The farnesyl transferase inhibitor RPR-130401 does not alter radiation susceptibility in human tumor cells with a K-Ras mutation in spite of large changes in ploidy and lamin B distribution

BACKGROUND: Growth inhibition by RPR-130401, a non-peptidomimetic farnesyltransferase inhibitor, was investigated without or with combined exposure to ionizing radiation in three human tumor cell lines (HCT-116, MiAPaCa-2 and A-549) bearing a point mutation in the K-Ras gene. RESULTS: RPR-130401 inhibited cell growth with an IC(50) of 50 nM (HCT-116), 120 nM (MiAPaCa-2) and 710 nM (A-549), with a poor incidence of apoptosis. The drug brought about G1 and S phase depletion together with arrest of cells in G2 phase and induced a significant accumulation of hyperploid cells showing active S phase DNA synthesis, with HCT-116 and A-549 cells being the most and least responsive, respectively. The drug also produced dramatic changes of the nuclear lamin B pattern, without lamin B cleavage and perturbation of the actin cytoskeleton. On the other hand, RPR-130401 elicited strictly additive interaction in combined treatment with ionizing radiation with regard to cell kill, altered cell cycle progression and induced hyperploidy. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that disruption of orderly progression through mitosis and cytokinesis, is a major outcome of drug action and that this effect proceeds from inhibition of lamin B farnesylation. It is anticipated from the strict additivity of RPR-130401 and radiation that neither induced radiation resistance nor acute or late complications of radiotherapy, should occur in combined treatment with RPR-130401

The impact of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 depletion on poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase activity and responses to radiation

Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) has been identified as a determinant of sensitivity to poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors. Here, the consequences of its depletion on cell survival, PARP activity, the recruitment of base excision repair (BER) proteins to DNA damage sites, and overall DNA single-strand break (SSB) repair were investigated using isogenic HeLa stably depleted (KD) and Control cell lines. Synthetic lethality achieved by disrupting PARP activity in Cdk5-deficient cells was confirmed, and the Cdk5KD cells were also found to be sensitive to the killing effects of ionizing radiation (IR) but not methyl methanesulfonate or neocarzinostatin. The recruitment profiles of GFP-PARP-1 and XRCC1-YFP to sites of micro-irradiated Cdk5KD cells were slower and reached lower maximum values, while the profile of GFP-PCNA recruitment was faster and attained higher maximum values compared to Control cells. Higher basal, IR, and hydrogen peroxide-induced polymer levels were observed in Cdk5KD compared to Control cells. Recruitment of GFP-PARP-1 in which serines 782, 785, and 786, potential Cdk5 phosphorylation targets, were mutated to alanines in micro-irradiated Control cells was also reduced. We hypothesize that Cdk5-dependent PARP-1 phosphorylation on one or more of these serines results in an attenuation of its ribosylating activity facilitating persistence at DNA damage sites. Despite these deficiencies, Cdk5KD cells are able to effectively repair SSBs probably via the long patch BER pathway, suggesting that the enhanced radiation sensitivity of Cdk5KD cells is due to a role of Cdk5 in other pathways or the altered polymer levels

Targeting poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase activity for cancer therapy

Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation is a ubiquitous protein modification found in mammalian cells that modulates many cellular responses, including DNA repair. The poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) family catalyze the formation and addition onto proteins of negatively charged ADP-ribose polymers synthesized from NAD+. The absence of PARP-1 and PARP-2, both of which are activated by DNA damage, results in hypersensitivity to ionizing radiation and alkylating agents. PARP inhibitors that compete with NAD+ at the enzyme’s activity site are effective chemo- and radiopotentiation agents and, in BRCA-deficient tumors, can be used as single-agent therapies acting through the principle of synthetic lethality. Through extensive drug-development programs, third-generation inhibitors have now entered clinical trials and are showing great promise. However, both PARP-1 and PARP-2 are not only involved in DNA repair but also in transcription regulation, chromatin modification, and cellular homeostasis. The impact on these processes of PARP inhibition on long-term therapeutic responses needs to be investigated

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP-1) is not involved in DNA double-strand break recovery.

BACKGROUND: The cytotoxicity and the rejoining of DNA double-strand breaks induced by gamma-rays, H2O2 and neocarzinostatin, were investigated in normal and PARP-1 knockout mouse 3T3 fibroblasts to determine the role of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP-1) in DNA double-strand break repair. RESULTS: PARP-1-/- were considerably more sensitive than PARP-1+/+ 3T3s to induced cell kill by gamma-rays and H2O2. However, the two cell lines did not show any significant difference in the susceptibility to neocarzinostatin below 1.5 nM drug. Restoration of PARP-1 expression in PARP-1-/- 3T3s by retroviral transfection of the full PARP-1 cDNA did not induce any change in neocarzinostatin response. Moreover the incidence and the rejoining kinetics of neocarzinostatin-induced DNA double-strand breaks were identical in PARP-1+/+ and PARP-1-/- 3T3s. Poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis following gamma-rays and H2O2 was observed in PARP-1-proficient cells only. In contrast neocarzinostatin, even at supra-lethal concentration, was unable to initiate PARP-1 activation yet it induced H2AX histone phosphorylation in both PARP1+/+ and PARP-1-/- 3T3s as efficiently as gamma-rays and H2O2. CONCLUSIONS: The results show that PARP-1 is not a major determinant of DNA double-strand break recovery with either strand break rejoining or cell survival as an endpoint. Even though both PARP-1 and ATM activation are major determinants of the cell response to gamma-rays and H2O2, data suggest that PARP-1-dependent poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis and ATM-dependent H2AX phosphorylation, are not inter-related in the repair pathway of neocarzinostatin-induced DNA double-strand breaks

Tyro3 Targeting as a Radiosensitizing Strategy in Bladder Cancer through Cell Cycle Dysregulation

International audienceBladder cancer is a common cancer; it is the tenth most common cancer in the world. Around one fourth of all diagnosed patients have muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC), characterized by advanced tumors and which remains a lethal disease. The standard treatment for MIBC is the bladder removal by surgery. However, bladder-preserving alternatives are emerging by combining chemotherapy, radiotherapy and minimal surgery, aiming to increase the patient’s quality of life. The aim of the study was to improve these treatments by investigating a novel approach where in addition to radiotherapy, a receptor, TYRO3, a member of TAM receptor tyrosine kinase family known to be highly expressed on the bladder cancer cells and involved in the control of cell survival is targeted. For this, we evaluated the influence of TYRO3 expression levels on a colony or cell survival assays, DNA damage, γH2AX foci formation, gene expression profiling and cell cycle regulation, after radiation on different bladder cell models. We found that TYRO3 expression impacts the radiation response via the cell cycle dysregulation with noeffets on the DNA repair. Therefore, targeting TYRO3 is a promising sensitization marker that could be clinically employed in future treatments

Translational research in radiobiology in the framework of France HADRON national collaboration

CERVOXY COLLInternational audienceFrance HADRON is a French national collaboration that brings together 26 teams in nine different French cities (Lyon, Caen, Clermont-Ferrand, Paris-Orsay, Nice, Toulouse, Marseille, Strasbourg and Grenoble). This infrastructure was created in 2013 and follows the ETOILE and ARCHADE projects; it is presently funded by public money. Ten teams, from different scientific background, using a wide range of approaches, participate in radiobiology researches upon protons and carbon ion therapy in comparison with photons used in classical radiation oncology. These approaches combine the use of multiple biological models of radioresistant tumors and healthy tissue critical for treatment tolerance. Thus, the determinants of the radioresistance of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSSC), high-grade gliomas, sarcomas including chondrosarcomas and the ubiquitous endothelial cells and fibroblasts are studied. Multiple methodological approaches are implemented. In particular, these include: the extraction of tumor stem cell populations and their radiobiological comparison with the differentiated tumor cells; the studies in hypoxic and normoxic conditions; the development and the use of models of 3D cell cultures that highlight important differences in cell behaviors; the cell biology with the analysis of typical neoplastic mechanisms such as invasive and cell migration processes, as well as late recovery of irradiated tumor cells that reenter proliferation; the molecular biochemistry with analysis of resistance signaling pathways, telomerase regulation and genomic analysis of predictors of radioresistance in retrospective and prospective series of patients (gliomas, HNSSC, sarcomas) and finally the oxidative stress, genotoxicity and inflammatory measurements in normal human cells at early and late times after irradiation. This work allows a better understanding of the mechanisms of cellular and tumor radioresistance, normal tissue toxicity, but they also enable pre-clinical and clinical approaches. Thus, experimental approaches of combinations of pharmacological treatments acting on the identified resistance or toxicity mechanisms with the different types of radiation studied are developed. The comparison between stem cells and differentiated cells is very interesting in this respect. This information, combined with phenomenological data on survival and relative biological effectiveness (RBE), contributes to the adjustment and parameterization of bio-mathematical predictive models of the cellular response such as the Nanox ® model. This work enables, on the one hand, to suggest hypotheses of clinical trials aimed at acting on tumor radioresistance; and, on the other hand, to integrate into studies associated with prospective transnational clinical research protocols, comparing carbontherapy vs. photon or proton radiotherapy, in collaboration with the European carbontherapy centers, in particular the Heidelberg Ion Therapy (HIT) in Germany and Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica (CNAO) in Italy. The potential of France HADRON in radiobiology is important and can make a useful contribution to this field of research, in particular by pursuing a convergence approach of the methods, the models and the topics investigate