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Experimental Therapeutics, Preclinical Pharmacology |
Section of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine and Cancer Research Center, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois [M. H. W., R. H., M. E. D.] and Section of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island [B. Y.]
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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In a recent study, we reported the kinetic characterization of irinotecan conversion to SN-38 by two distinct human carboxylesterase isoforms, hCE-1 and hCE-2 (7) . hCE-2 is a higher-affinity and higher-velocity enzyme when compared with hCE-1. The Km values are 3.4 µM and 43 µM for hCE-2 and hCE-1, respectively, and the catalytic efficiency of hCE-2 is 60-fold higher than that of hCE-1. At pharmacologically relevant concentrations, hCE-2 converts irinotecan to SN-38 at a 2530-fold higher rate than hCE-1. In addition, incubation of SQ20b cells in the presence of low, pharmacologically relevant concentrations of irinotecan and purified hCE-2 results in increased cytotoxicity when compared with that seen in the presence of irinotecan and hCE-1 (7) .
Both the human and rabbit carboxylesterases have been transfected with several tumor cell lines and are developed in enzyme/prodrug combinations with irinotecan (8 , 9) . Overexpression of hCE-1 in human tumor cell lines results in increased activation of irinotecan to SN-38 and enhanced cytotoxicity (8) . However, the irinotecan concentrations used in these studies were significantly higher than pharmacologically relevant plasma concentrations observed after irinotecan administration to patients. Transfection with the rabbit liver carboxylesterase, an enzyme 100-1000-fold more efficient than hCE-1 at converting irinotecan to SN-38 in vitro, enhanced cell sensitivity by 1255-fold to irinotecan. More recently, Khanna et al. (10) reported that the cloned human small intestine carboxylesterase (hiCE) efficiently activated irinotecan in COS-7 cells and conferred sensitivity of cells carrying this gene. This suggests a role of this isoform in rendering the human small intestine to irinotecan induced toxicity. Interestingly, hiCE (11) and hCE-2 (12) are identical along the entire coding region except for a stretch of nine amino acids immediately after the first methionine, which is not present in hCE-2.
To further investigate the role of these carboxylesterase isoforms, we cloned both hCE-1 and hCE-2 cDNAs from a human cDNA library and transfected the human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line HT-29. Hydrolysis of irinotecan by the transfected cell lines and the effect of gene expression on sensitivity to irinotecan have been determined.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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The PCR products were cloned into pIRES-neo and propagated in Escherichia coli for plasmid purification. HT29 cells were cultured to 4060% confluence and electroporated on the Electro Square Porator T820 (Genetronics, Inc., San Diego, CA). Parameters used for electroporation were as follows: 500 V/cm, 10 pulses of 1.0 ms each in X-VIVO 10 + 1% human serum albumin. Electroporated cells were plated, cultured for 24 h, and then cultured for 1214 days in the presence of 250 µg Geneticin. Individual colonies were then grown in Geneticin-containing medium for preparation of cell extract. Cloned hCE-2 cDNA was sequenced on the 377XL DNA sequencer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). The junctures between the 5' ends of inserts and the vector were confirmed by sequencing using primers on the vector upstream to the inserts (T7 primer: 5'-TAATACGACTCACTATAGGG-3'). Sequence data were analyzed using the MegAlign II module in the Lasergene package (DNASTAR, Inc., Madison, WI).
Preparation of Cell Extracts.
HT29 cells, untransfected or transfected, in log-phase growth were trypsinized, washed in PBS, and resuspended in 50 mM potassium phosphate containing 10% Triton X-100 and 1% DTT. The cells were then sonicated on ice (3 x 10 s) each on a Microson Ultrasonic Cell Distributor (Heat Systems, Inc., Farmingdale, NY), with power output set at 30%. Particulates were removed by centrifugation at 8000g for 10 min at 4°C.
IEF, Native-PAGE, and Western Blot.
The precast IEF ready gels (pH 58) and Tris-HCl ready gels (10%), running buffers, Ready Gel Cell, and the Trans-blot SD Transfer Cell were from Bio-Rad Laboratories (Hercules, CA). ECL Plus was from Amersham Life Science, Inc. (Arlington Heights, IL). Tris-buffered saline with Tween [50 mM Tris, 138 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 0.05% Tween 20 (pH 8.0)] was from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO). Primary antibodies against hCE-1 and hCE-2 were raised in New Zealand rabbits as described previously (13)
. The horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody was from Amersham Life Science Inc. (Arlington Heights, IL). Ten micrograms each of the extracts prepared from HT29 cells transfected with pIRES-neo, pIRES-hCE-1, or pIRES-hCE-2 were electrophoresed at 100 V for 1 h and 250 V for 1 h, followed by 500 V for 30 min. Native-PAGE was run at 150 V for 1 h. As a quantitative reference, a mixture containing 20 ng each of purified hCE-1 and hCE-2 was loaded on each gel. Immediately after electrophoresis, proteins in the gel were transferred onto polyvinylidene difluoride membrane using the Trans-Blot Transfer Cell with 0.7% glacial acetic acid as transfer buffer for 45 min at 12 V constant. The membranes were then blocked in 5% BSA for 30 min to 1 h, followed by sequential incubation in primary and secondary antibodies in Tris-buffered saline with 0.05% Tween 20 for 1 h, with four washes, 10 min each, after each incubation. The blot was then stained with ECL Plus and the image captured on the ChemiDoc Imaging system (Bio-Rad Laboratories).
Irinotecan Hydrolysis.
Protein extracts (2 mg/ml) prepared from HT29 cells, untransfected or transfected with hCE-1, hCE-2 or the parental vector (pIRES-neo) were incubated with the designated concentrations of irinotecan at 37°C in 0.25 ml of 50 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). At selected incubation times, the reaction was stopped by the addition of 4 volumes of ice-cold methanol and placement of the solution on ice. One hundred microliters of internal standard (camptothecin, 1 µg/ml in 0.1 N HCl) was added. Samples were evaporated to dryness under nitrogen and reconstituted in 200 µl of HPLC mobile phase. SN-38 was quantitated by HPLC.
Quantitation of SN-38 Production.
Irinotecan and SN-38 concentrations were determined by HPLC as modified from Gupta et al. (14)
. Briefly, irinotecan and SN-38 were separated using a Partisphere 10 µ-C18 column (4.5 x 250 mm; Whatman Inc., Clifton, NJ) with a mobile phase consisting of 27% acetonitrile, 73% 0.1 M potassium dihydrogen phosphate containing 3 mM sodium heptane sulfonate (pH 4.0). Detection was monitored using a Hitachi F1050 fluorescence detector (Hitachi Instruments, Naperville, IL) with
ex = 375 nm and
em = 566 nm. The standard curves of irinotecan and SN-38 were linear (r = 0.99) within the range of 152500 ng/ml and 2250 ng/ml, respectively.
Colony-forming Cytotoxicity Assay.
HT-29 cells plated 1618 h earlier at a density of 5 x 105 cells/25 cm2 in culture medium (3:1 DMEM, Hanks F-12K, 20% FBS, and 100 µg/ml penicillin-streptomycin) were washed and placed in serum-free culture medium. Irinotecan (1% volume) was added to the cell-culture medium to achieve the designated concentrations. After a 4-h incubation at 37°C, the cells were washed with fresh growth medium, trypsinized, and replated in culture dishes at a density of 100-1000 cells/100-mm2 dish. Colonies (>50 cells) were counted 1012 days later after staining with crystal violet. Control samples (no irinotecan) were treated identically.
| RESULTS |
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To determine the expression levels for these clones, extracts were subjected to IEF followed by Western blot. As shown in Fig. 1A
, the two proteins were well separated from each other by their isoelectrical points (pH 5.8 and 4.9 for hCE-1 and hCE-2, respectively; Ref. 12
, 15
). The proteins were also separated by nondenaturing PAGE (native-PAGE), as shown in Fig. 1B
, because hCE-1 is a trimer and hCE-2 is a monomer under native conditions (12
, 15)
. From these data, no significant differences were observed in the expression levels of hCE-1 and hCE-2 in the two clones. These results also provide evidence that any difference in irinotecan hydrolysis and cell sensitization by irinotecan is attributable to the kinetic properties of the enzymes.
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| DISCUSSION |
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In human liver, there are at least four different enzymes/isoforms known to convert CPT-11 to SN-38: hCE-1, hCE-2 (7) , hiCE (10) , and the human butyrylcholinesterase (17) . In addition, the human placenta was shown to contain three isoforms of carboxylesterases, two of which were essentially identical in sequence to those from the liver (18) . The human brain carboxylesterase may be a new isoform (19) , although hCE-1 was shown to be present in brain tissues (20) . Irinotecan conversion to its active metabolite may result from any combination of these isoforms, and possibly others yet to be identified, with contributions from each individual enzyme dependent on their concentration within human tissues. In this study, we report the expression of individual carboxylesterase isoforms in a relevant human colon cancer cell line with nondetectable levels of enzyme capable of irinotecan activation.
The topoisomerase I inhibitors represent a promising new class of anticancer drugs. Among the topoisomerase I inhibitors, irinotecan in particular has shown activity against colorectal cancers (1) . As a means to further improve the therapeutic index of irinotecan, enzyme prodrug combinations with irinotecan are currently being developed using either hCE-1 or a purified rabbit carboxylesterase (21) . Transfection of tumor cell lines with either the rabbit carboxylesterase enzyme or hCE-1 results in an increase in the sensitivity to irinotecan; however our data demonstrate prodrug/gene therapy with hCE-2 may be advantageous. The clinical benefit of using hCE-2 over the rabbit carboxylesterase is that it is a human enzyme and thus imposes minimal immunogenic risks when used in vivo. Furthermore, hCE-2 enhances the toxicity of pharmacologically relevant concentrations of irinotecan as compared with concentrations required for hCE-1. Thus, hCE-2 in prodrug-enzyme-directed gene therapy may be clinically useful as a means to increase the efficacy of irinotecan.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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1 Supported in part by DK07074 (to M. H. W.), GM61393 (M. E. D.), and ES07965 (B. Y.). ![]()
2 Present address: Abbott Laboratories, Pharmaceutical Products Division, Abbott Park, Illinois 60064. ![]()
3 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Corresponding author: University of Chicago Medical Center, Section of Hematology/Oncology, 5841 S. Maryland Ave., Box MC2115, Chicago, IL 60637-1470. Phone: (773) 702-4441; Fax: (773) 702-0963; E-mail: edolan{at}medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu ![]()
4 The abbreviations used are: APC, 7-ethyl-[4-N-(5-aminopentanoic acid)-1-piperidino] carbonyloxycamptothecin; hCE, human carboxylesterase; IEF, isoelectrical focusing; HPLC, high performance liquid chromatography. ![]()
Received 1/ 8/02; revised 4/ 2/02; accepted 4/17/02.
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