NF-κB targeting by way of IKK inhibition sensitizes lung cancer cells to adenovirus delivery of TRAIL

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lung cancer causes the highest rate of cancer-related deaths both in men and women. As many current treatment modalities are inadequate in increasing patient survival, new therapeutic strategies are required. TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) selectively induces apoptosis in tumor cells but not in normal cells, prompting its current evaluation in a number of clinical trials. The successful therapeutic employment of TRAIL is restricted by the fact that many tumor cells are resistant to TRAIL. The goal of the present study was to test a novel combinatorial gene therapy modality involving adenoviral delivery of TRAIL (Ad5hTRAIL) and IKK inhibition (AdIKKβKA) to overcome TRAIL resistance in lung cancer cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry were used to detect optimum doses of adenovirus vectors to transduce lung cancer cells. Cell viability was assessed via a live/dead cell viability assay. Luciferase assays were employed to monitor cellular NF-κB activity. Apoptosis was confirmed using Annexin V binding.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Neither Ad5hTRAIL nor AdIKKβKA infection alone induced apoptosis in A549 lung cancer cells, but the combined use of Ad5hTRAIL and AdIKKβKA significantly increased the amount of A549 apoptosis. Luciferase assays demonstrated that both endogenous and TRAIL-induced NF-κB activity was down-regulated by AdIKKβKA expression.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Combination treatment with Ad5hTRAIL and AdIKKβKA induced significant apoptosis of TRAIL-resistant A549 cells, suggesting that dual gene therapy strategy involving exogenous TRAIL gene expression with concurrent IKK inhibition may be a promising novel gene therapy modality to treat lung cancer.</p

TRAIL Death Receptor-4, Decoy Receptor-1 and Decoy Receptor-2 Expression on CD8+ T Cells Correlate with the Disease Severity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorder. Although the pathogenesis of disease is unclear, it is well known that T cells play a major role in both development and perpetuation of RA through activating macrophages and B cells. Since the lack of TNF-Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) expression resulted in defective thymocyte apoptosis leading to an autoimmune disease, we explored evidence for alterations in TRAIL/TRAIL receptor expression on peripheral T lymphocytes in the molecular mechanism of RA development. METHODS: The expression of TRAIL/TRAIL receptors on T cells in 20 RA patients and 12 control individuals were analyzed using flow cytometry. The correlation of TRAIL and its receptor expression profile was compared with clinical RA parameters (RA activity scored as per DAS28) using Spearman Rho Analysis. RESULTS: While no change was detected in the ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ T cells between controls and RA patient groups, upregulation of TRAIL and its receptors (both death and decoy) was detected on both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in RA patients compared to control individuals. Death Receptor-4 (DR4) and the decoy receptors DcR1 and DcR2 on CD8+ T cells, but not on CD4+ T cells, were positively correlated with patients' DAS scores. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that TRAIL/TRAIL receptor expression profiles on T cells might be important in revelation of RA pathogenesis

Surface TRAIL decoy receptor-4 expression is correlated with TRAIL resistance in MCF7 breast cancer cells

BACKGROUND: Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) selectively induces apoptosis in cancer cells but not in normal cells. Despite this promising feature, TRAIL resistance observed in cancer cells seriously challenged the use of TRAIL as a death ligand in gene therapy. The current dispute concerns whether or not TRAIL receptor expression pattern is the primary determinant of TRAIL sensitivity in cancer cells. This study investigates TRAIL receptor expression pattern and its connection to TRAIL resistance in breast cancer cells. In addition, a DcR2 siRNA approach and a complementary gene therapy modality involving IKK inhibition (AdIKKβKA) were also tested to verify if these approaches could sensitize MCF7 breast cancer cells to adenovirus delivery of TRAIL (Ad5hTRAIL). METHODS: TRAIL sensitivity assays were conducted using Molecular Probe's Live/Dead Cellular Viability/Cytotoxicity Kit following the infection of breast cancer cells with Ad5hTRAIL. The molecular mechanism of TRAIL induced cell death under the setting of IKK inhibition was revealed by Annexin V binding. Novel quantitative Real Time RT-PCR and flow cytometry analysis were performed to disclose TRAIL receptor composition in breast cancer cells. RESULTS: MCF7 but not MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells displayed strong resistance to adenovirus delivery of TRAIL. Only the combinatorial use of Ad5hTRAIL and AdIKKβKA infection sensitized MCF7 breast cancer cells to TRAIL induced cell death. Moreover, novel quantitative Real Time RT-PCR assays suggested that while the level of TRAIL Decoy Receptor-4 (TRAIL-R4) expression was the highest in MCF7 cells, it was the lowest TRAIL receptor expressed in MDA-MB-231 cells. In addition, conventional flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that TRAIL resistant MCF7 cells exhibited substantial levels of TRAIL-R4 expression but not TRAIL decoy receptor-3 (TRAIL-R3) on surface. On the contrary, TRAIL sensitive MDA-MB-231 cells displayed very low levels of surface TRAIL-R4 expression. Furthermore, a DcR2 siRNA approach lowered TRAIL-R4 expression on surface and this sensitized MCF7 cells to TRAIL. CONCLUSION: The expression of TRAIL-R4 decoy receptor appeared to be well correlated with TRAIL resistance encountered in breast cancer cells. Both adenovirus mediated IKKβKA expression and a DcR2 siRNA approach sensitized MCF7 breast cancer cells to TRAIL

TRAIL promotes caspase-dependent pro-inflammatory responses via PKCδ activation by vascular smooth muscle cells

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is best known for its selective cytotoxicity against transformed tumor cells. Most non-transformed primary cells and several cancer cell lines are not only resistant to death receptor-induced apoptosis, but also subject to inflammatory responses in a nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)-dependent manner. Although the involvement of TRAIL in a variety of vascular disorders has been proposed, the exact molecular mechanisms are unclear. Here, we aimed to delineate the role of TRAIL in inflammatory vascular response. We also sought possible molecular mechanisms to identify potential targets for the prevention and treatment of post-angioplastic restenosis and atherosclerosis. Treatment with TRAIL increased the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 by primary human vascular smooth muscle cells via protein kinase C (PKC)δ and NF-κB activation. Following detailed analysis using various PKCδ mutants, we determined that PKCδ activation was mediated by caspase-dependent proteolysis. The protective role of PKCδ was further confirmed in post-traumatic vascular remodeling in vivo. We propose that the TRAIL/TRAIL receptor system has a critical role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory vascular disorders by transducing pro-inflammatory signals via caspase-mediated PKCδ cleavage and subsequent NF-κB activation

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference

Chemotherapy overcomes TRAIL-R4-mediated TRAIL resistance at the DISC level

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand or Apo2L (Apo2L/TRAIL) is a promising anti-cancer drug owing to its ability to trigger apoptosis by binding to TRAIL-R1 or TRAIL-R2, two membrane-bound receptors that are often expressed by tumor cells. TRAIL can also bind non-functional receptors such as TRAIL-R4, but controversies still exist regarding their potential to inhibit TRAIL-induced apoptosis. We show here that TRAIL-R4, expressed either endogenously or ectopically, inhibits TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Interestingly, the combination of chemotherapeutic drugs with TRAIL restores tumor cell sensitivity to apoptosis in TRAIL-R4-expressing cells. This sensitization, which mainly occurs at the death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) level, through enhanced caspase-8 recruitment and activation, is compromised by c-FLIP expression and is independent of the mitochondria. Importantly, TRAIL-R4 expression prevents TRAIL-induced tumor regression in nude mice, but tumor regression induced by TRAIL can be restored with chemotherapy. Our results clearly support a negative regulatory function for TRAIL-R4 in controlling TRAIL signaling, and unveil the ability of TRAIL-R4 to cooperate with c-FLIP to inhibit TRAIL-induced cell death