Autophagy-inducing agents augment the antitumor effect of telerase-selve oncolytic adenovirus OBP-405 on glioblastoma cells.

Oncolytic adenoviruses are a promising tool in cancer therapy. In this study, we characterized the role of autophagy in oncolytic adenovirus-induced therapeutic effects. OBP-405, an oncolytic adenovirus regulated by the human telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter (hTERT-Ad, OBP-301) with a tropism modification (RGD) exhibited a strong antitumor effect on glioblastoma cells. When autophagy was inhibited pharmacologically, the cytotoxicity of OBP-405 was attenuated. In addition, autophagy-deficient Atg5(-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) were less sensitive than wild-type MEFs to OBP-405. These findings indicate that OBP-405-induced autophagy is a cell killing effect. Moreover, autophagy-inducing therapies (temozolomide and rapamycin) synergistically sensitized tumor cells to OBP-405 by stimulating the autophagic pathway without altering OBP-405 replication. Mice harboring intracranial tumors treated with OBP-405 and temozolomide survived significantly longer than those treated with temozolomide alone, and mice treated with OBP-405 and the rapamycin analog RAD001 survived significantly longer than those treated with RAD001 alone. The observation that autophagy inducers increase OBP-405 antitumor activity suggests a novel strategy for treating patients with glioblastoma.

Silencing mammalian target of rapamycin signaling by small interfering RNA enhances rapamycin-induced autophagy in malignant glioma cells.

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays a central role in regulating the proliferation of malignant glioma cells, and mTOR-specific inhibitors such as rapamycin analogs are considered as promising therapy for malignant gliomas. However, the efficacy of mTOR inhibitors alone in the treatment of patients with malignant gliomas is only modest, potentially because these agents rather than acting as mTOR kinase inhibitors instead interfere with the function of only mTOR/raptor (regulatory-associated protein of mTOR) complex and thus do not perturb all mTOR functions. The purpose of this study was to determine whether global inhibition of the mTOR molecule enhances the antitumor effect of rapamycin on malignant glioma cells. We showed that rapamycin induced autophagy and that inhibition of autophagy by small interfering RNA (siRNA) directed against autophagy-related gene Beclin 1 attenuated the cytotoxicity of rapamycin in rapamycin-sensitive tumor cells, indicating that the autophagy was a primary mediator of rapamycin's antitumor effect rather than a protective response. Exogenous expression of an mTOR mutant interfering with its kinase activity markedly enhanced the incidence of rapamycin-induced autophagy. Moreover, silencing of mTOR with siRNA augmented the inhibitory effect of rapamycin on tumor cell viability by stimulating autophagy. Importantly, not only rapamycin-sensitive malignant glioma cells with PTEN mutations but also rapamycin-resistant malignant glioma cells with wild-type PTEN were sensitized to rapamycin by mTOR siRNA. These results indicate that rapamycin-induced autophagy is one of the agent's antitumor effects and that silencing or inhibiting mTOR kinase activity could enhance the effectiveness of rapamycin.

A novel inhibitor of the STAT3 pathway induces apoptosis in malignant glioma cells both in vitro and in vivo.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3) is constitutively activated in a variety of cancer types, including malignant gliomas. STAT3 is activated by phosphorylation of a tyrosine residue, after which it dimerizes and translocates into the nucleus. There it regulates the expression of several genes responsible for proliferation and survival at the transcriptional level. A selective inhibitor of STAT3 phosphorylation, AG490, has been shown to inhibit growth and induce apoptosis in some cancer cell types. However, although AG490 routinely shows in vitro anticancer activity, it has not consistently demonstrated an in vivo anticancer effect in animal models. Here, we have tested WP1066, a novel inhibitor structurally related to AG490 but significantly more potent and active, against human malignant glioma U87-MG and U373-MG cells in vitro and in vivo. IC(50) values for WP1066 were 5.6 muM in U87-MG cells and 3.7 muM in U373-MG cells, which represents 18-fold and eightfold increases in potency, respectively, over that of AG490. WP1066 activated Bax, suppressed the expression of c-myc, Bcl-X(L) and Mcl-1, and induced apoptosis. Systemic intraperitoneal administration of WP1066 in mice significantly (P<0.001) inhibited the growth of subcutaneous malignant glioma xenografts during the 30-day follow-up period. Immunohistochemical analysis of the excised tumors revealed that phosphorylated STAT3 levels in the WP1066 treatment group remained inhibited at 3 weeks after the final WP1066 injection, whereas tumors from the control group expressed high levels of phosphorylated STAT3. We conclude that WP1066 holds promise as a therapeutic agent against malignant gliomas.

Ionizing radiation induces apoptosis and inhibits neuronal differentiation in rat neural stem cells via the c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway.

A substantial number of neural stem cells (NSCs) continue to proliferate and generate neurons in the central nervous system throughout life. Ionizing radiation, an important adjuvant therapy for glioma patients, may damage NSCs and cause neuronal deficits, such as cognitive dysfunction and memory impairment. However, the precise mechanism of radiation effects on death and differentiation of NSCs remains largely unknown. Here, we found that radiation induced apoptosis in NSCs via the mitochondrial pathway, upregulating the ratio of Bax to Bcl-2 and releasing cytochrome c into the cytoplasm. Radiation also inhibited neuronal differentiation of NSCs by 50%. Of the three stress-associated mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), only c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (JNK) was activated in NSCs after radiation. Interestingly, JNK inhibition by the specific inhibitor SP600125 rescued NSCs from apoptosis and improved neuronal differentiation. Furthermore, we examined whether radiation directly inhibits neuronal differentiation or not. Radiation did not affect the promoter activity of NeuroD, a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that regulates the expression of neuronal differentiation markers. Radiation induced more apoptosis in NeuroD-positive cells than NeuroD-negative cells. We concluded that radiation activates JNK and induces apoptosis, especially in neural progenitor cells, resulting in the inhibition of neurogenesis. Our findings raise the possibility that JNK inhibition has therapeutic potential in protecting NSCs from the adverse effects of radiation.