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The Farnesyltransferase Inhibitor R115777 Up-regulates the Expression of Death Receptor 5 and Enhances TRAIL-Induced Apoptosis in Human Lung Cancer Cells

¹ Department of Hematology and Oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia and ² Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Xiang-Ya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China

Requests for reprints: Shi-Yong Sun, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, 1365-C Clifton Road, C3088, Atlanta, GA 30322. Phone: 404-778-2170; Fax: 404-778-5520; E-mail: shi-yong.sun{at}emoryhealthcare.org.

Tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) preferentially induces apoptosis in transformed or malignant cells, thus exhibiting potential as a tumor-selective apoptosis-inducing cytokine for cancer treatment. Many studies have shown that the apoptosis-inducing activity of TRAIL can be enhanced by various cancer therapeutic agents. R115777 (tipifarnib) is the first farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI) that showed clinical activity in myeloid malignancies. In general, R115777, like other FTIs, exerts relatively weak effects on the induction of apoptosis in cancer cells with undefined mechanism(s). In the current study, we studied its effects on the growth of human lung cancer cells, including induction of apoptosis, and examined potential underlying mechanisms for these effects. We showed that R115777 induced apoptosis in human lung cancer cells, in addition to inducing G₁ or G₂-M arrest. Moreover, we found that R115777 up-regulated the expression of death receptor 5 (DR5), an important death receptor for TRAIL, and exhibited an augmented effect on the induction of apoptosis when combined with recombinant TRAIL. Blockage of DR5 induction by small interfering RNA (siRNA) abrogated the ability of R115777 to enhance TRAIL-induced apoptosis, indicating that R115777 augments TRAIL-induced apoptosis through up-regulation of DR5 expression. Thus, our findings show the efficacy of R115777 in human lung cancer cells and suggest that R115777 may be used clinically in combination with TRAIL for treatment of human lung cancer. [Cancer Res 2007;67(10):4973–80]