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[Cancer Research 60, 5747-5753, October 15, 2000]
© 2000 American Association for Cancer Research


Experimental Therapeutics

Changes in Subcellular Distribution of Topoisomerase II{alpha} Correlate with Etoposide Resistance in Multicell Spheroids and Xenograft Tumors1

Arusha Oloumi, Susan H. MacPhail, Peter J. Johnston, Judit P. Banáth and Peggy L. Olive2

British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Z 1L3 Canada


    ABSTRACT
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
The outer cells of Chinese hamster V79 spheroids are about 10 times more resistant than monolayers to DNA damage and cell killing by the topoisomerase (topo) II inhibitor etoposide. Although the amount and catalytic activity of topo II{alpha} are identical for monolayers or the outer cells of spheroids, and the cell proliferation rate is the same, our previous results indicated that phosphorylation of topo II{alpha} is at least 10 times higher in V79 monolayers than in spheroids. Because phosphorylation of topo II{alpha} has been associated with nuclear translocation, we examined subcellular distribution of Topo II{alpha} in monolayers, spheroids, and xenograft tumors using immunohistochemistry. Topo II{alpha} was located predominantly in the nucleus of V79, human SiHa, and rat C6 monolayers but was found mainly in the cytoplasm of the proliferating outer cells of spheroids formed from these cell lines. Conversely, the outer cells of WiDr human colon carcinoma spheroids showed predominantly nuclear localization of topo II{alpha}, and only WiDr cells showed no increase in resistance to etoposide when grown as spheroids. Cells sorted from xenografts resembled the spheroids in terms of sensitivity to etoposide and location of topo II{alpha}. When the outer cells of V79 spheroids were returned to monolayer growth, the rate of redistribution of topo II{alpha} to the nucleus occurred with similar kinetics as the increase in sensitivity to killing by etoposide. Removal and return of individual outer V79 spheroid cells to suspension culture resulted in the translocation of topo II{alpha} to the nucleus for the first 24 h, accompanied by an increase in sensitivity to DNA damage by etoposide. Therefore, the cytoplasmic topo II{alpha} distribution in outer spheroid cells and tumors appears to correlate not with morphological changes associated with growth in suspension but rather with the presence of neighboring, noncycling cells.


    INTRODUCTION
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Previous results have shown that the outer cells of Chinese hamster V79 spheroids are about 10 times more resistant to DNA damage and cell killing by the topo3 II inhibitor etoposide than V79 cells growing as monolayers (1) . We have also shown that resistance of V79 spheroid cells to etoposide cannot be explained by differences in growth kinetics, amounts or activities of the target enzyme, topo II{alpha}, or rate of uptake or efflux of [3 H]etoposide. Moreover, the outer cells require 3 or more days of growth as spheroids to develop maximum resistance, and, once returned to monolayer growth conditions, cells require four or more cell divisions (about 48 h) before they become as sensitive to etoposide as monolayers (1) .

Our previous results also showed that phosphorylation of topo II{alpha} was reduced at least 10-fold in the outer cells of V79 spheroids relative to monolayers (2) , and this observation could explain the resistance of these spheroid cells to killing and DNA damage by etoposide. In fact, several studies have implicated topo II hypophosphorylation in resistance to topo II poisons (3) . However, the relationship of topo II phosphorylation to drug sensitivity can be variable, and both stimulation and inhibition of topo II activity have been reported (4) . Phosphorylation of the COOH terminus of topo II{alpha} may play a role in nuclear translocation of topo II (5 , 6) . A significant decrease in the amount of nuclear topo II{alpha} would be expected to reduce the amount of DNA damage by etoposide and could explain the 10-fold resistance of outer spheroid cells to killing by etoposide (2) . Therefore, experiments were designed to compare the subcellular distribution of topo II{alpha} in monolayers with the outer cells of spheroids. Results confirm that topo II{alpha} was localized primarily in the nucleus of the V79 monolayer cells and in the cytoplasm of the external cells of spheroids. Three additional cell lines grown as monolayers or spheroids were compared to determine the generality of the observation. Because these cell lines could also be grown as xenograft tumors, we were able to compare the spheroid results with the response of the more relevant solid tumor models.


    MATERIALS AND METHODS
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Cell Lines, Spheroids, and Xenograft Tumors.
Chinese hamster V79-171b lung fibroblasts were maintained in exponential monolayer growth by subcultivation twice weekly in Eagle’s MEM containing 10% FBS (3) . Rat C6 glioma cells, SiHa human cervical carcinoma cells, and WiDr human colon carcinoma cell lines were obtained from American Type Culture Collection and maintained in MEM plus 10% FBS. Spheroids were initiated in suspension culture by seeding 5 x 104 cells/ml into Bellco glass spinner culture vessels (Vineland, NJ) containing MEM plus 10% FBS. Larger spheroids were fed after 3 days and daily thereafter with complete medium supplemented with antibiotics. Xenograft tumors were initiated s.c. in the dorsum of NOD/SCID immunodeficient mice by injection of 5 x 105 single cells in 0.05 ml of serum-free medium.

Sequential Trypsinization.
Sequential trypsinization has been used for over 20 years as a method to provide relatively pure populations of cells from various depths within multicell spheroids (7 , 8) . The outer cell layer of spheroids approximately 0.6 mm in diameter was removed by agitating spheroids for 5 min in cold 0.1% trypsin in PBS. Outer spheroid cells were released by this process when spheroids were gently transferred to cold medium and allowed to settle to the bottom of a tube. The remaining cores were trypsinized to determine cell recovery and to calculate the percentage of cells in the outer layer (generally 7–10% of the spheroid). The outer cells of spheroids were placed in monolayer culture for exposure to etoposide and subsequently examined for DNA damage and cell viability. Cell survival after etoposide treatment was measured using a standard clonogenicity assay.

Cell Survival Measurement and Relative Resistance.
Single cells from monolayers, outer spheroid cells, or xenograft tumors were placed in 100-mm tissue culture dishes containing 10 ml of MEM + 10% FBS. After 10 days to 2 weeks, colonies (>50 cells) were stained with malachite green and counted. Experiments were repeated at least three times to obtain the mean and SE. For V79 and WiDr cells, survival as a function of etoposide concentration followed a simple exponential curve, so relative resistance was constant at all survival levels. Therefore, etoposide resistance for these cell lines could be expressed as the ratio of the slopes obtained for the monolayer and spheroid cell survival curves. For the SiHa and C6 cell lines, survival was defined by a linear quadratic relationship, and the lethal dose to 90% of the cells (LD90) was calculated from these curves.

Xenograft Cell Sorting.
To obtain tumor cells closest to the blood vessels, mice bearing approximately 0.5-gram tumors were injected i.v. with 4 mg/kg Hoechst 33342. Ten min later, tumors were excised, and a single cell suspension was prepared by chopping the tumor finely and incubating the suspension for 30 min with trypsin, collagenase, and DNase as described previously (9) . Filtered cells were centrifuged and resuspended in complete medium for incubation with 0–15 µg/ml etoposide. After a 30-min incubation with etoposide, tumor cells were sorted on the basis of the Hoechst 33342 diffusion gradient using a Becton Dickinson FACS440 cell sorter with UV excitation (10) . The 10% of cells that contained the highest concentration of Hoechst 33342 (i.e., those closest to the functional tumor blood vessels) were sorted and analyzed for survival using a colony formation assay.

DNA Damage Measured Using the Alkaline Comet Assay.
Cells from monolayers or the outer cells of spheroids were exposed for 30 min to etoposide (Bristol Meyers clinical formulation; 20 mg/ml). After trypsin treatment, single cells in 0.5 ml of ice-cold PBS were mixed with 1.5 ml of 1% low gelling temperature agarose (Sigma type VII low gelling temperature agarose prepared in distilled water and maintained at 40°C). After mixing, 1.5 ml of this mixture was pipetted onto an agarose-precoated half-frosted microscope slide and allowed to gel for about 1 min. Slides were then submersed carefully in an alkaline lysis solution at room temperature containing 1.2 M NaCl, 0.03 M NaOH, and 0.1% sarkosyl for 1 h, followed by a 1-h wash in two rinses of 0.03 M NaOH plus 2 mM EDTA to remove NaCl. Electrophoresis was conducted at 0.6 V/cm for 25 min in a fresh solution of 0.03 M NaOH plus 2 mM EDTA. Slides were rinsed and stained for 15–20 min in 2.5 µg/ml propidium iodide, and care was taken in handling this mutagenic DNA stain. Individual cells or "comets" were viewed using a Zeiss epifluorescence microscope with an attached intensified solid state charged-coupled device camera as described previously (11) . Images were characterized using "tail moment," which was defined as the product of the percentage of DNA in the comet tail and the distance between the means of the head and tail DNA distributions, and "DNA content," which was defined as the total fluorescence associated with an image. Approximately 200 comets were analyzed from each slide, and experiments were repeated three times.

Subcellular Fractionation and Immunoblotting.
Before preparation of nuclei, cells were incubated for 30 min with 10 µg/ml etoposide to stabilize DNA/topo II complexes. To prepare nuclei, approximately 1.5 x 107 outer cells of spheroids or monolayers were rinsed in PBS and resuspended in 100 µl of cold buffer A [10 mM HEPES (pH 7.9), 1.5 mM MgCl2, 10 mM KCl, 300 mM sucrose, 1 mM EDTA (pH 8.0), 1 mM DTT, 0.1% NP40, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 10 µg/ml protease inhibitor mixture (Sigma), and 0.1 mM Na3VO4]. After 10 min of incubation on ice, cells were sheared by passing a few times through a Gilson microtip and centrifuged for 10 min at 3000 rpm at 4°C. The cytoplasmic supernatant was reserved for analysis by Western blot, and the nuclear pellet was washed two times in buffer A and examined by microscopy for the presence of cytoplasmic tags by staining with nuclear and cytoplasmic fluorescent probes. After the final wash, the nuclear pellet was resuspended in 75 µl of buffer B [250 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.9), 5 mM MgSO4, 250 mM sucrose, 2 mM NaTT, 1% thiodiglycol, 1% NP40, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 10 µg/ml protease inhibitor mixture (Sigma), and 0.1 mM Na3VO2]. Whole cell lysates were also prepared by lysing 5.0 x 106 cells in buffer B. Equal amounts of protein (Sigma Protein Assay) were denatured in sample loading buffer and loaded into the wells of an 8% SDS-polyacrylamide gel. After electrophoresis, gels were blotted onto polyvinylidene fluoride membrane and analyzed for topo II{alpha} using a monoclonal antibody (Sigma-Genosys) diluted 1:250 in PBS containing 0.2% Tween 20. Secondary goat antimouse antibody conjugated to horseradish peroxidase (1:10,000 dilution) was incubated with blots for 1 h, and bands were detected using the enhanced chemiluminescence detection system (Amersham). Blots were also stained for lamin A (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.), a nuclear protein, to confirm subcellular fractionation.

Immunohistochemistry.
Cells suspended in ice-cold PBS were deposited by cytospinning (CYTOSPIN II; Shandon, Pittsburgh, PA) at 800 rpm for 8 min onto cleaned glass slides at a concentration of 2 x 104 cells in 100 µl of MEM plus 10% FBS. Slides were air-dried for 10 min and then immersed in cold 1% paraformaldehyde (Sigma) in PBS for 30 min at 4°C. After rinsing in PBS, slides were immersed in acetone for 30 s at room temperature, and then they were rinsed two times in PBS and immersed in PTN for 20 min at room temperature. Anti-topo II{alpha} antibody (Sigma-Genosys or TopoGEN, Columbus, OH) was diluted 1:100 in PTN, and 25 µl of diluted antibody was deposited on 1 cm2 parafilm strips. The strips were inverted over slides that had been drained and placed in humidified chambers. Chambers were placed at 4°C overnight. Slides were then removed from the chambers and rinsed two times for 5 min in PBS and one time for 5 min in PTN. The secondary antibody, Alexa488 goat antimouse IgG (H + L) F(ab')2 fragment conjugate (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR), was diluted 1:150 in PTN, and 25 µl of diluted secondary antibody were deposited on new parafilm strips for incubation at room temperature for 2 h. Rinsed slides were immersed in 0.05 µg/ml 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride hydrate (Sigma) in PBS for 5 min and then rinsed for 5 min in PBS, drained, mounted in Fluorogard mounting medium (Bio-Rad, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada), sealed, and viewed using a Zeiss Fluorescent Microscope with an attached Sensicam Camera. The images were digitized using Northern Eclipse 5.0 software (Empix, Toronto, Ontario, Canada). For some images, NIH/Scion image software was used to analyze average nuclear, cytoplasmic, and background fluorescence intensities from several cells.


    RESULTS
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
The outer cells of Chinese hamster V79 spheroids are about 10 times more resistant to etoposide than monolayers (Fig. 1)Citation . Etoposide resistance was also observed in cells recovered from the outer layer of C6 rat glioma spheroids and SiHa human cervical cancer spheroids. However, for WiDr human colon carcinoma cells, there was no evidence of an increase in resistance to etoposide in the outer cells of spheroids compared with monolayers. Relative resistance to etoposide, based on comparison of the LD90, is given in Table 1Citation for these four cell lines.



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Fig. 1. Response of monolayers ({triangleup}) and outer spheroid cells (•) to etoposide. Monolayers and the outer cell layer of spheroids were removed by a mild trypsin exposure and immediately exposed to etoposide for 30 min. Cells were then examined for survival using a standard colony formation assay. The means and SEs for three independent experiments are shown. Curves are fit using an exponential fit (V79 and WiDr) or a linear quadratic fit (SiHa and C6). For the xenograft tumors ({diamond}), tumor cells recovered from mice were incubated for 30 min with etoposide and then sorted to obtain cells that were closest to the blood vessels (see "Materials and Methods"). Results for individual tumors are shown.

 

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Table 1 Relative resistance of monolayers and outer spheroid cells to etoposidea

 
Fig. 1Citation shows the surviving fraction of cells obtained from xenograft tumors ({diamond}). To minimize the presence of nonproliferating tumor cells, a cell-sorting method was used to select tumor cells that were close to the functional vasculature. Exposure to etoposide, like exposure for monolayers and spheroids, was performed in vitro for 30 min. Results from the xenograft tumors were not significantly different from those obtained using the outer cells of spheroids.

The intracellular distribution of topo II{alpha} was examined in monolayers and cells from the outer layer of spheroids. Representative results in Fig. 2aCitation indicate the predominantly nuclear location of topo II{alpha} antibody in V79 monolayers but show cytoplasmic localization in the outer cells from V79 spheroids (Fig. 2b)Citation , as observed in more than 10 separate experiments. Secondary antibody alone, under the same conditions of illumination, showed no significant fluorescence. Similarly, C6 monolayers and SiHa monolayers (Fig. 2, c and g)Citation showed more nuclear staining than outer spheroid cells (Fig. 2, d and h)Citation . However, WiDr spheroids and monolayers showed a similar distribution, with topo II{alpha} localized primarily in the nucleus (Fig. 2, e and f)Citation . Some intercellular variability in pattern of fluorescence was also observed, especially within the human tumor cell populations, presumably as a result of differences in topo II{alpha} levels through the cell cycle or the occasional noncycling cell (12) .



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Fig. 2. Topo II{alpha} distribution in monolayer cells (top panels) and outer spheroid cells (bottom panels) examined using the Sigma-Genosys anti-topo II{alpha} antibody as primary antibody and Alexa488-conjugated secondary antibody. Cells were allowed to attach to glass coverslips for 2 h before fixation and staining. Digitized images are shown (magnification, x600).

 
Cells from xenograft tumors were also examined for distribution of topo II{alpha} (Fig. 3)Citation . Cells closest to tumor blood vessels were again sorted for this analysis. Results are in agreement with the spheroid immunohistochemistry results and show a predominantly cytoplasmic localization of topo II{alpha} in C6 and SiHa tumor cells but a predominantly nuclear localization in cells from WiDr xenografts.



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Fig. 3. Intracellular distribution of topo II{alpha} in cells from representative WiDr (A), SiHa (B), and C6 (C) xenograft tumors. Digitized images are shown (magnification, x600).

 
The presence of predominantly nuclear topo II{alpha} in monolayer but much less nuclear topo II{alpha} in nuclei from outer spheroid cells was confirmed by Western blotting (Fig. 4)Citation . Conversely, cytoplasmic topo II{alpha} was predominant in spheroid cells but not in monolayer cells. Lamin A, a nuclear protein, was absent from cytoplasmic samples.



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Fig. 4. Western immunoblots of extracts of whole cells, nuclei, or cytoplasm from V79 monolayers or the outer cells of spheroids. The Sigma-Genosys anti-topo II{alpha} antibody was used for detection. a, c, and e show the amount of topo in the outer cells of spheroids. b, d, and f are the monolayer topo levels. This experiment was repeated three times with similar results. The nuclear:cytoplasmic ratio was calculated to be 5.1 for monolayers and 0.64 for outer spheroid cells using NIH image software.

 
When the outer cells of V79 spheroids were returned to monolayer growth, nuclear fluorescence increased gradually over time. By 6–9 h after return to monolayer growth, the nucleus and cytoplasm showed similar amounts of topo II{alpha} antibody staining (Fig. 5, b and c)Citation . The pattern of antibody binding 24–48 h after return to monolayer growth was indistinguishable from the monolayer control (Fig. 5, f–h)Citation .



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Fig. 5. Anti-topo II{alpha} antibody staining of outer V79 spheroid cells as a function of time after return to monolayer growth conditions. Outer spheroid cells were removed using sequential trypsinization, and cells were returned to tissue culture dishes. At various times after return to monolayer growth, attached cells were fixed and analyzed for topo II{alpha} antibody binding using immunohistochemistry. A, 0 h; B, 3 h; C, 6 h; D, 9 h; E, 12 h; F, 24 h; G, 48 h, and H, monolayers. The TopoGEN anti-topo II{alpha} antibody was used as primary antibody, followed by FITC-conjugated antimouse immunoglobulin as secondary antibody. Photographs were taken using a Zeiss epifluorescence photomicroscope with 488 nm excitation (magnification, x1000).

 
The rate of recovery of nuclear fluorescence was then compared with the change in sensitivity of cells to killing by etoposide. To perform this experiment, the outer cells of spheroids were returned to monolayer growth conditions and then exposed at various times to etoposide. Dose-response curves were generated at each time point, and the ratio of the slopes of the spheroid and monolayer response curves (such as those shown in Fig. 1Citation ) was used as a measure of the degree of etoposide resistance. With time after removal of outer cells and their return to monolayer growth, there was a loss of resistance of these cells to killing by etoposide (Fig. 6b)Citation . The rate of recovery of nuclear fluorescence shown in Fig. 6aCitation appeared to correlate with the rate of recovery of sensitivity to killing by etoposide.



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Fig. 6. Change in localization of topo II{alpha} in comparison with change in sensitivity to etoposide. a shows the increase in the nuclear:cytoplasmic ratio as outer spheroid cells are returned to monolayer growth conditions. Images such as those shown in Fig. 5Citation were analyzed using NIH/Scion image analysis software to obtain the intensity of nuclear and cytoplasmic fluorescence. The mean and SD for several cells are shown, and the {circ} indicates the monolayer value. b shows the response of outer V79 spheroid cells to etoposide after return to monolayer growth conditions. The degree of resistance to etoposide was determined using a clonogenic assay, and calculating the ratio of the slopes such as those shown for V79 cells in Fig. 1Citation for each sample time. Results from two series of experiments were combined.

 
To determine whether the development of spheroid resistance to etoposide was a result of growth in suspension, or whether cell-cell contact was required, the outer cells of spheroids were removed by a mild trypsin treatment and grown as monolayers in tissue culture dishes or returned to spinner culture vessels. At subsequent times, samples were analyzed for sensitivity to DNA strand breakage by exposure to 1 µg/ml etoposide for 30 min or analyzed for cellular localization of topo II{alpha}. After 12 h, outer spheroid cells cultured as monolayers or in suspension showed predominantly cytoplasmic topo II, but by 24 h, much of the topo II was localized to the nucleus (Fig. 7)Citation . Therefore, despite the fact that the outer spheroid cells were returned to suspension culture, they failed to maintain cytoplasmic fluorescence, indicating that cell-cell associations that occur in larger spheroids must be necessary to maintain cytoplasmic topo II.



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Fig. 7. Digitized images of anti-topo II{alpha} antibody-stained outer V79 spheroid cells 12 (a and b) or 24 h (c and d) after return to monolayer culture (top panels) or suspension culture (bottom panels). Magnification, x600.

 
Application of a single cell gel electrophoresis method called the comet assay provides additional information on the heterogeneity in response to DNA damage by etoposide within a population of treated cells. Large tail moments are consistent with greater amounts of DNA damage, and very small tail moments after exposure to etoposide generally indicate that the cells are noncycling (13) . Results in Fig. 8eCitation show a gradual increase in DNA damage by etoposide for both monolayer and suspension culture cells over the first 24 h after outer cells were removed from spheroids and grown either on plastic dishes or in suspension culture. These results are consistent with images shown in Fig. 7Citation . However, as suspension-cultured cells began to reform and grow as spheroids, there was a return to the expected resistant phenotype (Fig. 8e)Citation .



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Fig. 8. Change in sensitivity of outer spheroid cells to etoposide-induced DNA damage on return to monolayer or suspension culture. Cells from the outer layer of spheroids were grown in monolayer or suspension culture for up to 96 h and examined at regular intervals for etoposide-induced DNA single-strand breaks using the alkaline comet assay. a–d show the distribution of DNA damage within the populations at 24 and 48 h. e shows DNA damage in spheroid cells grown as monolayers (•) or in suspension culture ({blacksquare}). Results from three independent experiments (dotted line indicates 95% confidence limits) are shown. f indicates the total cell numbers in the two environments showing a decrease in growth rate (growth fraction) of the suspension cultured cells after 24 h.

 
The growth rate of outer spheroid cells returned to monolayer or suspension growth is shown in Fig. 8fCitation , demonstrating the decrease in growth fraction that begins to occur in suspension cultured cells after 24 h. This change corresponds with the time when spheroids begin to develop greater resistance to DNA damage by etoposide. However, only a part of this change can be attributed to the presence of a population of noncycling cells. This is indicated by the distribution of DNA damage in individual cells (Fig. 8, a–d)Citation . The distribution is similar whether cells are grown in suspension or as monolayers when examined 24 h after trypsinization (Fig. 8, a and b)Citation . However, by 48 h, there is a substantial proportion of noncycling cells in the population grown in suspension (tail moment <= 3), but not in those grown as monolayers (Fig. 7, c and d)Citation . More importantly, for those suspension culture cells that did respond to etoposide, the average amount of DNA damage was lower for cells grown in suspension than for those grown as monolayers. Therefore, for suspension cultured cells after 48 h, not only is the growth fraction lower, but the sensitivity of the growing cells to etoposide is also decreased. Fig. 7fCitation indicates that the cells grown as monolayers continue to proliferate for 96 h, with a doubling time of 11.1 h. However, despite the fact that the majority of these cells are still in cycle at 80 h, they are crowded on dishes and show a dramatic decrease in sensitivity to etoposide. When examined for topo II{alpha}, these confluent monolayer cells also exhibited a significantly reduced intensity of fluorescence, making it difficult to observe any cytoplasmic topo II{alpha} (data not shown).


    DISCUSSION
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Topo II{alpha} has been recognized as a useful cell proliferation marker for solid tumors (14 , 15) . This enzyme is generally found in the interphase nucleus of proliferating cells; however, cytoplasmic topo II{alpha} has also been observed in some cell types (16) , and it may be more prevalent in late log phase and early plateau phase cultures (17) . Induction of cell differentiation has been shown to be associated with a decrease in topo II{alpha} phosphorylation that precedes reduction in catalytic activity (18) . Whereas the outer cells of spheroids divide at the same rate as monolayers and are distributed through the cell cycle in the same proportions (2) , many of these cells will be exiting the cycle within a day or two as they pass into the interior of the spheroid. Noncycling cells in the center of spheroids lack topo II{alpha} and show relatively little or no DNA damage when treated with etoposide (1) . A possible explanation for the cytoplasmic localization of topo II in the external cells of spheroids is that these cells are preparing for the approaching exit from the cell cycle, although they continue to progress through the cycle at a normal rate at that point in time. In 1981, Wilson et al. (19) examined the response of the outer cells of V79 spheroids to another topo II inhibitor, amsacrine. These authors also concluded that resistance to this drug occurred "well before departure from exponential growth can be detected, and may thus be a consequence of metabolic changes more subtle than the transition from a cycling to a non-cycling state." It should be noted that even a drastic reduction in total cellular topo II{alpha} in V79 mutant cells caused only minor perturbations of cell growth (20) , indicating that only a small portion of the nuclear topo II{alpha} is involved in functions essential for replication and chromosome segregation.

The dramatic decrease in topo II{alpha} phosphorylation that we reported previously is most likely responsible for the change in intracellular distribution of topo II{alpha} in outer spheroid cells. Phosphorylation of the noncatalytic domain apparently does not affect catalytic activity (21) but can influence intracellular distribution of topo II{alpha} because it results in nuclear translocation (22) . The fact that topo II{alpha} phosphorylation has little effect on the catalytic activity is consistent with our previous results that showed that topo II decatenation activity was similar for extracts from monolayers and outer cells of spheroids (1) . The long half-life of phosphorylated topo II (12–27 h; Ref. 4 ) may explain in part the requirement for at least 3 days in suspension to achieve maximum etoposide resistance when V79 cells are grown as spheroids. When spheroids were returned to monolayer growth conditions, topo II{alpha} increased in the nucleus at the same time as cells became more sensitive to etoposide. By 24 h after return to monolayer growth, nuclear localization is apparent, and cells are only 1.6 times less sensitive to etoposide than monolayers (Fig. 6)Citation . Therefore phosphorylation of topo II{alpha} may also occur relatively slowly, which would be consistent with the possibility that loss of a topo II phosphatase activity in cells grown as spheroids occurs mainly by dilution during cell division.

Is it growth of cells in suspension or cell-cell contact that is responsible for the change in topo II{alpha} phosphorylation in spheroids? Results shown in Fig. 8Citation indicate that removing the outer cells of spheroids and returning them to spinner culture produces an initial increase in etoposide sensitivity that is identical to that observed when cells are returned to monolayer growth conditions. We therefore conclude that growth in suspension, with attendant morphological changes, is not responsible for the change in topo II{alpha} distribution. However, cell-cell contact or sequelae arising from contact appear to be a requirement. Because C6 glioma cells lack significant gap junctional communication (23) , it is unlikely that gap junctions are required for this effect. Similarly, development of areas lacking oxygen or glucose is generally associated with spheroids much older than 2 days (24) . However, the kinetics shown in Fig. 8Citation is consistent with a developing population of noncycling cells in the spheroids, which begin to emerge after 1–2 days in culture. Recent results indicate that the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27Kip-1 is highly expressed in mammary tumor cell spheroids (25 , 26) . Our preliminary results indicate that p27 is also elevated in the outer cells of V79 and SiHa but not WiDr spheroids, and we are currently examining the possibility that expression of p27 or cell cycle-regulatory molecules is related in some way to the cytoplasmic localization of topo II{alpha}.

Previously, we explained the resistance of spheroids to etoposide as a result of a change in DNA conformation that occurs when V79 cells are grown in spinner culture (1) . Our results do not eliminate the possibility that chromatin organization contributes to etoposide resistance or that changes in topo II localization contribute to changes in chromatin structure. In fact, it has been suggested that alterations in topo II{alpha} phosphorylation may affect nuclear architecture (18) , and DNA topoisomerases have been suggested to play a role as repair enzymes through both damage recognition and recombinase activities (27) . Exciting work from Bojanowski et al. (28) indicates that topo II can change chromatin architecture through direct binding interactions, apparently independently of catalytic activity. Interestingly, the only cell line that failed to show a change in intracellular distribution of topo II{alpha} on growth as spheroids was the WiDr colon carcinoma cell line (Fig. 2f)Citation . Cells from the outer layer of WiDr spheroids or xenografts also failed to develop greater resistance to killing by etoposide (Fig. 1)Citation . In previous studies, we found that WiDr cells grown as monolayers showed resistance to radiation-induced DNA unwinding when cells were lysed in alkali and high salt, indicating that chromatin organization may differ for this cell line (29) . It is possible that cell contact-induced changes in signaling may be a more general phenomenon that may also influence chromatin organization and may help to explain the resistance of spheroids to other agents, including ionizing radiation (30) .


    FOOTNOTES
 
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

1 Supported by NIH Grant CA37879 and by the National Cancer Institute of Canada with funds provided by the Canadian Cancer Society. Back

2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at the Medical Biophysics Department, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, 601 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Z 1L3 Canada. Phone: (604) 877-6000, ext. 3024; Fax: (604) 877-6002; E-mail: polive{at}bccancer.bc.ca Back

3 The abbreviations used are: topo, topoisomerase; FBS, fetal bovine serum; PTN, PBS with 1% BSA plus 0.1% Tween 20. Back

Received 1/26/00. Accepted 8/11/00.


    REFERENCES
 Top
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 

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