Miles P. Hacker

Mechanisms of asbestos-induced nitric oxide production by rat alveolar macrophages in inhalation and in vitro models.

To evaluate the contribution of reactive nitrogen species to inflammation by asbestos, Fischer 344 rats were exposed to crocidolite or chrysotile asbestos by inhalation to determine whether increases occurred in nitric oxide (NO.) metabolites from alveolar macrophages (AMs). AMs from animals inhaling asbestos showed significant elevations (p < .05) in nitrite/nitrate levels which were ameliorated by NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (NMMA), an inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity. Temporal patterns of NO. generation from AMs correlated with neutrophil influx in bronchoalveolar lavage samples after asbestos inhalation or bleomycin instillation, another model of pulmonary fibrosis. To determine the molecular mechanisms and specificity of iNOS promoter activation by asbestos, RAW 264.7 cells, a murine macrophage-like line, and AMs isolated from control rats were exposed to crocidolite asbestos in vitro. These cells showed increases in steady-state levels of iNOS mRNA in response to asbestos and more dramatic increases in both iNOS mRNA and immunoreactive protein after addition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). After transfection of an iNOS promoter/luciferase reporter construct, RAW 264.7 cells exposed to LPS, crocidolite asbestos and its nonfibrous analog, riebeckite, revealed increases in luciferase activity whereas cristobalite silica had no effects. Studies suggest that NO. generation may be important in cell injury and inflammation by asbestos.

Platinum Coordination Complexes in Cancer Chemotherapy

Effective anti-cancer agents are sometimes found by large-scale testing against animal tumours and sometimes by the rational design of chemicals. More often than not, however, they originate from a chance observation made in another area of research. Such was the discovery of the platinum compounds with anti-cancer activity which arose from the now famous observation of Professor Rosenberg and his colleagues that electrolysis products from platinum electrodes could inhibit the growth of bacteria. Observations of this sort remain a scientific curiosity unless followed up by skilful research. Rosenberg’s publication on “Platinum Compounds; A New Class of Antitumour Agent”, which identified the inhibitory compound, was soon followed by a series of papers showing that cis-dichlorodiammine platinum (11) (commonly referred to nowadays as cis Pt 11) was an inhibitor of many different types of animal tumour. The cancer clinician has relatively few drugs available for treatment of inoperable cancer. None is highly selective for cancer cells and their use is almost always associated with serious toxicity to the patient. Furthermore, there are still many types of cancer, particularly the solid carcinomas of the lung and digestive tract, which do not respond well to any form of treatment. Naturally, a new class of agent with high activity in animal tests will arouse great interest, since a novel structure may indicate a novel mechanism of action against those human cancers which do not respond at present to chemotherapy. The growing interest in the platinum compounds was evident from work presented at the first International Symposium on the bacterial , viral and anti-tumour activities of platinum compounds held at Michigan State University in 1970 and later at a special session of the VII International Congress on Chemotherapy in Prague in 1971. Both meetings were, however, preliminary inasmuch as clinical studies of the platinum compounds were only just beginning. The Second International Symposium on Platinum Coordination Complexes in Cancer Chemotherapy, held at Wadham College, Oxford in April, devoted one day to the results of the first clinical trials of cis Pt 11, and so for the first time enabled a preliminary assessment of the likely usefulness of platinum complexes in the clinic. Besides the session on clinical trials there were four half-day sessions on the chemistry of the platinum compounds, their reactions with biomacromolecules and their biological effects in in vitro systems and in whole animals. From this material an attempt can now be made to answer the three questions that must be asked of any new class of anti-cancer agent. What is the mechanism of action of the agent and does it act quite differently from known anti-cancer agents ? How effective is the agent in the clinic when used either alone or in combination, and is it useful in the treatment of cancers which do not respond to known agents ? Is it possible to design analogues of the compound with less side effects and more potent anti-cancer action ? A review of the chemistry of the coordination complexes delivered by Dr R. J. P. Williams, of the University of Oxford, made it quite clear that other types of complex could be synthesised with properties similar to

Cimetidine and the immune response: I. In vivo augmentation of nonspecific and specific immune response☆

Cimetidine is a commonly prescribed histamine antagonist useful in the treatment of peptic ulcer disease. Histamine receptors are found on suppressor T cells and therefore we expected to observe enhanced immune responsiveness in animals treated with this drug. Mice given daily subcutaneous injections of cimetidine (25 or 100 mg/kg) were found to produce approximately twice as much specific antibody in response to tetanus toxoid immunization. Furthermore, mitogen-stimulated splenocytes from cimetidine-treated animals proliferated to a greater extent and produced more immunoglobulin in vitro than controls. These observations offer direct in vivo evidence for immunomodulation by cimetidine.

Comparison of aza-anthracenedione-induced DNA damage and cytotoxicity in experimental tumor cells.

Aza-anthracenediones are a new class of anti-cancer drugs, which demonstrate promising in vitro and in vivo activity. Our laboratory has synthesized a variety of structural analogs in which we determined previously that the positioning of the nitrogen within the backbone, as well as sidearm modification, results in dramatic differences in the potency of cytotoxicity. We reported previously that although DNA reactivity appears to be a necessary component for mediating cell death, it is not sufficient for predicting cytotoxicity of the aza-anthracenediones. We have chosen three aza-anthracenediones (BBR 2828, BBR 2778 and BBR 2378) to investigate the importance of DNA strand breaks and/or protein-concealed DNA breaks induced by aza-anthracenediones. We determined in the present study that, while all three drugs cause DNA breaks as determined by alkaline and neutral elution, as well as KCl-SDS precipitation, these breaks do not correlate directly with their potency as cytotoxic compounds. Further, we found significant differences in the types of DNA breaks induced by these drugs. Finally, we report that the persistence of protein-DNA complexes induced by all three drugs was similar and, therefore, cannot account for differences in the potency of cytotoxicity of the aza-anthracenediones. Thus, we postulate that, while the total number of drug-induced protein-concealed DNA breaks is an important indicator of drug toxicity, it is possible that the actual nature of the breaks may differ among the aza-anthracenedione congeners, and it is these differences in the actual proteins present in the DNA breaks that differentiate between aza-anthracenediones.

The synthesis and antitumor properties of a series of water soluble carboxylato-(1,2-diaminocyclohexane) platinum(II) complexes

Abstract Water soluble carboxylato-(1,2-diaminocyclohexane)- platinum(II) complexes have been synthesized and their mode of coordination characterized by elemental analysis and infrared spectra. Preliminary in vitro and in vivo screening tests for anti-tumor activity of these complexes against L1210 murine leukemia were performed. The results indicate that this class of complexes have good in vivo efficacy that can be greatly increased multiple drug administration.

Alteration of bronchoalveolar lavage cell populations following bleomycin treatment in mice

Clinical use of the antitumor antibiotic bleomycin (BLM) is associated with the development of interstitial pulmonary fibrosis. Shortly after acute lung damage caused by intratracheal (it) administration of BLM to experimental animals there is an influx of inflammatory cells which are believed to modulate the process of fibrosis. This study was undertaken to determine what subpopulations of lymphocytes were in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cell population of C57BL/6J mice at various times after a single it dose of BLM and to determine whether BAL T-lymphocytes were activated after BLM treatment. The BAL lymphocyte population was analyzed by differential cell analysis and flow cytometry utilizing monoclonal antibodies specific for lymphocyte subpopulations. The majority of lymphocytes in the BAL of control and BLM-treated mice were T-lymphocytes, with less than 10% being B-cells. During the first 7 days after BLM the number of Lyt-2+ T-cells exceeded L3T4+ T-cells while in control mice the reverse was observed. The percentage of BAL lymphocytes expressing the IL-2 receptor did not change significantly at 3 and 7 days after BLM treatment, but was significantly decreased at Day 14. In contrast, the total number of lymphocytes expressing the IL-2 receptor was increased at all time points investigated. These results demonstrated that the majority of lymphocytes in the BAL were T-cells and that while the percentage of activated lymphocytes did not increase following BLM treatment, the absolute number did and this increased number of activated lymphocytes may be important in the disease process.

Correlation of DNA reactivity and cytotoxicity of a new class of anticancer agents: aza-anthracenediones.

Doxorubicin and mitoxantrone are carboxyclic anti-cancer drugs that interact with DNA through intercalation. Our laboratory has synthesized a new series of anti-tumor agents, the aza-anthracenediones, which are structurally related to mitoxantrone but contain a heterocyclic, rather than a carbocyclic, chromophore. Both the in vivo and in vitro anti-tumor activities of these compounds were exquisitely sensitive to the positioning of the nitrogen atom within the heterocyclic backbone. Compounds having a 2-aza were 30- to 100-fold more potent than the 1-aza or the di-aza compounds against L1210 cells in vitro. When tested in vivo, the 2-aza-anthracenediones had marked anti-tumor activity, in some cases curative, whereas the 1-aza-anthracenediones had but minimal antitumor activity. To define the importance of the aza positioning on DNA reactivity, spectral shift and gel mobility assays were used. The spectral shift assay suggested that the 2-aza compounds reacted with DNA solely through intercalation whereas the 1-aza-anthracenediones, and mitoxantrone all reacted with DNA through intercalative and non-intercalative processes. The affinity of DNA binding was five to seven times greater for the 2-aza compounds compared to the 1-aza or the di-aza derivatives. The retardation of supercoiled pBR322 DNA mobility in agarose gel electrophoresis further suggested an intercalative type of DNA interaction. Differences in DNA interaction appear related to but can not completely account for differences in cytotoxicity of the aza anthracenediones.

Specific antibody synthesis in vitro. II. Age-associated thymosin enhancement of antitetanus antibody synthesis

A decline in T cell function accounts for many of the observed age-related deficient immune responses. Specific antibody response to many antigens requires T cell cooperation, and deficient antibody response to such antigens has been demonstrated with aging. In an effort to assess the potential reconstitutive capacity of Thymosin Fraction 5, in vitro antitetanus antibody production was measured in tetanus toxoid booster-immunized young and old volunteers. 22 young and 12 old volunteers were immunized with tetanus toxoid and plasma antitetanus antibody and in vitro lymphocyte production of antitetanus antibody was measured. Plasma antitetanus antibody response was significantly greater in the young. In vitro antitetanus antibody synthesis was negligible prior to immunization and peaked in cultures established 1 week after immunization from both young and old. When Thymosin Fraction 5 was added to the cultures, however, there was a dose-related enhancement of antibody synthesis in 7 of 10 from the group of elderly volunteers, but only 3 of 12 from the younger group. Our data indicate that specific antibody response is deficient in the elderly, but can be enhanced in vitro by thymosin. A future clinical trial of thymosin as an adjuvant to active immunization for the elderly is warranted.

Effect of cytotoxic monoclonal antibody depletion of T-lymphocyte subpopulations on bleomycin-induced lung damage in C57BL/6J mice.

Treatment of cancer patients with the antitumor antibiotic bleomycin (BLM) is associated with lung damage which can progress to pulmonary fibrosis. Shortly after intratracheal (it) administration of BLM to experimental animals there is an influx of inflammatory cells into the lung. These inflammatory cells, consisting primarily of polymorphonuclear cells, monocytes and lymphocytes, are believed to modulate the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis. The objective of the present study was to determine the role of specific T-lymphocyte subpopulations in this disease process following a single it administration of BLM to C57BL/6J mice. Specific in vivo T-lymphocyte subpopulation depletion was accomplished by multiple intraperitoneal administrations of cytotoxic monoclonal antibodies to mice prior to and following BLM administration. Acute lung damage was assessed by measuring levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme and total protein in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid 7 days after BLM treatment while chronic fibrosis was assessed by total lung hydroxyproline 28 days after BLM. Although we were able to deplete lymph nodes and BAL of specific T-lymphocyte subpopulations we were unable to detect a difference in the extent or severity of either the acute or chronic stage of BLM-induced lung damage. These results suggest that BLM lung disease progresses unabated in C57BL/6J mice despite virtually complete depletion of either L3T4+ or Lyt-2+ T-lymphocytes. Although a greater than 80% decrease in Thy-1.2+ T-lymphocytes was accomplished, there was a residual population of Thy-1.2+ lymphocytes resistant to the cytotoxic antibody. It is possible, therefore, that this population of cells does play a role in the development of BLM lung disease.

Experimental tumors and aging: local factors that may account for the observed age advantage in the B16 murine melanoma model☆

In the B16 murine melanoma model tumor growth has been shown to be slower in animals of advanced age. One feature associated with this slower growth has been prominent fibrosis demonstrated in biopsies of the tumor in older animals. We have performed experiments to examine the fibrotic response in young and old mice. In non-tumor bearing animals the capacity to regain skin strength after surgical laceration and healing by primary intention was greater in old mice. Histologic preparations suggested a more prominent fibrosis at the wound site. The animals who were injected subcutaneously with B16 melanoma and treated with L 3,4-dehydroproline (an inhibitor of collagen synthesis) local tumor growth was significantly enhanced only for the old animals. Although this inhibition of collagen synthesis produced a differential growth enhancement, there remained a significant difference in tumor volume between young and old animals. We conclude that fibrogenesis is an important host defense for containing local tumor growth and that this mechanism is preserved if not enhanced in mice of advanced age. Nevertheless other factors are needed to account completely for the observed age-advantage in the B16 melanoma model.