Felipe Cortés

Cytotoxic effect of Plantago spp. on cancer cell lines

Methanolic extracts from seven Plantago species used in traditional medicine for the treatment of cancer, were evaluated for cytotoxic activity against three human cancer cell lines recommended by the National Cancer Institute (NCI, USA). The results showed that Plantago species exhibited cytotoxic activity, showing a certain degree of selectivity against the tested cells in culture. Since the flavonoids are able to strongly inhibit the proliferation of human cancer cell lines, we have identified luteolin-7-O-beta-glucoside as major flavonoid present in most of the Plantago species. Also, we have evaluated this compound and its aglycon, luteolin, for their cytotoxic and DNA topoisomerase I poisons activities. These results could justify the traditional use of the Plantago species and topoisomerase-mediated DNA damage might be a possible mechanism by which flavonoids of Plantago exert their cytotoxicity potential.

Roles of DNA topoisomerases in chromosome segregation and mitosis.

DNA topoisomerases are highly specialized nuclear enzymes that perform topological changes in the DNA molecule in a very precise and unique fashion. Taking into account their fundamental roles in many events during DNA metabolism such as replication, transcription, recombination, condensation or segregation, it is no wonder that the last decade has witnessed an exponential interest on topoisomerases, mainly after the discovery of their potential role as targets in novel antitumor therapy. The difficulty of the lack of topoisomerase II mutants in higher eukaryotes has been partly overcome by the availability of drugs that act as either poisons or true catalytic inhibitors of the enzyme. These chemical tools have provided strong evidence that accurate performance of topoisomerase II is essential for chromosome segregation before anaphase, and this in turn constitutes a prerequisite for the development of normal mitosis. In the absence of cytokinesis, cells become polyploid or endoreduplicated.

Apoptotic and necrotic cell death are both induced by electroporation in HL60 human promyeloid leukaemia cells

Cell death was induced by electroporation in HL60 cells, a human promyeloid leukaemia strain, in order to determine by both morphological and biochemical criteria whether necrotic or apoptotic processes occurred. Cells sampled at several times after electroporation were analyzed for the assessment of the following end-points: (i) chromosomal DNA fragmentation; (ii) cell viability; (iii) mono- and oligonucleosomes in the cytoplasmic fraction; (iv) apoptotic index; and (v) morphology of treated cells. The results indicate that about 50% of the cells killed by electroporation die through necrosis, while the remaining 50% of the cells undergo apoptosis. Chromosome damage was also studied by cytogenetic analysis at metaphase. The possibility of killing tumour cells by electroporation, as a variant of electrotherapy, constitutes, in our opinion, a promising procedure in cancer therapy, avoiding the undesirable side effects normally derived from treatment with cytotoxic drugs.

Adaptive response to radiation damage in human lymphocytes conditioned with hydrogen peroxide as measured by the cytokinesis-block micronucleus technique

We have made use of the cytokinesis-block micronucleus method to evaluate the adaptive response in human lymphocytes from two donors conditioned with low doses of hydrogen peroxide before irradiation with either 1.5 or 3.0 Gy of X-rays. A protective effect of pre-exposure to H2O2 against radiation damage detected as micronuclei in binucleate cells was evident in cells allowed to recover for different periods after X-ray exposure, though cells challenged with 3.0 Gy of X-rays showed the adaptive response at later fixation time than those exposed to the lower dose (1.5 Gy). We propose this protocol as an interesting alternative to the single fixation method to score chromosomal aberrations at metaphase for the study of the adaptive response.

A high yield of translocations parallels the high yield of sister chromatid exchanges in the CHO mutant EM9

The fluorescence plus Giemsa (FPG) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques have been used to determine, respectively, the frequencies of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) and stable chromosome aberrations (translocations) induced by different concentrations of BrdU in the Chinese hamster ovary cell mutant EM9 and its parental line AA8. The results indicate that BrdU induced a high frequency of SCEs and translocations in EM9 as compared with AA8, and that the translocation/dicentric ratio was also higher in the mutant cell line than in the parental cell line in both untreated and BrdU-treated cultures. These observations may indicate a possible relationship between the molecular mechanisms involved in the formation of SCEs and translocations.

both bovine and rabbit lymphocytes conditioned with hydrogen peroxide show an adaptive response to radiation damage

We have carried out experiments to study the possible induction of an adaptive response in cultured bovine and rabbit lymphocytes conditioned with subtoxic doses of hydrogen peroxide after stimulation and subsequently challenged with 1 Gy of X-rays. Peroxide treatment was given at different doses 48 h after the addition of PHA to stimulate the cells. A protective effect of pre-exposure to H2O2 against radiation damage detected as micronuclei in binucleated cells was evident for all the animals tested regardless the dose of H2O2 used, although this effect was in general of greater magnitude in bovine than in rabbit cells. These results lend further support to our previous finding in human lymphocytes that DNA single strand breaks induced by H2O2 (most likely due to the generation of hydroxyl radicals) is the most important lesion to trigger the adaptive response.

Cytogenetic effects of inhibition of topoisomerase I or II activities in the CHO mutant EM9 and its parental line AA8

The possible relationship between topoisomerase activities and the occurrence of SCE and chromosomal aberrations was investigated in the CHO ethyl methanesulfonate-sensitive mutant EM9 and its parental line, AA8. The Topo II inhibitor m-AMSA induced fewer SCE in EM9 than in AA8, mainly when given during the first S period. When the Topo I inhibitor camptothecin was used, it showed a higher efficiency to induce both chromosomal aberrations and SCE in EM9 than in AA8. The impact of BrdU incorporated into parental DNA on topoisomerase activity was tested using nuclear extracts from both EM9 and AA8 assayed for their ability to decatenate kinetoplast DNA by Topo II and to relax supercoiled plasmid DNA by Topo I. Taken as a whole, the results seem to indicate that there are differences between the two cell lines, consistent with the hypothesis put forward by other investigators that topoisomerases are involved in the molecular mechanism of SCE.

5-Aza-2′-deoxycytidine causes replication lesions that require Fanconi anemia-dependent homologous recombination for repair

5-Aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5-azadC) is a DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor increasingly used in treatments of hematological diseases and works by being incorporated into DNA and trapping DNMT. It is unclear what DNA lesions are caused by 5-azadC and if such are substrates for DNA repair. Here, we identify that 5-azadC induces DNA damage as measured by γ-H2AX and 53BP1 foci. Furthermore, 5-azadC induces radial chromosomes and chromatid breaks that depend on active replication, which altogether suggest that trapped DNMT collapses oncoming replication forks into double-strand breaks. We demonstrate that RAD51-mediated homologous recombination (HR) is activated to repair 5-azadC collapsed replication forks. Fanconi anemia (FA) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder, and deaths are often associated with leukemia. Here, we show that FANCG-deficient cells fail to trigger HR-mediated repair of 5-azadC-induced lesions, leading to accumulation of chromatid breaks and inter-chromosomal radial fusions as well as hypersensitivity to the cytotoxic effects of 5-azadC. These data demonstrate that the FA pathway is important to protect from 5-azadC-induced toxicity. Altogether, our data demonstrate that cytotoxicity of the epigenetic drug 5-azadC can, at least in part, be explained by collapsed replication forks requiring FA-mediated HR for repair.

Tea flavanols inhibit cell growth and DNA topoisomerase II activity and induce endoreduplication in cultured Chinese hamster cells

Tea polyphenols are promising chemopreventive anticancer agents, the properties of which have been studied both in vitro and in vivo, providing evidence that - within this group of compounds - the tea flavanols are able to inhibit carcinogenesis, an effect that in some cases could be correlated with increased cell apoptosis and decreased cell proliferation. Of four main tea flavanols, namely (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), (-)-epigallocatechin (EGC), (+)-catechin (CA) and (-)-epicatechin (EC), it was found that EGCG was the most potent to inhibit dose dependently the topoisomerase II (TOPO II) catalytic activity isolated from hamster ovary AA8 cells. In the range of concentrations that caused TOPO II inhibition, a high level of endoreduplication, a rare phenomenon that consists in two successive rounds of DNA replication without intervening mitosis, was observed, while neither micronuclei nor DNA strand breaks (Comet assay) were detected at the same doses. We propose that the anticarcinogenic effect of tea flavanols can be partly explained by their potency and effectiveness to induce endoreduplication. Concerning such an induction, maximum effect seems to require a pyrogallol structure at the B-ring. Additional substitution with a galloylic residue at the C3 hydroxyl group leads to further augmentation of the effect. Thus, we suggest that the chemopreventive properties of tea flavanols can be at least partly due to their ability to interfere with the cell cycle and block cell proliferation at early stages of mitosis.

Glucosylated isoflavones as DNA topoisomerase II poisons.

Abstract Since topoisomerase poisons allow the enzyme to cut and covalently bind to DNA but abort the subsequent rejoining of the molecule after relieving the torsional stress. To study their action we have made use of a supercoiled form of the pRYG plasmid that bears a specific topoisomerase recognition and binding region. The conversion of the supercoiled circular double-stranded DNA to the linear and open circle forms in the presence of a topoisomerase II poison and a denaturation step by proteinase K-SDS is indicative of the efficiency of our test agents to stabilize the cleavable complex. Using this system, three glucosylated isoflavones (6′-methoxy-pseudobaptigenin-7-O-β-glucoside, genistin, and daidzin) isolated from cytotoxic chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of Retama sphaerocarpa Boissier, were found to have the ability to stabilize the cleavage complex human DNA topoisomerase II.