| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Advances in Brief |
Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| Introduction |
|---|
|
|
|---|
In the present report, we describe the ability of SCH66336 to decrease the survival and induce apoptosis of head and neck cancer cells by suppressing the activity of PKB, also known as Akt, a phosphoprotein substrate of PI3'K, which is involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and survival and which is an excellent target for novel cancer therapies (9) .
| Materials and Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Cell Survival Assays
The cells were seeded in 96-well cell-culture cluster plates at a density that allowed control cultures to grow exponentially for 5 days. After 24 h, the cells were treated with different concentrations of SCH66336 (provided by Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, NJ). SCH66336 was dissolved in DMSO. Control cultures received the same amount of DMSO as the treated cultures did. Cell numbers were estimated after 5 days of treatment by SRB assay, as described previously (10)
. The percentage of growth inhibition was calculated by using the equation: percentage growth inhibition = (1 - At/Ac) x 100, where At and Ac represent the absorbance in treated and control cultures, respectively. The drug concentration causing a 50% cell growth inhibition (IC50), was determined by interpolation from dose-response curves.
Cell Cycle Analysis
Cells treated for 24, 48, or 72 h, with either SCH66336 or DMSO (control), were harvested and fixed in 70% cold ethanol. Cells were stored at 4°C overnight. The cells were then stained with propidium iodide (50 µg/ml) in a buffer containing 50 µg/ml Rnase and were then stored at 4°C overnight before analysis. DNA content was measured using an EPICS 752 flow cytometer (Coulter Corporation, Hialeah, FL). Data analysis was performed using "Multi" series (Phoenix Flow Systems, San Diego, CA) and Summit (Cytomation) software.
Anchorage-independent Growth Assay.
HNSCC cells were mixed in low-temperature melting agarose (0.5%) and then placed on top of solidified agarose (1%) in 6-well plates at 2000 cells/well. Both bottom and top agarose layers contained either 0.01% DMSO (as a solvent control) or different SCH66336 concentrations. After the cell-containing top agarose layer was allowed to solidify in a 4°C cold room, the dishes were incubated in a humidified atmosphere of 95% air and 5% CO2 at 37°C for 14 days. DMEM plus 5% FBS (with or without SCH66336; 0.5 ml) was added on top of the agarose after 3 days and replaced every 3 days thereafter. At the end of the experiments, the colonies were counted under an inverted microscope at x40.
Apoptosis Assays
DNA Ladder Formation.
Cells were grown in the absence or presence of SCH66336 (1 µM) for 15 days. After 24 h and at 24-h intervals thereafter, floating and attached cells were collected and lysed. Soluble DNA was extracted with phenol-chloroform, precipitated in ethanol, and electrophoresed on a 1.8% agarose gel. The gels were then stained with ethidium bromide and were photographed in the dark using UV illumination.
TUNEL.
Cells were plated on either 24-well plates or 10-cm diameter dishes 1 d before treatment. Apoptosis was evaluated by the TUNEL assay daily after 15 days of treatment using the APO-DIRECT kit (Phoenix Flow Systems, Inc., San Diego, CA) following the manufacturers protocol. Flow cytometric analysis was conducted using a Coulter EPICS Profile II flow cytometer (Coulter Corp., Miami, FL). Approximately 10,000 events (cells) were evaluated for each sample. Gating of control populations (cells treated with DMSO only) was used as a reference to compare with treatments with SCH66336. The percentage of apoptosis was determined from the proportion of FITC-positive cells within the 10,000 cells analyzed.
Protein Extraction and Western Blot Analysis
Cells were washed in PBS and lysed in a buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH 8.0), 150 mM NaCl, 0.1% SDS, 1% NP40, 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride, 5 µg/ml aprotinin, and 5 µg/ml leupeptin. After incubation on ice for 15 min and centrifugation at 12,000 rpm for 10 min, the supernatants were collected and protein concentration was determined using a Protein Assay Kit (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA). Protein (30 µg) was electrophoresed through a 12% polyacrylamide gel and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane by electroblotting. Membranes were probed with antibodies, and antibody binding was detected using an enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL) kit (Amersham Life Science, Arlington Heights, IL) according to the manufacturers directions.
The following antibodies were used for Western blotting. Akt antibody (no. 9272), phospho-Akt (Ser473) antibody (no. 9271), phospho-p44/42 MAP kinase ERK1/2 (Thr202/Tyr204) E10 monoclonal antibody (no. 9106), p44/42 MAP kinase antibody (no. 9102), phospho-GSK-3ß (Ser9) antibody (no. 9336), phospho-FKHR (Ser256) antibody (no. 9461), phospho-Bad (Ser136) antibody (no. 9295), and HA-Tag 262K monoclonal antibody (no. 2362) were purchased from Cell-Signaling Biotechnology. Mouse monoclonal anti-Bcl-2 antibody was from Dako Corp. Rabbit polyclonal anti-Bax antibody, mouse polyclonal rabbit polyclonal anti-Bcl-x/L antibody (S-18), rabbit polyclonal anti-Fas antibody (C-20; SC-715), and mouse monoclonal anti-Bad antibody (HD11) were from Santa Cruz Biotechnology. Mouse polyclonal anti-caspase-3 antibody and mouse monoclonal anti-ß actin antibody were obtained from Sigma Chemical Company (St. Louis, MO). Purified mouse anti-human Fas ligand monoclonal antibody (4556387) and purified mouse anti-human TRAIL monoclonal antibody (no. 556468) were from BD PharMingen (San Diego, CA). Membranes were reprobed with anti-actin antibodies as controls for loading in each lane. The level of proteins relative to actin was calculated by image analysis using the NIH Image program.
Generation of Ad5CMV-HA-Myr-Akt
An adenoviral vector expressing a full-length human Akt1 with the Src myristylation signal fused in-frame to the c-Akt coding sequence with HA (11)
under the control of CMV promoter (Ad5CMV-MyrAkt-HA) was constructed using the pAd-shuttle vector system, as described previously (12)
. The presence of MyrAkt-HA was confirmed by dideoxy-DNA-sequencing and Western blot analysis on Akt and HA. The activity of Ad5CMV-MyrAkt-HA was examined by a Western blot analysis on pGSK-3ß (Ser 9). Viral titers were determined by plaque assays and spectrophotometric analysis.
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
The ability of the HNSCC cells to form colonies in semisolid agarose (anchorage-independent growth) was compromised by SCH66336 in a dose-dependent fashion with IC50 of
1.6 µM (Fig. 1C)
. The colony-forming ability of five other HNSCC cell lines was also inhibited by SCH66336 as follows: UMSCC22B, TR146, and 183A had IC50 values of 1.0, 1.7, and 4 µM, respectively. Colony formation by UMSCC17B and UMSCC38 was inhibited by about 40% at 4 µM SCH66336 (data not shown).
SCH66336 Induces Apoptosis in SqCC/Y1 Cells.
To determine whether the decrease in cell survival was mediated by induction of apoptosis, we analyzed the effect of 1 µM SCH66336 on DNA fragmentation in six HNSCC cell lines using the TUNEL assays after 15 days of treatment. The cells lines exhibited a time-dependent induction of apoptosis albeit with various degrees of sensitivity to SCH66336. After 5 days of treatment, percentages of apoptosis in SqCC/Y1, TR146, UMSCC22B, 183A, UMSCC38, and UMSCC17B were 89, 45, 40, 30, 15, and 13%, respectively.
The proapoptotic effects of SCH66336 were examined further with the SqCC/Y1 cells, using several experimental approaches: the TUNEL assay (Fig. 2A)
, DNA ladder formation (Fig. 2B)
, and caspase-3 activation/PARP cleavage (Fig. 2C)
. All of these methods have shown that apoptosis is induced 23 days after exposure to SCH66336. The TUNEL data indicate that apoptosis was induced in
30% of the cells on day 3 and in nearly 90% by day 5 (Fig. 2A)
. The level of the procaspase-3 was diminished by day 2, indicating activation of this caspase. The finding that its substrate PARP was cleaved after 3 days of exposing SqCC/Y1 cells to SCH66336 further supports the contention that caspase-3 was activated (Fig. 2C)
.
|
SCH66336 Suppresses the Level of Akt Protein, Its Phosphorylated Form, and Downstream Molecules.
Because Akt is a major regulator of cell survival, we examined its level and phosphorylation state in 10 HNSCC cell lines. The levels of Akt detected by Western blotting were high in UMSCC14B, UMSCC35, SqCC/Y1; intermediate in 1483, UMSCC38, and 183A; and low in TR146, UMSCC22B, UMSCC17B, and UMSCC10B. The levels of phosphorylated Akt (pAktS473) were high in UMSCC14B, SqCC/Y1, 1483, TR146, UMSCC17B, UMSCC22B; intermediate in UMSCC35 and UMSCC10B; and low in UMSCC38 and 183A.
We then examined the effects of SCH66336 on Akt status and function in SqCC/Y1 cells, which were both sensitive to SCH66336 and which expressed high levels of Akt and pAkt(S473) as well. The amount of both Akt1 and Akt2 proteins declined in SCH66336-treated cells albeit with different kinetics. Whereas Akt1 decreased by 12 to 18 h after treatment initiation, Akt2 began to diminish after 24 to 36 h. The decrease in Akt1 was more pronounced, with almost complete disappearance of this protein after 24 h of treatment, whereas Akt2 levels were low but detectable after 48 h (Fig. 3A)
. An analysis of the levels of phosphorylated Akt also showed a decrease in SCH66336-treated cells 18 h after treatment when total Akt protein level was still detectable (Fig. 3B)
. The levels of Erk1/2 and phospho-Erk1/2 did not change during 48 h after SCH66336 treatment (Fig. 3B)
. The expression levels of the proteins GSK-3
/ß, FKHR, and Bad were not altered after SCH66336 treatment for up to 48 h. However, the level of their phosphorylated forms diminished after 3 h (p-GSK-3ß Ser9), 12 h (p-FKHR Ser256), and 24 h (p-Bad Ser136), respectively (Fig. 3C)
. The quantitative assessment of the changes in the level or phosphorylation of these proteins is shown in Fig. 3D
).
|
/ß protein (Fig. 4A4)
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
In the present study, we have demonstrated that the FTI SCH66336 can inhibit the growth of HNSCC cells in vitro at concentrations in the range between 0.1 and 8 µM, which are well below those reported to be achievable in vivo (about 8 µM) in mice given a single oral dose of 25 mg/kg SCH66336 (7) . The effect of the higher doses was observed after 24 h, whereas lower doses required 35 days of incubation to exert their inhibitory effects. Cell cycle analysis revealed that SCH66336 increased the proportion of cells in the G2-M phase of the cycle. Anchorage-independent growth was also suppressed by SCH66336. After 3 days of treatment with 1 µM SCH66336, evidence for induction of apoptosis was clearly documented by several assays including cell cycle analysis (sub-G1 population increased), TUNEL, DNA laddering, activation of caspase-3, and PARP cleavage. These findings are the first report on the effects of SCH66336 on HNSCC cells. Some of our findings are similar to previous findings with other tumor cell types. For example, the inhibition of anchorage-dependent growth with cell accumulation in the G1 or G2-M phase has been observed in cell lines derived from breast, colon, pancreas, brain, and lung cancers (8 , 14) . However, our findings on induction of apoptosis in vitro are different from previous in vitro studies in that SCH66336 was an effective inducer of apoptosis in our HNSCC cells when used as a single agent, whereas previous studies suggested that SCH66336 at doses similar to those that we have used cannot induce apoptosis unless it is combined with other death-promoting signals such as cell detachment (15) , growth in low serum (16) , or combination with cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors (17) .
The reason for the exquisite sensitivity of the SqCC/Y1 HNSCC cells to SCH66336 is not fully understood; however, it may be attributable to the induction of multiple proapoptotic effects by this agent. Specifically, SCH66336 decreased the levels of the antiapoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL without affecting the level of the proapoptotic protein Bax resulting in a decrease in the ratio of the antiapoptotic:proapoptotic proteins. This effect alone could account for the proapoptotic effect of SCH66336. However, on top of this effect, SCH66336 also decreased the level of the proteins Akt1 and, to a lesser extent, Akt2, which are Ser/Thr PKB. These enzymes play important roles in cell proliferation and survival (18) . PKB/Akt is activated in cells exposed to hormones, growth factors, and extracellular matrix components, which activate PI3'K. PI3'K activation produces phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate PIP; Ref. 3 ). This lipid acts as a second messenger to translocate PKB/Akt to the plasma membrane, in which it is phosphorylated by phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK-1) and possibly other kinases. PKB/Akt phosphorylates and regulates the function of many cellular proteins involved in processes that include apoptosis (caspase-9, Bad, TRAIL) and proliferation (p21, FKHR, GSK-3). This may explain why PKB/Akt is overexpressed or constitutively activated in. many tumors (19 , 20) . Indeed, we found that all 10 of the HNSCC cell lines contained activated Akt (pAktS473), including high expressers (6 of 10 cell lines) and intermediate or low expressers (4 of 10 cell lines).
The consequences of the decrease in the Akt activity in SqCC/Y1 cells treated with SCH66336 for 12 h or more were lower levels of phosphorylated Akt substrates including pGSK-3ß, pFKHR, and pBad and each of these changes could also contribute to increased apoptosis. Because SCH66336 may exert multiple effects on a given cell, it may be difficult to elucidate its mechanism of action. Nonetheless, our study has demonstrated that a decrease in Akt activity appears to be the major proapoptotic mechanism in the SqCC/Y1 HNSCC cells because overexpression of a constitutively active Akt by infection with an adenoviral vector harboring MyrAkt controlled by a CMV promoter could rescue cells from the proapoptotic effect of SCH66336. The decrease in Akt level was also observed in HNSCC UMSCC38 (data not shown), suggesting that this effect of SCH66336 is not unique to SqCC/Y1 HNSCC cells.
Previous studies suggested that FTI inhibits PI3'K/Akt-mediated growth factor- and adhesion-dependent survival pathways and induces apoptosis in human cancer cells that overexpress Akt via abrogation of the function of a putative farnesylated protein (1 , 21) . Endogenous Akt-2 levels, correlated with the ability of FTI-277 to induce apoptosis in H-Ras-transformed human cancer cells and overexpression of wild-type Akt2 but not of Akt1, sensitized cells to FTI-277 (22) . Although these studies have tentatively linked Akt2 activity to the mechanism of FTI action, they are different from our findings insofar as we have shown that both Akt1 and Akt2 levels decreased and a constitutively active Akt1 was able to rescue the HNSCC cells from FTI SCH66336-induced apoptosis. This difference may be attributable to the difference in cell type used [NIH3T3 mouse fibroblasts in the Jiang et al. (22) study and HNSCC SqCC/Y1 in ours] or the different FTIs used [FTI-277 by Jiang et al. (22) and SCH66336 in our study]. One of the 10 HNSCC cell lines, 1483, had a high level of pAktS473 but was nonetheless resistant to SCH66336, which suggests that a high level of endogenous activated Akt may not be sufficient to confer sensitivity on the growth-inhibitory effects of SCH66336, at least in some cells.
The important functions that Akt plays in cell survival have made this enzyme an attractive molecular target for cancer drug development because inhibition of its activity induces apoptosis in a range of mammalian cancer cells. Therefore, our finding that SCH66336 can suppress of PKB/Akt activity suggests that this agent may be effective either alone or in combination with other anticancer drugs, for the treatment of HNSCC and possibly other tumors.
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
1 Supported by Head and Neck Cancer Special Programs of Research Excellence Grant P50 CA97007 from the National Cancer Institute, NIH. ![]()
2 K-H. C. and H-Y. L. have contributed equally to this work and should be considered as first author. ![]()
3 Present address: Hematology and Medical Oncology, Translational Oncology, Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322. ![]()
4 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, Box 432, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030. Phone: (713) 792-8467; Fax: (713) 745-5656; E-mail: rlotan{at}mdanderson.org ![]()
5 The abbreviations used are: FTase, farnesyltransferase; FTI, Ftase inhibitor; HNSCC, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; PI3'K, phosphoinositide-3'-kinase; SRB, sulforhodamine B; TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling; Erk, extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase; MAP, mitogen-activated protein; GSK, glycogen synthase kinase; CMV, cytomegalovirus/cytomegaloviral; HA, hemagglutinin; PARP, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase; MyrAkt, myristylated Akt; PKB, protein kinase B; FKHR, forkhead in rhabdomyosarcoma. ![]()
Received 2/27/03. Revised 6/11/03. Accepted 6/18/03.
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
M or G1 pause in sensitive human tumor cell lines. Exp. Cell Res., 262: 17-27, 2001.[Medline]
kinase Is frequently elevated in human cancers and its constitutive activation is required for oncogenic transformation in NIH3T3 cells. Am. J. Pathol., 159: 431-437, 2001.This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
S. H. Oh, Q. Jin, E. S. Kim, F. R. Khuri, and H.-Y. Lee Insulin-like Growth Factor-I Receptor Signaling Pathway Induces Resistance to the Apoptotic Activities of SCH66336 (Lonafarnib) through Akt/Mammalian Target of Rapamycin-Mediated Increases in Survivin Expression Clin. Cancer Res., March 1, 2008; 14(5): 1581 - 1589. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S.-Y. Sun, X. Liu, W. Zou, P. Yue, A. I. Marcus, and F. R. Khuri The Farnesyltransferase Inhibitor Lonafarnib Induces CCAAT/Enhancer-binding Protein Homologous Protein-dependent Expression of Death Receptor 5, Leading to Induction of Apoptosis in Human Cancer Cells J. Biol. Chem., June 29, 2007; 282(26): 18800 - 18809. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S.-H. Oh, W.-Y. Kim, J.-H. Kim, M. N. Younes, A. K. El-Naggar, J. N. Myers, M. Kies, P. Cohen, F. Khuri, W. K. Hong, et al. Identification of Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 as a Farnesyl Transferase Inhibitor SCH66336-Induced Negative Regulator of Angiogenesis in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Clin. Cancer Res., January 15, 2006; 12(2): 653 - 661. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. D. Basso, P. Kirschmeier, and W. R. Bishop Thematic review series: Lipid Posttranslational Modifications. Farnesyl transferase inhibitors J. Lipid Res., January 1, 2006; 47(1): 15 - 31. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. Pan and S.-C. J. Yeung Recent Advances in Understanding the Antineoplastic Mechanisms of Farnesyltransferase Inhibitors Cancer Res., October 15, 2005; 65(20): 9109 - 9112. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J.-Y. Han, S. H. Oh, F. Morgillo, J. N. Myers, E. Kim, W. K. Hong, and H.-Y. Lee Hypoxia-inducible Factor 1{alpha} and Antiangiogenic Activity of Farnesyltransferase Inhibitor SCH66336 in Human Aerodigestive Tract Cancer J Natl Cancer Inst, September 7, 2005; 97(17): 1272 - 1286. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. M. Bruzek, J. N. Poynter, S. H. Kaufmann, and A. A. Adjei Characterization of a Human Carcinoma Cell Line Selected for Resistance to the Farnesyl Transferase Inhibitor 4-(2-(4-(8-Chloro-3,10-dibromo-6,11-dihydro-5H-benzo-(5,6)-cyclohepta(1,2-b)-pyridin-11(R)-yl)-1-piperidinyl)-2-oxo-ethyl)-1-piperidinecarboxamide (SCH66336) Mol. Pharmacol., August 1, 2005; 68(2): 477 - 486. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. Ren, S.-K. Tai, F. Khuri, Z. Chu, and L. Mao Farnesyltransferase Inhibitor SCH66336 Induces Rapid Phosphorylation of Eukaryotic Translation Elongation Factor 2 in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Cells Cancer Res., July 1, 2005; 65(13): 5841 - 5847. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. Zhu, E. Gerbino, D. M. Beaupre, P. A. Mackley, C. Muro-Cacho, C. Beam, A. D. Hamilton, M. G. Lichtenheld, W. G. Kerr, W. Dalton, et al. Farnesyltransferase inhibitor R115777 (Zarnestra, Tipifarnib) synergizes with paclitaxel to induce apoptosis and mitotic arrest and to inhibit tumor growth of multiple myeloma cells Blood, June 15, 2005; 105(12): 4759 - 4766. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Gomez-Benito, I. Marzo, A. Anel, and J. Naval Farnesyltransferase Inhibitor BMS-214662 Induces Apoptosis in Myeloma Cells through PUMA Up-Regulation, Bax and Bak Activation, and Mcl-1 Elimination Mol. Pharmacol., June 1, 2005; 67(6): 1991 - 1998. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. Tabernero, F. Rojo, I. Marimon, M. Voi, J. Albanell, M. Guix, F. Vazquez, J. Carulla, M. Cooper, J. Andreu, et al. Phase I Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Study of Weekly 1-Hour and 24-Hour Infusion BMS-214662, a Farnesyltransferase Inhibitor, in Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors J. Clin. Oncol., April 10, 2005; 23(11): 2521 - 2533. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Y. Dai, M. Rahmani, X.-Y. Pei, P. Khanna, S. I. Han, C. Mitchell, P. Dent, and S. Grant Farnesyltransferase inhibitors interact synergistically with the Chk1 inhibitor UCN-01 to induce apoptosis in human leukemia cells through interruption of both Akt and MEK/ERK pathways and activation of SEK1/JNK Blood, February 15, 2005; 105(4): 1706 - 1716. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Y. Takada, F. R. Khuri, and B. B. Aggarwal Protein Farnesyltransferase Inhibitor (SCH 66336) Abolishes NF-{kappa}B Activation Induced by Various Carcinogens and Inflammatory Stimuli Leading to Suppression of NF-{kappa}B-regulated Gene Expression and Up-regulation of Apoptosis J. Biol. Chem., June 18, 2004; 279(25): 26287 - 26299. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Cancer Research | Clinical Cancer Research |
| Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention | Molecular Cancer Therapeutics |
| Molecular Cancer Research | Cancer Prevention Research |
| Cancer Prevention Journals Portal | Cancer Reviews Online |
| Annual Meeting Education Book | Cell Growth & Differentiation |