Combining PARP inhibitors with radiation therapy for the treatment of glioblastoma: is PTEN predictive of response?

Glioblastoma (GBM) is fatal. The standard radiotherapy and chemotherapy (temozolomide) followed by an adjuvant phase of temozolomide provide patients with, on average, a 2.5 months benefit. New treatments that can improve sensitivity to the standard treatment are urgently needed. Herein, we review the mechanisms and utility of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors in combination with radiation therapy as a treatment option for GBM patients and the role of phosphatase and tensin homologue mutations as a biomarker of response (AU9

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Effects of photoreleased cADP-ribose on calcium transients and calcium sparks in myocytes isolated from guinea-pig and rat ventricle.

Actions of photoreleased cADP-ribose (cADPR), a novel regulator of calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) from ryanodine-sensitive stores, were investigated in cardiac myocytes. Photoreleased cADPR caused an increase in the magnitude of whole-cell calcium transients studied in mammalian cardiac ventricular myocytes (both guinea-pig and rat) using confocal microscopy). Approx. 15 s was required following photorelease of cADPR for the development of its maximal effect. Photoreleased cADPR also increased the frequency of calcium 'sparks', which are thought to be elementary events which make up the whole-cell calcium transient, and were studied in rat myocytes, but had little or no effect on spark characteristics (amplitude, rise time, decay time and distance to half amplitude). The potentiating effects of photoreleased cADPR on both whole-cell transients and the frequency of calcium sparks were prevented by cytosolic application of the antagonist 8-amino-cADPR (5 microM). These experiments, therefore, provide the first evidence in any cell type for an effect of cADPR on calcium sparks, and are the first to show the actions of photoreleased cADPR on whole-cell calcium transients in mammalian cells. The observations are consistent with the effects of cADPR in enhancing the calcium sensitivity of CICR from the sarcoplasmic reticulum in cardiac ventricular myocytes, leading to an increase in the probability of occurrence of calcium sparks and to an increase in whole-cell calcium transients. The slow time-course for development of the full effect on whole-cell calcium transients might be taken to indicate that the influence of cADPR on CICR may involve complex molecular interactions rather than a simple direct action of cADPR on the ryanodine-receptor channels.

Overexpression of human poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase in transfected hamster cells leads to increased poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation and cellular sensitization to gamma irradiation.

Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation is a posttranslational modification of nuclear proteins catalyzed by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), an enzyme which uses NAD+ as substrate. Binding of PARP to DNA single-strand or double-strand breaks leads to enzyme activation. Inhibition of poly(ADP-ribose) formation impairs the cellular recovery from DNA damage. Here we describe stable transfectants of the Chinese hamster cell line CO60 that constitutively overexpress human PARP (COCF clones). Immunofluorescence analysis of gamma-irradiation-stimulated poly(ADP-ribose) synthesis revealed consistently larger fractions of cells positive for this polymer in the COCF clones than in control clones, which failed to express human PARP. HPLC-based quantitative determination of in vivo levels of poly(ADP-ribose) confirmed this result and revealed that the basal polymer levels of undamaged cells were significantly higher in the COCF clones. The COCF clones were sensitized to the cytotoxic effects of gamma irradiation compared with control transfectants and parental cells. This effect could not be explained by depletion of cellular NAD+ or ATP pools. Together with the well-known cellular sensitization by inhibition of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation, our data lead us to hypothesize that an optimal level of cellular poly(ADP-ribose) accumulation exists for the cellular recovery from DNA damage.

Cyclic ADP-ribose does not regulate sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ release in intact cardiac myocytes.

Cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR), an intracellular second messenger known to mobilize Ca2+ in sea urchin eggs, has been implicated in modulating Ca2+ release in a variety of mammalian tissues. On the basis of studies of isolated cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) vesicles and single SR Ca2+ release channels, cADPR has also been proposed to be a modulator of SR Ca2+ release in heart. In the present study, we directly examined the ability of cADPR to trigger SR Ca2+ release and to modulate Ca(2+)-induced Ca2+ release (CICR) in intact rat ventricular myocytes. Voltage-clamped myocytes were dialyzed with up to 100 mumol/L caged cADPR and 0.6 mumol/L calmodulin along with the Ca(2+)-sensitive dye fluo 3. A step increase in the cADPR concentration induced by flash photolysis of caged cADPR neither directly triggered SR Ca2+ release nor modulated CICR in intact myocytes. In contrast, under similar conditions, extracellular application of caffeine (1 to 2.5 mmol/L) onto myocytes produced both effects. Under equivalent conditions, flash photolysis of caged cADPR-loaded sea urchin eggs resulted in large Ca2+ transients. Further, the sustained presence of high cytosolic concentrations of either cADPR or its antagonist, 8-amino-cADPR, was ineffective in altering normal CICR in myocytes. These findings indicate that cADPR does not regulate SR Ca2+ release in intact cardiac myocytes.