Concomitant differentiation and partial proteasome inhibition trigger apoptosis in neuroblastoma cells

Advances in pharmacotherapy for neuroblastoma

INTRODUCTION

Neuroblastoma is the most prevalent cancer type diagnosed within the first year after birth and accounts for 15% of deaths from pediatric cancer. Despite the improvements in survival rates of patients with neuroblastoma, the incidence of the disease has increased over the last decade. Neuroblastoma tumor cells harbor a vast range of variable and heterogeneous histochemical and genetic alterations which calls for the need to administer individualized and targeted therapies to induce tumor regression in each patient.

AREAS COVERED

This paper provides reviews the recent clinical trials which used chemotherapeutic and/or targeted agents as either monotherapies or in combination to improve the response rate in patients with neuroblastoma, and especially high-risk neuroblastoma. It also reviews some of the prominent preclinical studies which can provide the rationale for future clinical trials.

EXPERT OPINION

Although some distinguished advances in pharmacotherapy have been made to improve the survival rate and reduce adverse events in patients with neuroblastoma, a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms of tumorigenesis, resistance to therapies or relapse, identifying biomarkers of response to each specific drug, and developing predictive preclinical models of the tumor can lead to further breakthroughs in the treatment of neuroblastoma.

Identifying altered gene expression in neuroblastoma cells preceding apoptosis

PURPOSE

Concomitant differentiation and partial inhibition of proteasome trigger cell death in a neuroblastoma cell line (NBP2). Neither induction of differentiation nor partial inhibition of proteasome alone affects the viability of NBP2 cells. We wanted to identify genes whose expression alters under concomitant conditions and may account for cell death.

METHODS

We used gel electrophoresis to analyze total genomic DNA for the detection of DNA fragmentation. Affymetrix Murine Genome U74A version 2 microarray was used to screen for approximately 6,000 functionally characterized genes and approximately 6,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Real time PCR (RT-PCR) was performed to provide an accurate assessment of changes in gene expression.

RESULTS

Concomitant differentiation and partial inhibition of proteasome trigger apoptosis, characterized by genomic DNA fragmentation in NBP2 cells. We found that the expression of 41 genes changed 2.5-fold or more primarily under concomitant conditions midway through apoptosis. Based on real time PCR, the expression of galectin-3, glycosylated 96, a leucine zipper protein (LRG-21), and endothelial cell activated protein C receptor (EPCR) increased between 50-500-fold, whereas the expression of Polo serine/threonine kinase, N-myc, and Histone H2A.1 decreased ranging from 8 to 37 fold. Altered expression of galectin-3, EPCR, and LRG-21 was detected as early as 2-8 h post simultaneous conditions.

CONCLUSION

We identified new genes that might be involved in apoptotic events in neuroblastoma cells.

Autocrine proliferation of neuroblastoma cells is partly mediated through neurokinin receptors: relevance to bone marrow metastasis

Despite intensive therapy, approximately 60-80% of children who are diagnosed with metastatic neuroblastoma (NB) succumb to the disease. NB preferentially metastasizes to the bone marrow (BM). In the present study we used SY5Y and CHP212 (NB cell lines) to study the roles of the preprotachykinin-I (PPT-I) gene and the natural receptors for PPT-I peptides, neurokinin-1 (NK-1) and NK-2, in the biology of NB. PPT-I, NK-1 and NK-2 were constitutively expressed in the NB cells. Functional studies, with specific NK receptor antagonists, showed that PPT-I peptides mediate autocrine proliferation of the NB cells through both NK-1 and NK-2 receptors. Full-length and truncated NK-1 receptors were detected in NB cells. Since there is one copy of the NK-1 gene, we used NK-1-specific siRNA to suppress the expression of NK-1. The NK-1-deficient NB cells showed phenotypes consistent with cell differentiation. Suppression of NK-1 did not appear to cause cell death, as demonstrated by trypan blue exclusion and by undetectable active caspase. NK-1 suppression reduced the proliferation of the NB cells beginning by 10-fold at day 1 and reached a 10(5)-fold reduction by day 10. The NK-1 deficient cells did not proliferate when they were placed as cocultures with BM stroma, which suggests that NK-1 signaling is important for the survival of NB cells in the BM. The results show potential roles for NK receptors in the proliferation of NB.

Regulated expression of VP16CREB in neuroblastoma cells: analysis of differentiation and apoptosis

Highly malignant neuroblastoma tumors generally have defects in differentiation and apoptotic pathways. For a better understanding of these events, we use a murine neuroblastoma cell line (NBP2) that terminally differentiates into mature neurons in response to elevated levels of cAMP. Because one of the main downstream effectors of the cAMP signaling pathway is cAMP-response element binding (CREB), we reasoned that it might affect the expression of genes associated with differentiation and apoptotic events in NBP2 cells. To investigate this, we established tetracycline-regulated expression (TetOff) of VP16CREB, which constitutively transactivates promoters containing the CRE sequence motif. Using this system, we found that inducible expression of VP16CREB in NBP2 cells results in 1) morphological differentiation that is characterized by the formation of neurites and growth cones, 2) reversible cell differentiation unlike cAMP-induced terminal differentiation, 3) cell cycle arrest at G1, 4) no apoptosis in the presence of partial inhibition of proteasome unlike an increase in cAMP levels, and 5) changes in the expression of many genes, including down-regulation of N-myc, cyclin B1, Dickkopf-1, and Mad-2 and up-regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase, c-fos, N10, and ICER genes. Although VP16CREB expression and activation of the cAMP pathway impart many similar effects in NBP2 cells, they also bear some distinct genetic and morphological differences. Our data suggest that increased levels of cAMP function through not only CREB but also other signaling pathways that account for the additional cAMP-induced effects, including irreversible differentiation and onset of apoptosis during partial inhibition of proteasome in NBP2 cells.