Development of an XTT tetrazolium salt-based assay for detection of specific hyperthermia sensitizers in a high-flux screening programme

Hydroxyethyl disulfide as an efficient metabolic assay for cell viability in vitro

Cell viability assays have a variety of well known practical and technical limitations. All the available approaches have disadvantages, such as non-linearity, high background and cumbersome protocols. Several commonly used tetrazolium chemicals rely upon generation of a colored formazan product formed by mitochondrial reduction of these compounds via phenazine methosulfate (PMS). However, sensitivity is inherently limited because their reduction relies on mitochondrial bioreduction and cellular transport of PMS, as well as accessibility to tetrazolium chemicals. In this study, we identify hydroxethyldisulfide (HEDS) as an inexpensive probe that can measure cellular metabolic activity without the need of PMS. In tissue culture medium, HEDS accurately quantitated metabolically active live cells in a linear manner superior to tetrazolium based and other assays. Cell toxicity produced by chemotherapeutics (cisplatin, etoposide), oxidants (hydrogen peroxide, acetaminophen), toxins (phenyl arsine oxide, arsenite) or ionizing radiation was rapidly determined by the HEDS assay. We found that HEDS was superior to other commonly used assays for cell viability determinations in its solubility, membrane permeability, and intracellular conversion to a metabolic reporter that is readily transported into the extracellular medium. Our findings establish the use of HEDS in a simple, rapid and low cost assay to accurately quantify viable cells.

Expression of heat shock proteins and heat shock protein messenger ribonucleic acid in human prostate carcinoma in vitro and in tumors in vivo

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are thought to play a role in the development of cancer and to modulate tumor response to cytotoxic therapy. In this study, we have examined the expression of hsf and HSP genes in normal human prostate epithelial cells and a range of prostate carcinoma cell lines derived from human tumors. We have observed elevated expressions of HSF1, HSP60, and HSP70 in the aggressively malignant cell lines PC-3, DU-145, and CA-HPV-10. Elevated HSP expression in cancer cell lines appeared to be regulated at the post-messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels, as indicated by gene chip microarray studies, which indicated little difference in heat shock factor (HSF) or HSP mRNA expression between the normal and malignant prostate cell lines. When we compared the expression patterns of constitutive HSP genes between PC-3 prostate carcinoma cells growing as monolayers in vitro and as tumor xenografts growing in nude mice in vivo, we found a marked reduction in expression of a wide spectrum of the HSPs in PC-3 tumors. This decreased HSP expression pattern in tumors may underlie the increased sensitivity to heat shock of PC-3 tumors. However, the induction by heat shock of HSP genes was not markedly altered by growth in the tumor microenvironment, and HSP40, HSP70, and HSP110 were expressed abundantly after stress in each growth condition. Our experiments indicate therefore that HSF and HSP levels are elevated in the more highly malignant prostate carcinoma cells and also show the dominant nature of the heat shock-induced gene expression, leading to abundant HSP induction in vitro or in vivo.

Double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase (pkr) is essential for thermotolerance, accumulation of HSP70, and stabilization of ARE-containing HSP70 mRNA during stress

We have investigated the role of the double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase gene (pkr) in the regulation of the heat shock response. We show that the pkr gene is essential for efficient activation of the heat shock response and that pkr disruption profoundly inhibits heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) synthesis and blocks the development of thermotolerance. Despite these profound effects, pkr disruption did not markedly affect the activation of heat shock factor 1 by heat and did not reduce the rate of transcription of the HSP70 gene after heat shock. However, despite the lack of effect of pkr disruption on HSP70 gene transcription, we found a significant decrease in the expression of HSP70 mRNA in pkr-/- cells after heat shock. Kinetic studies of mRNA turnover suggested a block in the thermal stabilization of HSP70 mRNA in pkr-/- cells. As the thermal stabilization of HSP70 mRNA is thought to involve cis-acting A+U rich (ARE) elements in the 3'-untranslated region (UTR), we examined a potential role for pkr in this process. We found that a reporter beta-galactosidase mRNA destabilized by introduction of a functional ARE into the 3'-UTR became stabilized by heat but only in cells containing an intact pkr gene. Our studies suggest therefore that pkr plays a significant role in the stabilization of mRNA species containing ARE destruction sequences in the 3'-UTR and through this mechanism, contributes to the regulation of the heat shock response and other processes.