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Clayton Center for Ocular Oncology, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90027 [A. F., K. F. v. T., N. R., C. J. G.], and Departments of Pediatrics [C. J. G., M. A. S.], Radiation Oncology [C. J. G.], Medicine [P. S. G.], Pathology [P. S. G.], and Surgery [M. A. S.], Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90033
| ABSTRACT |
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(HIF-1
) subunit of the heterodimeric HIF-1 transcription
factor and also increased protein levels of the HIF-1 target gene,
vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), within treated tumors.
HIF-1
and VEGF expression were also observed following tumor
clamping, which was used as a positive control for inducing tissue
hypoxia. PDT treatment of BA tumor cells grown in culture resulted in a
small increase in VEGF expression above basal levels, indicating that
PDT-mediated hypoxia and oxidative stress could both be involved in the
overexpression of VEGF. Tumor-bearing mice treated with combined
antiangiogenic therapy (IM862 or EMAP-II) and PDT had improved
tumoricidal responses compared with individual treatments. We also
demonstrated that PDT-induced VEGF expression in tumors decreased when
either IM862 or EMAP-II was included in the PDT treatment protocol. Our
results indicate that combination procedures using antiangiogenic
treatments can improve the therapeutic effectiveness of PDT. | Introduction |
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Tissue hypoxia induces a plethora of molecular and physiological
responses, including an adaptive response associated with gene
activation (9)
. A primary step in hypoxia-mediated gene
activation is the formation of the HIF-1 transcription factor complex
(9
, 10) . HIF-1 is a heterodimeric complex of two
helix-loop-helix proteins, HIF-1ß (ARNT) and HIF-1
(11)
. ARNT is constitutively expressed, whereas HIF-1
is rapidly degraded under normoxic conditions. Hypoxia induces the
stabilization of the HIF-1
subunit, which in turn allows for the
formation of the transcriptionally active protein complex (11
, 12)
. A number of HIF-1-responsive genes have been identified,
including VEGF, erythropoietin, and glucose transporter-1
(11)
. VEGF, also called vascular permeability factor, is
an endothelial cell-specific mitogen involved in the induction and
maintenance of the neovasculature in solid tumors (11
, 13)
. VEGF expression increases in tumor tissue under hypoxia as
a result of both transcriptional activation and increased stabilization
(11
, 14)
.
In the current study, we examined whether PDT-induced microvascular
damage and the resulting hypoxia could serve as activators of molecular
events leading to the increased expression of VEGF within treated tumor
tissue. We also determined whether antiangiogenic compounds, which
counter the actions of VEGF, could improve PDT tumor responsiveness.
Our results document that PH-mediated PDT induces expression of
HIF-1
and the transcription factors target gene,
VEGF, in a transplanted mouse mammary carcinoma. We
also document enhanced tumoricidal activity when PDT is combined with
antiangiogenic therapy.
| Materials and Methods |
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Cells and in Vivo Tumor Model.
BA mouse mammary carcinoma cells (originally obtained from the NIH
tumor bank) were used in all in vitro and in vivo
experiments (17)
. Cells were grown as a monolayer in RPMI
1640 supplemented with 10% FCS and antibiotics. The plating efficiency
for the BA cells was 4060%. s.c. BA mammary carcinomas were
generated by trocar injection of 1-mm3
pieces of
tumor to the hind right flank of 8- to 12-week-old female C3H/HeJ mice
(17)
.
In Vitro and in Vivo Treatment
Protocols.
In vitro photosensitization protocols involved seeding cells
into plastic Petri dishes and incubating overnight in complete growth
medium to allow for cell attachment. PDT treatments included incubating
cells in the dark at 37°C for 16 h with PH (25 µg/ml) in
medium containing 5% FCS. Cells were then incubated for an additional
30 min in growth medium containing 10% FCS, rinsed in medium without
serum, and exposed to red light (570650 nm) generated by a parallel
series of red Mylar-filtered 30 W fluorescent bulbs and delivered at a
dose rate of 0.35 mW/cm2. In specified
experiments, cells were incubated with CoCl2 (100
µM) in growth medium containing 5% FCS for
16 h. Treated cells were then re-fed with complete growth medium
and incubated in the dark at 37°C until collected for analysis of
VEGF secretion into the culture media. In vivo PDT tumor
treatments were performed as reported previously on tumors measuring
67 mm in diameter (17)
. Briefly, PDT procedures included
an i.v. injection of PH (5 mg/kg) followed 24 h later with
non-thermal laser tumor irradiation using an argon-pumped dye laser
emitting red light at 630 nm. A light dose rate of 75
mW/cm2 and a total light dose of 200
J/cm2 were used for all in vivo PDT
treatments. After treatment, tumors were measured three times per week.
Cures were defined as being disease free for at least 40 days after PDT
(17)
. Antiangiogenic treatment was performed using either
EMAP-II or IM862. Each compound was administered as daily i.p.
injections for 10 consecutive days starting 1 h prior to PDT light
treatment. Individual IM862 doses were 25 mg/kg, and individual EMAP-II
doses were 50 µg/kg. Tumor tissue hypoxia was induced in selected
experiments by clamping lesions for 45 min.
Western Blot Analysis.
Tumors were collected at various times after treatment, homogenized
with a Polytron in 1x reporter lysis buffer (Promega, Madison, WI),
and evaluated for protein expression as described previously
(18)
. Briefly, protein samples (30 µg) were
size-separated on 10% (for HIF-1
) or 12.5% (for VEGF)
discontinuous polyacrylamide gels and transferred overnight to
nitrocellulose membranes. Filters were blocked for 1 h with 5%
nonfat milk and then incubated for 2 h with either a mouse
monoclonal anti-HIF-1
antibody (clone 54; Transduction Laboratories,
Lexington, KY), a rabbit polyclonal anti-VEGF antibody (no. sc-507;
Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA), or a mouse monoclonal
antiactin antibody (clone C-4; ICN, Aurora, OH). Filters were then
incubated with either an antimouse or antirabbit peroxidase conjugate
(Sigma), and the resulting complexes were visualized by enhanced
chemiluminescence autoradiography (Amersham Life Science, Chicago, IL).
ELISA Assays.
A Quantikine M mouse VEGF ELISA kit (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) was
used to quantify VEGF levels in cell culture media as well as in tumor
extracts from control and treated mice. Results were normalized to
protein concentrations from tumor tissue or cell lysates.
Statistics.
Statistical analysis was performed using a two-tailed Students
t test to analyze VEGF levels and the
2 test for evaluation of tumor cure rates.
| Results and Discussion |
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Several laboratories have shown that PDT produces microvascular damage
within treated tumors and that PDT leads to tumor tissue hypoxia
(4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
. Hypoxia mediates adaptive gene expression through
the HIF transcription factor (9)
. An initial step in
hypoxia-mediated gene activation is the formation of the HIF-1
heterodimeric transcription factor complex (10)
. One
subunit, HIF-1ß (ARNT), is constitutively expressed, whereas the
second subunit, HIF-1
, is rapidly degraded under normoxic conditions
by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (9
, 10
, 12)
. Because
hypoxia induces increased expression and stabilization of the HIF-1
subunit as well as activates the HIF-1 transcription complex, it seemed
likely that PDT-induced microvascular damage and resulting tumor tissue
hypoxia could also stabilize HIF-1
and initiate HIF-1-mediated
transcription. Fig. 1A
uses Western analysis to show that PDT treatment of BA
mammary carcinoma tumors growing in C3H mice induced expression of
HIF-1
. This response was rapid, being observed within the first 5
min after PDT. Tumor clamping was used as a positive control and
resulted in comparable HIF-1
expression. The HIF-1 complex functions
via binding to a hypoxia response element found in the promoter
region of the VEGF gene as well as in the 3' flanking region
of the erythropoietin gene (11)
. Expression of
VEGF in areas around histologically documented tumor necrosis
originally led to suggestions that hypoxia is a major regulator of
tumor angiogenesis (13
, 14)
. VEGF is a dimeric
glycoprotein with strong mitogenic activity restricted primarily to
endothelial cells (14)
. Fig. 1B
documents VEGF
expression after in vivo PDT. Western analysis was performed
under reducing conditions on tumor lysates collected 24 h after
PDT. PDT and tumor clamping both induced significant increases in VEGF
expression within treated lesions. VEGF-induced angiogenesis plays an
important role in tumor growth. Inhibition of VEGF activity with
neutralizing antibodies inhibits the growth of primary and metastatic
tumors, and attenuation of VEGF expression decreases tumor growth and
vascularity (20)
. Our results suggest that PDT may be
functioning as a mediator of tumor angiogenesis and tumor recurrence by
enhancing expression of VEGF within the treated tumor mass
(14)
.
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| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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1 This investigation was performed in conjunction
with the Clayton Foundation for Research and was supported in part by
USPHS Grants CA-31230, HL-60061, and HL-03981 from the NIH; Office of
Naval Research Grant N000014-91-J-4047 from the Department of Defense;
United States Army Medical Research Grant BC981102 from the Department
of Defense; the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund of the T. J. Martell
Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research; and the Las Madrinas
Endowment for Experimental Therapeutics in Ophthalmology. ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be
addressed, at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Mail Stop 67, 4650 Sunset
Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Phone: (323) 669-2335, Fax:
(323) 669-0742; E-mail: cgomer{at}hsc.usc.edu ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: PDT, photodynamic
therapy; PH, Photofrin porfimer sodium; HIF-1, hypoxia-inducible
transcription factor; ARNT, aryl hydrocarbon nuclear
receptor-translocator; VEGF, vascular endothelial growth factor;
EMAP-II, endothelial-monocyte activating polypeptide. ![]()
4 R. Masood and P. Gill, unpublished data. ![]()
Received 4/19/00. Accepted 6/14/00.
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