Marie-Luise Hanski

Cellular effects of CPT-11 on colon carcinoma cells: Dependence on p53 and hMLH1 status

Irinotecan (CPT‐11), a recently introduced component of a standard chemotherapy for colorectal cancer, induces in colon cancer cell lines in vitro cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Since sporadic colon carcinomas exhibit in 50–60% mutations in the p53 gene and in 10–15% an MSI phenotype due in the great majority of the cases to hMLH1 inactivation, we investigated how these lesions influence the cellular effects of CPT‐11 by using colorectal carcinoma cell line HCT116 (which has the genotype p53+/+,hMLH1−) and 2 derivative cell lines with the genotypes p53+/+,hMLH1+ and p53−/−,hMLH1−. CPT‐11 treatment induced G2/M arrest in all 3 cell lines within 48 hr. In the p53+/+,hMLH1+ cell line, G2/M arrest was maintained for at least 12 days. There was little concomitant apoptosis, but this was enhanced when the hMLH1 protein was absent. This enhanced apoptosis was accompanied by a shorter duration of the G2/M arrest than in the hMLH1+ cell line. Partial abrogation of G2/M arrest by caffeine enhanced apoptosis in both hMLH1+ and hMLH1− cells. By contrast, in the p53−/− cell line, the G2/M arrest was terminated within 4 days. Termination of the G2/M arrest was accompanied by a high level of apoptosis detectable through poly(ADP‐ribose)polymerase (PARP) cleavage, DNA fragmentation and by the appearance of cells with a DNA content <2N. The triggering of G2/M arrest was accompanied in the 3 cell lines by a transient phosphorylation of cdc‐2, while the maintenance of the arrest in the p53+/+ cell lines was accompanied by the overexpression of p53 and p21 proteins and, consequently, by the inhibition of cdc‐2 kinase activity. These data indicate that: (i) CPT‐11 induces long‐term arrest in p53+/+ cells and a short‐term arrest followed by apoptosis in p53−/− cells; (ii) triggering of the arrest is p53 independent and is associated with a brief increase of phosphorylation of cdc‐2, while the p53‐dependent maintenance of G2/M arrest is associated with the inhibition of cdc‐2 kinase activity by p21; and (iii) lack of hMLH1 protein enhances CPT‐11‐induced apoptosis. These results may be useful for designing rational therapies dependent on the p53 and mismatch‐repair status in the tumor.

DNA Damage-induced Expression of p53 Suppresses Mitotic Checkpoint Kinase hMps1 THE LACK OF THIS SUPPRESSION IN p53MUT CELLS CONTRIBUTES TO APOPTOSIS

DNA damage induced by the topoisomerase I inhibitor irinotecan (CPT-11) triggers in p53WT colorectal carcinoma cells a long term cell cycle arrest and in p53MUT cells a transient arrest followed by apoptosis (Magrini, R., Bhonde, M. R., Hanski, M. L., Notter, M., Scherübl, H., Boland, C. R., Zeitz, M., and Hanski, C. (2002) Int. J. Cancer 101, 23-31; Bhonde, M. R., Hanski, M. L., Notter, M., Gillissen, B. F., Daniel, P. T., Zeitz, M., and Hanski, C. (2006) Oncogene 25, 165-175). The mechanism of the p53-independent apoptosis still remains largely unclear. Here we used five p53WT and five p53MUT established colon carcinoma cell lines to identify gene expression alterations associated with apoptosis in p53MUT cells after treatment with SN-38, the irinotecan metabolite. After treatment, 16 mitosis-related genes were found to be expressed at least 2-fold stronger in the apoptosis-executing p53MUT cells than in the cell cycle-arrested p53WT cells by oligonucleotide microarray analysis. One of the genes whose strong post-treatment expression was associated with apoptosis was the mitotic checkpoint kinase hMps1 (human ortholog of the yeast monopolar spindle 1 kinase). hMps1 mRNA and protein expression were suppressed by the treatment-induced and by the exogenous adenovirus-coded p53 protein. The direct suppression of hMps1 on RNA level or inhibition of its activity by a dominant-negative hMps1 partly suppressed apoptosis. Together, these data indicate that the high expression of mitotic genes in p53MUT cells after SN-38 treatment contributes to DNA damage-induced apoptosis, whereas their suppression in p53WT cells acts as a safeguard mechanism preventing mitosis initiation and the subsequent apoptosis. hMps1 kinase is one of the mitotic checkpoint proteins whose expression after DNA damage in p53MUT cells activates the checkpoint and contributes to apoptosis.

Equivalent effect of DNA damage-induced apoptotic cell death or long-term cell cycle arrest on colon carcinoma cell proliferation and tumour growth.

Knowledge of the type of biological reaction to chemotherapy is a prerequisite for its rational enhancement. We previously showed that irinotecan-induced DNA damage triggers in the HCT116p53wt colon carcinoma cell line a long-term cell cycle arrest and in HCT116p53−/− cells apoptosis (Magrini et al., 2002). To compare the contribution of long-term cell cycle arrest and that of apoptosis to inhibition of cell proliferation after irinotecan-induced DNA damage, we used this isogenic system as well as the cell lines LS174T (p53wt) and HT-29 (p53mut). Both p53wt cell lines responded to damage by undergoing a long-term tetraploid G1 arrest, whereas the p53mut cell lines underwent apoptosis. Cell cycle arrest as well as apoptosis caused a similar delay in cell proliferation. Irinotecan treatment also induced in mouse tumours derived from the p53wt cell lines a tetraploid G1 arrest and in those derived from the p53-deficient cell lines a transient G2/M arrest and apoptosis. The delay of tumour growth was in the same range in both groups, that is, arrest- and apoptosis-mediated tumour growth inhibition was comparable. In conclusion, cell cycle arrest as well as apoptosis may be equipotent mechanisms mediating the chemotherapeutic effects of irinotecan.

Low frequency of p53 gene mutation and protein expression in mucinous colorectal carcinomas

Immunohistochemical data indicate that the frequency of p53 protein overexpression is consistently lower in the mucinous than in the non-mucinous carcinomas of the breast, ovary, pancreas and colon. This peculiar immunohistochemical behavior of the mucinous phenotype could be due to the effect of large amounts of mucus on the staining or to an actual mutation frequency difference between mucinous and non-mucinous carcinomas. This question was investigated on a group of mucinous colorectal carcinomas. DNA was extracted from paraffin sections of 16 human mucinous colorectal carcinomas and the mutation frequency was determined by sequencing of p53 exons amplified in PCR. The expression of p53 protein was determined with the avidin-biotin complex-peroxidase staining procedure and CM-1 antiserum. Twenty-five percent of the tumors, exhibited p53 protein overexpression and in 31% a mutation was detected. Concordance between the two techniques was found in 69% of tumors. Overexpression without mutation was observed in 12% and mutation without overexpression in 19%. G:C --> A:T transitions represented the most frequent lesion (80%), as previously observed in non-mucinous colorectal carcinomas. These data indicate that the mutation pattern in the p53 gene is similar in mucinous and non-mucinous colorectal carcinomas. The low frequency of p53 overexpression in the mucinous phenotype is not due to a mucus effect on the staining but is related to the low mutation frequency of p53 gene. These results lead to the hypothesis that in contrast to the nonmucinous tumors the development of the majority of colonic carcinomas with the mucinous phenotype may be independent from p53 mutations.

Regulation of the intestinal mucin MUC2 gene expression in vivo: evidence for the role of promoter methylation

In the present work we investigated the in vivo regulation of the mucin gene MUC2, which is overexpressed in all mucinous colorectal carcinomas. The inhibition of methylation by 5-azadeoxycytidine induces de novo expression of MUC2 in the colon carcinoma cell line COLO 205. The expression is retained in xenograft tissue and the cells give rise to MUC2-expressing tumours in nude mice. The strong expression of MUC2 in the normal human goblet cells and in the tissue of human mucinous colorectal carcinomas is associated with the average methylation of about 50% at every investigated CpG site of the MUC2 promoter. In contrast, MUC2 promoter in the non-expressing normal columnar cells and in the non-mucinous carcinoma tissue is methylated to nearly 100%. These data show that (i) low methylation of MUC2 promoter is associated with MUC2 expression in vivo and (ii) the pattern of MUC2 promoter methylation in the normal goblet or columnar cells most closely resembles that in mucinous or non-mucinous colorectal carcinomas, respectively. They indicate that MUC2 expression in vivo is regulated by promoter methylation and support the hypothesis that cells with goblet-like differentiation give rise to mucinous colonic carcinomas.

The broad-range cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor UCN-01 induces apoptosis in colon carcinoma cells through transcriptional suppression of the Bcl-x L protein

The broad-range cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 7-hydroxystaurosporine (UCN-01) is known to induce both a G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. The mechanism of UCN-01-induced apoptosis is largely unknown. We analysed the mechanism of cytotoxicity of UCN-01 in four established colon carcinoma cell lines. The cell lines SW48 and LS513 responded to UCN-01 treatment by undergoing apoptosis in a concentration-dependent manner while the cell lines HT-29 and WiDr were completely resistant. Apoptosis in LS513 and SW48 cell lines was concomitant with the suppression of Bcl-xL on mRNA and protein level. In contrast, in the apoptosis-resistant cell lines, Bcl-xL expression was not affected by UCN-01. Stable overexpression of the Bcl-xL protein abrogated UCN-01-triggered apoptosis, but only partially restored growth, indicating that both cell cycle arrest and apoptosis exert the anticancer effect in a coordinated manner. The inhibition of Akt phosphorylation did not correlate with the apoptotic phenotype. UCN-01 inhibited the activating STAT3 phosphorylations on Ser727 and, notably, on Tyr705, but STAT3 did not contribute to Bcl-xL expression in colon carcinoma cells. Moreover, we show for the first time that UCN-01 induces apoptosis by suppression of Bcl-xL expression. The inhibition of this pathway is a new aspect of cytotoxic and modulatory potential of UCN-01.

A modification of the JAM test is necessary for a correct determination of apoptosis induced by FasL+ adherent tumor cells

Tumor cells from several organs including colon have recently been shown to express Fas ligand (FasL) in vitro and in vivo. The expression, which in some tumours occurs de novo, was suggested to facilitate immune escape of malignant cells by killing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes via Fas-FasL-induced apoptosis. An argument to support this hypothesis is the detection of tumor cell-induced apoptosis in Jurkat cells (as model T cells) by means of the widely used JAM test. In the present work the validity of this test for the analysis of colon carcinoma cell-mediated apoptosis in Jurkat cells was scrutinized in detail. The presented data show that the JAM test as described previously is prone to false-positive detection of apoptosis, when adherent epithelial cells are used as effectors. Furthermore, three lines of evidence indicated that several FasL+ colon carcinoma cell lines did not induce detectable apoptosis in Jurkat cells in vitro. We conclude that: (1) The JAM test must be modified for testing DNA fragmentation induced through adherent effector cells and (2) FasL+ colon carcinoma cells may be unable to induce apoptosis in vitro.

UDCA slows down intestinal cell proliferation by inducing high and sustained ERK phosphorylation.

Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) attenuates colon carcinogenesis in humans and in animal models by an unknown mechanism. We investigated UDCA effects on normal intestinal epithelium in vivo and in vitro to identify the potential chemopreventive mechanism. Feeding of mice with 0.4% UDCA reduced cell proliferation to 50% and suppressed several potential proproliferatory genes including insulin receptor substrate 1 (Irs‐1). A similar transcriptional response was observed in the rat intestinal cell line IEC‐6 which was then used as an in vitro model. UDCA slowed down the proliferation of IEC‐6 cells and induced sustained hyperphosphorylation of ERK1/ERK2 kinases which completely inhibited the proproliferatory effects of EGF and IGF‐1. The hyperphosphorylation of ERK1 led to a transcriptional suppression of the Irs‐1 gene. Both, the hyperphosphorylation of ERK as well as the suppression of Irs‐1 were sufficient to inhibit proliferation of IEC‐6 cells. ERK1/ERK2 inhibition in vitro or ERK1 elimination in vitro or in vivo abrogated the antiproliferatory effects of UDCA. We show that UDCA inhibits proliferation of nontransformed intestinal epithelial cells by inducing a sustained hyperphosphorylation of ERK1 kinase which slows down the cell cycle and reduces expression of Irs‐1 protein. These data extend our understanding of the physiological and potentially chemopreventive effects of UDCA and identify new targets for chemoprevention.

The chemopreventive agent ursodeoxycholic acid inhibits proliferation of colon carcinoma cells by suppressing c-Myc expression.

Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) can prevent chemical and colitis-associated colon carcinogenesis by unknown mechanism(s). One of the processes underlying the chemopreventive action could be the inhibition of proliferation by UDCA. To clarify the antiproliferative mechanism of UDCA, we used p53wt colon carcinoma cell lines HCT8 and HCT116. UDCA-induced inhibition of proliferation was reversible and was associated with a decrease of the S-phase and an increase of G1 phase population, but not with apoptosis or senescence. The treatment suppressed the expression of c-Myc protein and, as a consequence, of several cell cycle regulatory molecules, including CDK4 and CDK6. Using the HCT8 cell line as a model, we show that UDCA suppresses c-Myc at the protein level. The suppression of c-Myc alone or a simultaneous suppression of CDK4 and of CDK6 kinase is sufficient to inhibit cell proliferation. In sum, we identified c-Myc as a primary UDCA target in colon carcinoma cells. The degradation of c-Myc protein decreases the expression of the cell cycle regulators CDK4 and CDK6, which reversibly slows down the cell cycle. The suppression of these proproliferatory molecules is the likely initial mechanism of antiproliferatory action of UDCA on colon cancer cells.

Proliferation rate but not mismatch repair affects the long-term response of colon carcinoma cells to 5FU treatment

The role of mismatch repair (MMR) in the response of colon carcinoma cells to 5-fluorouracil (5FU) is not well understood. In most of the in vitro studies only short-term response was investigated. We focussed here on the influence of MMR status on the mechanism of the short- and long-term response to clinically relevant 5FU concentrations by using isogenic or semiisogenic cell line pairs expressing/nonexpressing the hMLH1 protein, an important component of the MMR system. We show that the lower survival of MMR-proficient than of MMR-deficient cells in the clonogenic survival assay is due to a more frequent early cell arrest and to subsequent senescence. By contrast, the long-term cell growth after treatment, which is also affected by long-term arrest and senescence, is independent from the MMR status. The overall effect on the long-term cell growth is a cumulative result of cell proliferation rate-dependent growth inhibition, apoptosis and necrotic cell death. The main long-term cytotoxic effect of 5FU is the inhibition of growth while apoptosis and the necrotic cell death are minor contributions.