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Induction of Apoptosis by Flavopiridol in Human Neuroblastoma Cells Is Enhanced under Hypoxia and Associated With N-myc Proto-oncogene Down-Regulation

¹ Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and ² Laboratory of Oncology, Giannina Gaslini Institute, Genoa, Italy; ³ Developmental Therapeutics Program-Tumor Hypoxia Laboratory, Science Applications International Corp.-Frederick, Inc., National Cancer Institute-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, Frederick, Maryland; and ⁴ Neuro-Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland

Purpose: Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor of children that arises from the sympathetic nervous system. Survival rates for neuroblastoma patients is low despite intensive therapeutic intervention, and the identification of new effective drugs remains a primary goal. The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, flavopiridol, has demonstrated growth-inhibitory and cytotoxic activity against various tumor types. Our aim was to investigate flavopiridol effects on advanced-stage, N-myc proto-oncogene (MYCN)-amplified human neuroblastomas and the modulation of its activity by hypoxia, a critical determinant of tumor progression and a major challenge of therapy.

Experimental Design: Cell viability was monitored by 3-(4,5 dimethyl-2 thiazolyl)-2,5 diphenyl-2H tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and trypan blue dye exclusion assays; DNA synthesis was assessed with the bromodeoxyuridine pulse-labeling technique; apoptosis was studied by Giemsa staining, DNA fragmentation, terminal deoxynucleotidyl-transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling reaction, flow cytometric determination of hypodiploid DNA content, and evaluation of caspase activity and cytochrome c (CytC) release; MYCN expression was determined by Northern and Western blotting.

Results: Flavopiridol caused dose- and time-dependent decreases in neuroblastoma viability by inducing apoptosis, as confirmed by morphologic and biochemical criteria. Cell death was preceded by DNA synthesis inhibition and G₁-G₂ arrest, reversed by the pancaspase inhibitor, zVAD-fmk, and associated with caspase-3 and -2 activation and CytC increase. Moreover, flavopiridol strongly down-regulated MYCN mRNA and protein expression. Exposure to hypoxia enhanced both the extent of apoptosis and flavopiridol effects on CytC, caspase 3, and MYCN.

Conclusions: These results indicate that flavopiridol has growth-inhibitory and apoptotic activity against advanced-stage neuroblastomas in vitro and is worthy of further investigation for the treatment of this disease.

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