrate that maspin directly induces endothelial cell apoptosis in vitro, and this effect is maspin specific. The induction of apoptosis is accompanied by changes in the expression of Bcl-2 family genes and is blocked by caspase inhibitors. In addition, the apoptotic effect is mediated by intracellular maspin and is dependent on the RSL region of maspin. Furthermore, we have shown that transient overexpression of Bcl-2 protected the HUVECs from maspin-mediated apoptosis, and the presence of both maspin and Bax accelerated the apoptosis process. These findings demonstrate that neovascular endothelial cells are highly sensitive to maspin level inside the cells. This property can be used for targeted therapy against tumor angiogenesis and metastasis.     

下调SMAD1表达诱导胃癌细胞周期进展及促进细胞增殖抑制细胞凋亡的作用

目的:探讨下调SMAD1表达对胃癌细胞周期、增殖及凋亡的影响。方法:将胃癌BGC-823细胞分为三组,以转染SMAD1 siRNA的细胞为SMAD1 siRNA组,转染SMAD1 control细胞为SMAD1 NC组,对照组不做任何处理。采用Western blot检测细胞的转染效果及PTEN、Bcl-xL 和p21蛋白的表达情况,CCK-8法检测细胞的增殖情况,流式细胞仪检测细胞周期变化和细胞凋亡率。结果:转染48 h后,SMAD1 siRNA组细胞中SMAD1蛋白的相对表达量显著降低（P＜0.05）;细胞在G0/G1期所占比例显著降低,S期所占比例显著升高;SMAD1 siRNA组细胞的OD值、Bcl-xL蛋白的相对表达量显著升高,而细胞凋亡率及PTEN、p21蛋白的相对表达量显著降低,差异均有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。结论:下调SMAD1表达能够诱导BGC-823细胞从G0/G1期进入S期,促进细胞增殖并抑制细胞凋亡,其作用机制可能与下调PTEN、p21蛋白表达及上调Bcl-xL蛋白表达有关。     

Scorpion venom induces glioma cell apoptosis in vivo and inhibits glioma tumor growth in vitro

Malignant gliomas are the main brain tumors notoriously resistant to currently available therapies, since they fail to undergo apoptosis upon antieaneer treatment. Recent progress on enhanced studies of ion channels involved in glioma cells shed new light on the investigation of glioma cell growth and proliferation. Here we report BmK scorpion venom.     

体内阻断胰腺癌细胞FasL表达抑制肿瘤细胞免疫反击的初步研究

目的:探讨体内抑制胰腺癌细胞表面的FasL表达,能否抑制胰腺癌细胞对免疫系统的反击作用。方法:反义核酸技术扩增C57BL/6小鼠FasL mRNA 35~371位点核苷酸序列互补的cDNA片断,构建pBlast质粒后,转染人Panc-1胰腺癌细胞株,蛋白质印迹观察细胞株FasL蛋白表达的变化,ELISA法检测培养上清可溶性FasL水平。将细胞注射到C57BL/6小鼠胰腺包膜下,观测瘤体的直径变化,免疫组化观测肿瘤组织内浸润淋巴细胞的数量。结果:在稳定转染编码反义FasL cDNA的质粒后,胰腺癌细胞表面的FasL表达明显下调;其FasL蛋白表达下降了80%;FasL表达下调对体外生长的胰腺癌细胞无明显影响,但能减少同系免疫活性鼠体内肿瘤的发展。转染了质检DNA的胰腺癌细胞接种组瘤体的平均直径为1.53 mm,而未转染质检DNA的胰腺癌细胞接种组为2.98 mm,两组比较差异有统计学意义,P<0.01。与未来转染组相比,转染组CD45 TIL细胞数量明显增多,是未转染组的3.23倍,P<0.01。结论:胰腺癌细胞表面FasL表达的下调,能在体内增加免疫系统的抗肿瘤能力,从而为"肿瘤反击"促进肿瘤细胞浸润的学说提供了有力的证据。     

An anti-Wnt-2 monoclonal antibody induces apoptosis in malignant melanoma cells and inhibits tumor growth

Activation of the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway has been associated with human cancers. To test whether Wnt-2 signal is a survival factor in human melanoma cells and thus represents a potential therapeutic target, we investigated the effects of inhibition of Wnt-2 signaling in human melanoma cell lines. We have developed a novel monoclonal antibody against the NH(2) terminus of the human Wnt-2 ligand that induces apoptosis in human melanoma cells overexpressing Wnt-2. Whereas incubation of this antibody with normal cells lacking Wnt-2 expression does not induce apoptosis, Wnt-2 signaling blockade by the ligand-binding antibody is confirmed by down-regulation of Dishevelled and beta-catenin. Wnt-2 small interfering RNA treatment in these cells yielded similar apoptotic effects and downstream changes. Down-regulation of an inhibitor of apoptosis family protein, survivin, was observed in both the Wnt-2 antibody-treated and small interfering RNA-treated melanoma cell lines, suggesting that the antibody induces apoptosis by inactivating survivin. In an in vivo study, this monoclonal anti-Wnt-2 antibody suppresses tumor growth in a xenograft model. These findings suggest that the anti-Wnt-2 monoclonal antibody may be useful for the treatment of patients with malignant melanoma.