Acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity of cultured hepatocytes depends on timing of isolation from light-cycle controlled mice.

Most physiological changes follow a daily cycle in animals because their circadian rhythm is adjusted to and synchronized with sunlight. In particular, the circadian rhythm affects liver functions, including pharmacokinetics and metabolism. The influence of circadian rhythm has not been included in hepatotoxicity assays used in drug discovery and development. In this study, the contribution of circadian rhythm was investigated in acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity in mice and primary cultured hepatocytes. Hepatotoxicity was induced via the intraperitoneal administration of acetaminophen to a greater extent at night than during the day in mice. The sensitivity of acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity was consistent with the expression levels of acetaminophen-metabolizing enzyme and circadian genes. The host-derived circadian rhythm was still evident in the primary cultured hepatocytes within a day after their isolation from the liver. Primary cultured hepatocytes isolated at night were significantly more sensitive to acetaminophen than those isolated during the day. The sensitivity toward acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity depended on the circadian rhythm of the expression of acetaminophen-metabolizing genes and intracellular glutathione levels in primary cultured hepatocytes. These results obtained from cultured cells correspond to those in mice, suggesting that the timing of hepatocyte isolation is important when investigating drug metabolism and toxicity tests in culture.

IGFBPs contribute to survival of pancreatic cancer cells under severely hypoxic conditions.

Protein synthesis in general is suppressed under hypoxic conditions in both cancer cells and normal cells. In human pancreatic cancer AsPC-1 cells, which are resistant to low oxygen tension, protein synthesis at day 4 under hypoxia (1% O(2)) was about 20% of that under normoxia. Secretion of some proteins actually increased in spite of a general reduction in protein synthesis; two of these proteins were insulin-like growth factor binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) and IGFBP-3. Hypoxia also induced transcription of multiple IGFBPs. The IGFBPs contributed to reduced IGF signaling and to the survival of cancer cells under conditions of low oxygen tension.

Cross talk between apoptosis and invasion signaling in cancer cells through caspase-3 activation.

In solid tumors, cancer cells are exposed to various microenvironmental stresses such as hypoxia, nutritional depletion, and low pH. Cancer cells adapt to these stresses and circumvent cell death. When the antiapoptotic signals overcome the stress, cancer cells might acquire physiologic functions, such as invasiveness, instead of cell death. Here, we report that tumor cells acquire an invasive capacity from apoptotic signals through caspase activation. We treated rat ascites hepatoma MM1 cells with an apoptosis-inducing drug, etoposide, or hypoxia, and assessed the invasion capacity with an in vitro bioassay. Although MM1 cells hardly showed invasiveness in serum-free medium, under stress conditions, invasive capacity accompanied with morphologic change was induced with caspase-3 activation. Such stress-induced invasion as well as morphologic change was suppressed by blocking caspase-3 activity with caspase inhibitors or by RNA interference of caspase-3. In contrast, lysophosphatidic acid-induced invasiveness was not affected by caspase-3 inhibition. These results suggest that caspase-3 activation contributes to the stress-induced invasive capacity of these cancer cells.