Histone deacetylase inhibitors and retinoic acids inhibit growth of human neuroblastoma in vitro.

BACKGROUND: Neuroblastoma is a common childhood cancer with a poor overall prognosis. Retinoic acids (RAs) have been studied as a potential therapy, showing promise in recurrent disease. The histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACI) M-carboxycinnamic acid bishydroxamide (CBHA) is another potential therapy, which we recently described. Combinations of RAs and HDACIs currently under investigation display synergy in certain neoplasms. In this study, we evaluate the effect of combinations of RAs and HDACIs on human neuroblastoma cells. PROCEDURE: Established cell lines were cultured in increasing concentrations of HDACIs, RAs, and combinations thereof. Following exposure, viable cell number was quantified by trypan blue dye exclusion on a hemacytometer. Cell cycle analysis was performed by propidium iodide staining and FACS. RESULTS: All assayed HDACIs and RAs decreased viable cell number. Lower concentrations of each agent were effective when the two were combined. The primary reason for decreased cell number appears to be apoptosis following HDACI exposure and G1 arrest following RA exposure. Both effects are seen with cotreatment. Caspase inhibition abrogates the apoptotic response. CONCLUSIONS: CBHA causes apoptosis of human neuroblastoma in vitro, an effect that can add to the effects of RA. HDACIs and RAs inhibit neuroblastoma in significantly lower concentrations when used together than when used individually. Combination therapy may improve the ultimate efficacy while reducing the side effects of these agents in clinical use.

Identification and characterization of a critical CP2-binding element in the human interleukin-4 promoter.

Expression of cytokine genes in T cells is thought to result from a complex network of antigen- and mitogen-activated transcriptional regulators. CP2, a factor homologous to Drosophila Elf-1 and previously found to be a critical regulator of several viral and cellular genes in response to developmental signals, is rapidly activated in T helper (Th) cells in response to mitogenic stimulation. Here we show that overexpression of CP2 enhances interleukin (IL)-4 promoter-driven chloramphenicol acetyltransferase expression, while repressing IL-2 promoter activity, in transiently transfected Jurkat cells. A CP2-protected element, partially overlapping the nuclear factor of activated T cell-binding P2 sequence, was required for IL-4 promoter activation in CP2-overexpressing Jurkat cells. This CP2-response element is the site of a cooperative interaction between CP2 and an inducible heteromeric co-factor(s). Mutation of conserved nucleotide contacts within the CP2-response element prevented CP2 binding and significantly reduced constitutive and induced IL-4 promoter activity. Expression of a CP2 mutant lacking the Elf-1-homology region of the DNA-binding domain inhibited IL-4 promoter activity in a dominant negative fashion in transiently transfected Jurkat cells. Moreover, overexpressed CP2 markedly enhanced, while its dominant negative mutant consistently suppressed, expression of the endogenous IL-4 gene in the murine Th2 cell line D10. Taken together, these findings point to CP2 as a critical IL-4 transactivator in Th cells.

The effects of serum depletion and dexamethasone on growth and differentiation of human neuroblastoma cell lines.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Neuroblastoma is the most solid common extracranial malignancy in childhood. Despite multimodality treatment, high-risk disease continues to carry a poor prognosis. Glucocorticoids have been shown previously to induce differentiation in murine neuroblastoma cell lines, but no such effect has been documented in human neuroblastoma cells. Glucocorticoids are known to be active in the differentiation process of the neural crest. These studies describe the effects of dexamethasone on 6 human neuroblastoma cell lines. METHODS: Dexamethasone was added to cultured neuroblastoma cell lines (LA1-5S, LA1-15N, BE[2]S, BE[2]N, SH-EP-1, SH-SY5Y) maintained in media supplemented with either normal serum or charcoal-depleted serum. Proliferation assays were performed, and flow cytometry was used to assess alterations in cell cycle. Cells were closely monitored for morphological changes with serial phase-contrast microscopy. Immunohistochemistry (3F8, NF-1, TRK-A) of cultured cells was used to evaluate differentiation. Glucocorticoid receptor levels was assessed using immunoblotting. RESULTS: Dexamethasone decreased the rate of cellular proliferation in both standard and charcoal-depleted conditions. Flow cytometry showed a G1 accumulation. Increased expression of the differentiation-associated antigens was found in cells cultured in charcoal-depleted media, and a further augmentation was seen with the addition of dexamethasone. In standard media, dexamethasone had no detectable effect on the expression of these antigens. Glucocorticoid receptor expression was found to be comparable in all cell lines. CONCLUSIONS: Human neuroblastoma cells are sensitive to the differentiating effects of dexamethasone in an environment of charcoal-depleted serum. This phenomenon may be caused by the existence of growth and mitogenic factors in serum that are inhibiting differentiation.

Hybrid polar histone deacetylase inhibitor induces apoptosis and CD95/CD95 ligand expression in human neuroblastoma.

Inhibitors of histone deacetylase (HDAC) have been shown to have both apoptotic and differentiating effects on various tumor cells. M-carboxycinnamic acid bishydroxamide (CBHA) is a recently developed hybrid polar compound structurally related to hexamethylene bisacetamide. CBHA is a potent inhibitor of HDAC activity. CBHA induces cellular growth arrest and differentiation in model tumor systems. We undertook an investigation of the effects of CBHA on human neuroblastoma cell lines in vitro. When added to cultures of a panel of neuroblastoma cell lines, CBHA induced the accumulation of acetylated histones H3 and H4, consistent with the inhibition of HDAC. Concentrations of CBHA between 0.5 microM and 4 microM led to apoptosis in nine of nine neuroblastoma cell lines. Apoptosis was assessed by DNA fragmentation analysis and the appearance of a sub-G1 (<2N ploidy) population by flow cytometric analysis. The addition of a caspase inhibitor (benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethyl ketone) completely abrogated CBHA-induced apoptosis in three of three cell lines. The addition of cycloheximide greatly reduced CBHA-induced apoptosis, suggesting that apoptotic induction was dependent on de novo protein synthesis. In addition, CBHA induced the expression of both CD95 (APO-1/Fas) and CD95 ligand within 12 h. The effect of CBHA on human neuroblastoma cells suggests that this agent and structurally related synthetic hybrid polar compounds have therapeutic potential for the treatment of this malignancy.

cDNA subtraction hybridization: a review and an application to neuroblastoma.

Recent advances in molecular biological techniques have increased our capability to distinguish the small differences in gene expression between subpopulations of cells found within specific tissues or tumor isolates. We use subtractive hybridization or subtractive cloning to generate information regarding genes that direct various aspects of mammalian embryonic development. The technique also is used to identify genes with specificity for particular tissues or cell types or those that regulate various processes in the cell. Also, subject to analysis is the aberrant expression of genes involved in tumorigenesis. Another use is analysis of subpopulations of cell types previously identified within individual solid tumors. We used subtractive cloning in the analysis of cell line subpopulations derived from the human pediatric tumor neuroblastoma. This has resulted in the identification of novel genes that may be useful in the study of this disease.

Evidence that levels of the dimeric cellular transcription factor CP2 play little role in the activation of the HIV-1 long terminal repeat in vivo or following superinfection with herpes simplex virus type 1.

The dimeric transcription factor CP2 binds a sequence element found near the transcription start site of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) long terminal repeat. Several groups have suggested that cellular factors binding this element might play a role in modulating HIV-1 promoter activity in vivo. For example, induction of latent HIV-1 gene expression in response to superinfection by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) or cytomegalovirus is thought to be mediated, in part, by factors binding the CP2 site. In this report we began to examine directly the relationship between CP2 and expression of the HIV-1 promoter. First, we tested what effect HSV-1 infection of T cells had on the cellular levels of CP2. The results showed that HSV-1 infection led to a significant reduction in the level of CP2 DNA binding activity and protein within 20 h. Next, we tested the effect of overexpressing either the wild-type factor or a dominant negative variant of CP2 on HIV-1 promoter activity in vivo. The results showed that CP2 had little effect or slightly repressed HIV-1 promoter activity in vivo. In addition, these expression constructs had little effect on the induction of HIV-1 promoter activity elicited by HSV-1 infection.

Characterization of the genomic structure, chromosomal location, promoter, and development expression of the alpha-globin transcription factor CP2.

We recently cloned murine and human cDNAs that encode CP2, a cellular transcription factor that interacts with the alpha-globin promoter as well as with additional cellular and viral promoter elements. We have now characterized the genomic structure, chromosome location, promoter, and expression pattern of the factor. Genes for the murine and human mRNAs contained 16 and 15 exons, respectively. Both genes spanned approximately 30 kilobases of chromosomal DNA, and among coding exons, all exon/intron boundaries were conserved. The human gene for CP2 was found to reside on chromosome 12 while the murine gene mapped to the distal end of chromosome 15, near Gdc-1, Wnt-1, and Rarg, a region syntenic with human chromosome 12. The murine and human promoters initiated mRNAs at multiple start sites in a conserved region that spanned more than 450 nucleotides. Lastly, a study of the pattern of CP2 gene expression showed that the factor was expressed in all adult and fetal murine tissues examined from at least day 9.5 of development.

Characterization of the molecularly cloned murine alpha-globin transcription factor CP2.

We recently cloned human and murine cDNAs that encode CP2, a transcription factor that interacts with the murine alpha-globin promoter. In this report, we exploited our ability to express CP2 in bacteria and eukaryotic cells to further investigate factor activities in vitro and in vivo. CP2 expressed in bacteria was significantly enriched and used in a series of DNase I footprinting and electrophoretic gel shift assays. The results suggest that CP2 binds a hyphenated recognition sequence motif that spans one DNA helix turn. In addition, the enriched bacterial protein activated transcription of alpha-globin promoter templates approximately 3- to 4-fold in vitro. We then tested the effect of elevating CP2 levels 2.5- to 5.5-fold in vivo using both transient and stable transformation assays. When a reporter construct comprised of the intact murine alpha-globin promoter driving the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene was introduced into these overexpressing cells, we observed a 3- to 6-fold increase in CAT activity when compared to cells expressing normal levels of CP2. These results define the CP2 factor binding site in more detail and help characterize the activities of the factor in vivo.

Molecular cloning of the alpha-globin transcription factor CP2.

CP2, a transcription factor that binds the murine alpha-globin promoter, was purified and subjected to amino acid sequence analysis. Oligonucleotide primers derived from the sequence were used to obtain murine and human cDNA clones for the factor. The murine cDNA spans approximately 4 kb and contains two coextensive open reading frames (ORFs) which encode deduced polypeptides of 529 (ORF-1; molecular weight, 59,802) and 502 (ORF-2; molecular weight, 56,957) amino acids, slightly smaller than the purified factor as estimated from its mobility in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels (64,000 to 66,000). The human cDNA contains a single ORF of 501 amino acids that is nearly contiguous with murine ORF-2. Indeed, comparison of deduced human and murine amino acid sequences shows that the two polypeptides are 96.4% identical. A strictly conserved region is rich in serine and threonine (17.5%) and in proline (11%) residues (S-T-P domain). This S-T-P domain is immediately amino terminal to a string of 10 glutamines (in the human sequence) or a tract of alternating glutamine and proline residues (in the mouse sequence). Bacterial expression of the full-length (502-amino-acid) murine factor or of a core region comprising amino acids 133 to 395 generated polypeptides with the DNA binding specificity of CP2. These results confirmed the cloning of CP2 and delimited the region sufficient for specific DNA sequence recognition. Antisera produced against the core region recognized polypeptide species with Mrs of 64,000 and 66,000 in immune blots of nuclear extracts prepared from both murine and human cell lines, consistent with the size of the purified factor. Lastly, a data base search revealed that amino acids 63 to 270 of the murine factor are distantly related to a domain in the Drosophila gene regulatory factor Elf-1.

Promoter elements and erythroid cell nuclear factors that regulate alpha-globin gene transcription in vitro.

We have previously purified four factors (alpha-IRP, alpha-CP1, alpha-CP2, and NF-E1) that interact with the promoter of the alpha-globin gene. One of these (NF-E1) is a tissue-restricted factor that has recently been cloned. The binding sites of these factors identify DNA sequence elements that might mediate the tissue-specific and inducible transcription of the alpha-globin gene. This possibility was tested in a series of in vitro transcription experiments. An examination of 5' truncated templates and synthetic promoters constituted from individual factor-binding sites apposed to the alpha-TATAA box showed that the binding elements of three factors (alpha-CP1, alpha-IRP, and NF-E1) mediate four- to sixfold activation of transcription in vitro. In contrast, one element (alpha-CP2) stimulated transcription less than twofold. The 5- to 10-fold stimulation of these latter templates upon addition of a DNA sequence affinity-purified factor suggests that alpha-CP2 is functionally limiting in nuclear extracts. Additional experiments further tested the effect of supplementing extracts with factors purified from erythroid cell nuclear extracts or, in the case of NF-E1, enriched from a bacterial cDNA expression system. Each factor tested stimulated transcription in vitro in a binding-site-dependent manner. Our results provide a comprehensive functional view of the murine alpha-globin promoter and suggest possible mechanisms for activation of alpha-globin gene transcription during induced differentiation of murine erythroleukemia cells.

Biochemical analysis suggests distinct functional roles for the BLAST-1 and BLAST-2 antigens.

The biochemical processing of the BLAST-1 and BLAST-2 activation antigens has been studied. Both are glycoproteins that derive from different precursors of the same apparent m.w. on SDS-PAGE. BLAST-1 is synthesized as a 43,000 m.w. light chain in association with a second heavier chain of 55,000 m.w. The light chain acquires sialylated O-linked glycans and is stably expressed at the cell surface with a half-life of 14 hr. BLAST-2 is also synthesized as a 43,000 m.w. precursor, but it acquires only unsialylated N-linked glycans. The mature glycoprotein is only expressed briefly at the cell surface (half-life of 1 to 2 hr), and is then shed into the culture supernatant as a soluble 33,000 m.w. derivative. The different fates of these molecules, one stably expressed at the cell surface and one shed, suggest disparate roles for these two antigens in B cell activation.