Zdena Sulova

Potentiation of Anticancer Drugs: Effects of Pentoxifylline on Neoplastic Cells

The drug efflux activity of P-glycoprotein (P-gp, a product of the mdr1 gene, ABCB1 member of ABC transporter family) represents a mechanism by which tumor cells escape death induced by chemotherapeutics. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms involved in the effects of pentoxifylline (PTX) on P-gp-mediated multidrug resistance (MDR) in mouse leukemia L1210/VCR cells. Parental sensitive mouse leukemia cells L1210, and multidrug-resistant cells, L1210/VCR, which are characterized by the overexpression of P-gp, were used as experimental models. The cells were exposed to 100 μmol/L PTX in the presence or absence of 1.2 μmol/L vincristine (VCR). Western blot analysis indicated a downregulation of P-gp protein expression when multidrug-resistant L1210/VCR cells were exposed to PTX. The effects of PTX on the sensitization of L1210/VCR cells to VCR correlate with the stimulation of apoptosis detected by Annexin V/propidium iodide apoptosis necrosis kit and proteolytic activation of both caspase-3 and caspase-9 monitored by Western blot analysis. Higher release of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), especially MMP-2, which could be attenuated by PTX, was found in L1210/VCR than in L1210 cells by gelatin zymography in electrophoretic gel. Exposure of resistant cells to PTX increased the content of phosphorylated Akt kinase. In contrast, the presence of VCR eliminated the effects of PTX on Akt kinase phosphorylation. Taken together, we conclude that PTX induces the sensitization of multidrug-resistant cells to VCR via downregulation of P-gp, stimulation of apoptosis and reduction of MMPs released from drug-resistant L1210/VCR cells. These facts bring new insights into the mechanisms of PTX action on cancer cells.

Modulation of expression of Na+/Ca2+ exchanger in heart of rat and mouse under stress

Aim:  The Na+/Ca2+ exchanger (NCX) is a major Ca2+ extrusion system in the plasma membrane of cardiomyocytes and an important component participating on the excitation–contraction coupling process in muscle cells. NCX1 isoform is the most abundant in the heart and is known to be changed after development of ischaemia or myocardial infarction. Objective of this study was to investigate the effect of stress factors (immobilization, cold and short‐term hypoxia) on the expression of NCX1, in vivo, in the heart of rat and mouse.

Hypoxia Differently Modulates Gene Expression of Inositol 1,4,5‐Trisphosphate Receptors in Mouse Kidney and HEK 293 Cell Line

Hypoxia is a state of insufficient oxygen supply of the tissue or cell. Kidney tissue is highly sensitive to oxygen deprivation and easily develops renal ischemic injury. Calcium transporters very sensitively react to oxygen deficiency. We investigated whether hypoxia affects the gene expression of intracellular calcium transporters in the intact kidney, and we compared the response to that of HEK 293 cells. Our results showed that, while in mouse kidney tissue hypoxia elevates mRNA for inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptors (IP3R) type 1 (IP3R1) and ryanodine receptors (RyR) type 2 (RyR2), in culture of HEK 293 cells the gene expression of all IP3Rs decreased without affecting viability of the cells. RyR2 mRNA in HEK 293 cells was not significantly changed, but RyR1 gene expression was significantly increased by hypoxia. The different response of kidney tissue and HEK 293 cells to hypoxia could be due to unequal differentiation state of the cells in intact tissue and cultured embryonic cell line. The physiological relevance of this observation remains to be determined.

Type 2 IP3 receptors are involved in uranyl acetate induced apoptosis in HEK 293 cells

Calcium released from endoplasmic reticulum through special calcium release channels - inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors (IP(3)Rs) and ryanodine receptors (RyRs) - serves as a main source of cytosolic calcium signaling in the majority of cell types in physiological state and also in pathological situations. In this work, we studied whether IP(3)Rs can be involved in uranyl acetate induced nephrotoxicity. Using human embryonic kidney cell line (HEK293) as an experimental model we have found that uranyl acetate (5 and 50microM) up-regulates both, mRNA and protein levels of the type 1 and type 2 IP(3) receptors in HEK293 cells. This increase was associated with elevated expression of proapoptotic factors Bax and Caspase 3 and also by higher extent of apoptosis. Vice versa, induction of apoptosis resulted in increased mRNA levels of IP(3)R2 and also elevated levels of apoptotic markers. Therefore we propose that enhanced expression of the type 2 IP(3)Rs can at least partially contribute to increased levels of apoptosis due to uranyl acetate treatment.

Changes and role of adrenoceptors in PC12 cells after phenylephrine administration and apoptosis induction

The present study addresses the hypothesis that adrenergic regulation modulates the effect of apoptosis. Therefore we studied, whether α1-adrenergic receptors agonist phenylephrine (PE) can affect or induce apoptosis in rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. We have shown that PE treatment did not increase level of the apoptosis, or level of the caspase 3 mRNA. When apoptosis was induced in the presence of PE, caspase 3 mRNA was significantly increased, while the percentage of apoptotic cells remained unchanged compared to apoptotic group without PE. During this process, α1D-, β2- and β3-adrenergic receptors (ARs) were upregulated. Since all these three types of ARs are differently localized in the cell, we assume that mutual communication of all three ARs is crucial to participate in this signaling and during development of apoptosis, some of these systems might translocate. Another important system in handling noradrenaline during apoptosis might be noradrenaline transporter (NET), since it was downregulated in apoptotic cells treated with PE, compared to untreated apoptotic cells. However, precise mechanism of mutual communication among all these systems remains to be elucidated.

Acute myeloid leukemia cells MOLM-13 and SKM-1 established for resistance by azacytidine are crossresistant to P-glycoprotein substrates.

Establishment of the acute myeloid leukemia cells SKM-1 and MOLM-13 for resistance by azacytidine (AzaC) resulted in SKM-1/AzaC and MOLM-13/AzaC cell variants with reduced sensitivity to AzaC. Despite the fact that AzaC is not substrate of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), the adaptation procedure resulted in an induction in P-gp expression/efflux activity that confers crossresistance to P-gp substrates in both resistant cell variants. While the resistance to P-gp substrates in SKM-1/AzaC and MOLM-13/AzaC cells could be reversed by the P-gp inhibitors, resistance to AzaC was insensitive to these inhibitors in both resistant cell variants. In addition, NF-κB and the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 were downregulated and the proapoptotic proteins Bax and p53 were upregulated in both resistant cell variants when compared with their sensitive counterparts. Moreover, at least five times the elevation in overall glutathione S-transferase activity was measured with 1-chloro-2, 5-dinitrobenzene as a substrate in the resistant variant of both cell lines. Taken together, the findings of the present study indicate that the treatment of AML cells with AzaC might lead to a drug resistance phenotype that may be associated with cross resistance to P-gp substrates and substrates of glutathione S-transferases.

Vincristine-induced expression of P-glycoprotein in MOLM-13 and SKM-1 acute myeloid leukemia cell lines is associated with coexpression of nestin transcript.

Nestin is a class 6 filament protein typically expressed in neural stem/progenitor cells. However, nestin expression has been observed in other tissues during mammalian embryogenesis. In human neural stem/progenitor cells, coexpression of nestin and P-glycoprotein (P-gp, ABCB1 member of the ABC transporter family) was detected. P-gp-mediated drug efflux is the most common molecular cause of multidrug resistance in neoplastic cells. Nestin expression has also been detected in various human solid tumours as well as in the corresponding established cell lines. Interestingly, expression of nestin in different leukemia cells has been recently reported. Here, we show that expression of P-gp is associated with the simultaneous expression of nestin in acute myeloid leukemia cell lines (MOLM-13 and SKM-1) under the selective pressure of vincristine, a substance that may induce P-gp expression in neoplastic cells.

Detection of Glycomic Alterations Induced by Overexpression of P-Glycoprotein on the Surfaces of L1210 Cells Using Sialic Acid Binding Lectins

P-glycoprotein (P-gp) overexpression is the most frequently observed cause of multidrug resistance in neoplastic cells. In our experiments, P-gp was expressed in L1210 mice leukemia cells (S cells) by selection with vincristine (R cells) or transfection with the gene encoding human P-gp (T cells). Remodeling of cell surface sugars is associated with P-gp expression in L1210 cells as a secondary cellular response. In this study, we monitored the alteration of cell surface saccharides by Sambucus nigra agglutinin (SNA), wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) and Maackia amurensis agglutinin (MAA). Sialic acid is predominantly linked to the surface of S, R and T cells via α-2,6 branched sugars that tightly bind SNA. The presence of sialic acid linked to the cell surface via α-2,3 branched sugars was negligible, and the binding of MAA (recognizing this branch) was much less pronounced than SNA. WGA induced greater cell death than SNA, which was bound to the cell surface and agglutinated all three L1210 cell-variants more effectively than WGA. Thus, the ability of lectins to induce cell death did not correlate with their binding efficiency and agglutination potency. Compared to S cells, P-gp positive R and T cells contain a higher amount of N-acetyl-glucosamine on their cell surface, which is associated with improved WGA binding. Both P-gp positive variants of L1210 cells are strongly resistant to vincristine as P-gp prototypical drug. This resistance could not be altered by liberalization of terminal sialyl residues from the cell surface by sialidase.

A decrease in cellular microRNA-27a content is involved in azacytidine-induced P-glycoprotein expression in SKM-1 cells.

We established an azacytidine (AzaC)-resistant human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell line (SKM-1/AzaC) by culturing SKM-1 cells in the presence of increasing amounts of AzaC for six months. Because AzaC is not a substrate of P-glycoprotein (a product of the ABCB1 gene; ABCB1), ABCB1 was not responsible for AzaC resistance; nevertheless, it was notably upregulated in SKM-1/AzaC cells. In addition, the transcription of the Nfkb1 gene, which encodes a member of the canonical NF-kappaB regulatory pathway, was downregulated, and the transcription of the Nfkb2 gene, which encodes a member of the non-canonical NF-kappaB regulatory pathway, was upregulated in SKM-1/AzaC cells. Here, we investigate whether miRNA-27a and miRNA-138 (both of which are known to be regulators of ABCB1 expression) are involved in the regulation of ABCB1 expression in SKM-1/AzaC cells. We observed decreased levels of miRNA-27a but of not miRNA-138 in SKM-1/AzaC cells compared with SKM-1 cells. The transfection of SKM-1/AzaC cells with a miRNA-27a mimic induced the downregulation of the ABCB1 mRNA. This was associated with an increase in Nfkb1 and a decrease in Nfkb2 transcript levels in SKM-1/AzaC cells. Taken together, these data indicate that the downregulation of miRNA-27a is involved in the upregulation of ABCB1 expression in SKM-1/AzaC cells, and this effect is associated with a switch between the canonical and non-canonical NF-kappaB pathways.

Interplay between P-Glycoprotein Expression and Resistance to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stressors

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a phenotype of cancer cells with reduced sensitivity to a wide range of unrelated drugs. P-glycoprotein (P-gp)—a drug efflux pump (ABCB1 member of the ABC transporter gene family)—is frequently observed to be a molecular cause of MDR. The drug-efflux activity of P-gp is considered as the underlying mechanism of drug resistance against P-gp substrates and results in failure of cancer chemotherapy. Several pathological impulses such as shortages of oxygen and glucose supply, alterations of calcium storage mechanisms and/or processes of protein N-glycosylation in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) leads to ER stress (ERS), characterized by elevation of unfolded protein cell content and activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). UPR is responsible for modification of protein folding pathways, removal of misfolded proteins by ER associated protein degradation (ERAD) and inhibition of proteosynthesis. However, sustained ERS may result in UPR-mediated cell death. Neoplastic cells could escape from the death pathway induced by ERS by switching UPR into pro survival mechanisms instead of apoptosis. Here, we aimed to present state of the art information about consequences of P-gp expression on mechanisms associated with ERS development and regulation of the ERAD system, particularly focused on advances in ERS-associated therapy of drug resistant malignancies.