Background
Neuroblastoma is a malignant embryonal tumor occurring in young children, consisting of undifferentiated neuroectodermal cells derived from the neural crest [
1]. It is an aggressive cancer accounting for more than 15 % of all pediatric cancer-related deaths [
2]. A main hallmark of neuroblastoma is the variability in clinical outcome, partly due to the multiple cell types forming the tumor mass. Neuroblastoma cell types vary in their degree of differentiation, tumorigenicity and drug sensitivity, having the capability to trans-differentiate into other cell type.
The multiplicity of the genomic alterations described for neuroblastoma indicates that the evolution of this neoplasia involves a complex pattern of oncogene activation and tumor suppressor gene inactivation [
3]. About 15 % of the neuroblastoma cases show
MYCN gene amplification, a genomic aberration used as a negative prognosis indicator [
4]. Besides
MYCN amplification, other aberrations also contribute to tumor progression. For example, upregulation of
MYCN expression by high expression of the transcription factor E2F1, and/or activation of ALK kinase and/or loss of function of tumor suppressor proteins NF1 and p73, act independently of
MYCN status [
5‐
7]. Since most neuroblastoma cells are wild-type for p53 (p53
wt), induction of p53 is viewed as a potential therapeutic approach for this tumor type [
8,
9]. Accordingly, most patients with high-risk neuroblastomas, initially respond to genotoxic chemotherapy and local radiotherapy (10). However, no satisfactory treatment is currently available as relapsed neuroblastomas show frequent secondary mutations and represent a serious problem in neuroblastoma management [
10,
11].
Inhibition of ribosome biogenesis has been proposed recently as a new therapeutic approach in treating specific cancer types, in particular those driven by dysregulated c-Myc activity [
12,
13]. To maintain high proliferation rates, cancer cells need to increase their translational capacity and are addicted to high rates of ribosome biogenesis [
13‐
16]. In this scenario, high c-Myc activity in tumors influences tumor formation, not only by transcriptionally upregulating genes essential for cell cycle progression, but also by increasing global protein translation. c-Myc activity participates in ribosome biogenesis by inducing the expression of ribosomal proteins through RNA polymerase II, by transcriptional upregulating 45S rRNA and 5S rRNA through activation of RNA Pol I and III respectively, as well as by modulating factors essential for the rRNA processing, rRNA transport and ribosome assembly [
17]. Importantly, like c-Myc, the specific form of
MYC in neuroblastoma, N-Myc, also enhances rates of ribosome biogenesis [
18]. Impairment of this response leads to the activation of a novel MDM2 checkpoint, leading to stabilization of p53, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. The severity to which the checkpoint is engaged, appears to be governed by the extent to which cell is dependent on ribosome biogenesis. Given the addiction c-Myc induced tumors to high rates of ribosome biogenesis, we hypothesized that inhibition of ribosome biogenesis could be an selective approach for neuroblastoma therapy [
19].
Actinomycin D was the first antibiotic shown to have anti-cancer activity, and is now most commonly used as a treatment for a variety of pediatric tumors, such as Wilms’ tumor, Rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing’s sarcoma [
20‐
22]. Actinomycin D is a DNA intercalator, which shows preference for GC-rich DNA sequences [
23]. As the promoter of 45S ribosomal gene is GC-rich, low concentrations of actinomycin D preferentially inhibit RNA Pol I-dependent trasncription, leading to a disruption of ribosome biogenesis [
23]. As a consequence, a preribosomal complex made up of ribosomal proteins RPL5 and RPL11 and non-coding 5S rRNA is redirected from 60S ribosome biogenesis to the binding of MDM2, inhibiting its ubiquitin-ligase activity and promoting the accumulation of p53, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis [
24]. Interestingly, actinomycin D also induces cell death in patients with deleted or mutated p53, suggesting the existence of a p53-independent cell death mechanisms [
25].
Here we studied the response of neuroblastoma cell lines to low doses of actinomycin D in cell culture and xenograft tumor models. We also tested the combinatory effect of actinomycin D with the p53-independent chemotherapeutic agent suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, SAHA, which is now in clinical trials for neuroblastomas treatment [
26]. Our data highlights the therapeutic potential of actinomycin D and suggests that low doses of this drug could be used in combination with other agents to take advantage of its dependence on p53, but avoid its non-specific effects.
Discussion
Current therapies for high-risk neuroblastoma are insufficient, resulting in high mortality rates and high incidence of relapse [
36]. With the intent to find new therapeutic approaches for this cancer, we investigated the utility of actinomycin D as an inhibitor of ribosome biogenesis in the treatment of neuroblastoma tumors. The results presented in this work demonstrate that actinomycin D, at low concentrations, inhibits proliferation and induces cell death in vitro, as well as tumor regression in vivo. From this study, we propose that use of ribosome biogenesis inhibitors should be clinically considered as a potential therapy to treat neuroblastomas.
Although all the neuroblastoma cell types were sensitive to actinomycin D, the extent of the response was different depending on their p53 genetic status. This agrees with the finding that actinomycin D, at low concentrations, has been described as a potent activator of the p53 pathway. In this regard, we show that actinomycin D treatment has similar features to the MDM2 inhibition by Nutlin-3 in p53-functional SK-N-JD. The results presented here agree with those of others showing that sensitivity to Nutlin-3 was highly predictive in the absence of p53 mutation [
37]. It is known that actinomycin D disrupts ribosome biogenesis, redirecting the pre-ribosomal complex RPL11/RPL5/5SrRNA from assembly into nascent 60S ribosomes to the binding and inhibition HDM2, resulting in p53 stabilization [
24]. In this context, we found that actinomycin D increases on p53 protein levels and induces the accumulation of the p53 target genes p21 and MDM2. Interestingly, the increase of MDM2 levels at 24 h correlated inversely with the reduction of p53, suggesting the activation of a feed-back loop, as has been previously reported [
29]. Apoptosis was the major mechanisms responsible for cell death in the p53
wt SK-N-JD neuroblastoma cells and contributes to N-Myc and E2F1 protein degradation.
The fact that actinomycin D was also able to repress cell growth in p53-deficient LA1-55n cells implies the involvement of p53-independent mechanism. Although it was not detected by PARP-1 cleavage analysis, we have shown by flow cytometry analysis that apoptosis was induced after actinomycin D treatment. Apoptotic function of actinomycin D in p53-deficient cells could be a consequence of the activation of p73, a homologue of p53. It is known that p73 binds to the N-terminal hydrophobic pocket of MDM2 and MDM2 inhibits p73 transcriptional activity [
33,
38]. Actinomycin D could prevent p73-MDM2 interaction, resulting in p73-dependent apoptosis, in an analogous manner as it has been reported in p53-null neuronal cells after Nutlin-3 treatment [
33,
34]. Moreover, the minor effect of pan-caspase inhibitor QVD-Oph on restoring cell viability after actinomycin D treatment indicates that apoptotic-independent mechanisms are mainly responsible for the effect of actinomycin D in these cells. In this regards, a strong G
2-M cell cycle arrest was detected after actinomycin D treatment, similar to that previously reported [
39]. Furthermore, our data indicate that actinomycin D activates autophagy. While autophagy is mainly considered a cell survival mechanism, its activation can induce neuroblastoma cell death under certain conditions [
27,
40]. Taken together our results argue for an important p53-independent cell death component induced by actinomycin D in p53 deficient-neuroblastomas, similar to what has been found in chronic lymphocytic leukemia [
25].
About 15 % of the neuroblastoma present
MYCN amplification, an indicator of bad prognosis [
4].
MYCN, like other members of the MYC family, has been described as a driver of anabolic cellular processes, including ribosome biogenesis. I would be expected that
MYCN overexpressing tumors would have elevated rates of ribosome biogenesis, and their malignancy dependent on this process as has been described in c-Myc-driven tumors model of B-cell lymphoma [
19]. In agreement with this, our results show that higher N-Myc levels sensitize neuroblastoma to actinomycin D. In a wild-type p53 genetic background, the stronger effect of actinomycin D in
MYCN amplified context should result in the activation of RPL5/RPL11/5S rRNA-MDM2-p53 checkpoint. Our data agrees with previous findings that report a direct correlation between
MYCN status and the response to the MDM2-p53 antagonist, Nutlin-3 [
41]. Similar to the use of DNA damaging agents, which target cancer cells with high replicative rates, drugs that disrupt ribosome biogenesis, such as actinomycin D could be exploited to induce selective apoptosis in tumors characterized by high rates of ribosome biogenesis, such as Myc driven tumors.
Actinomycin D has been used clinically for over 50 years for the treatment of children and adult cancer. As part of a multimodal therapy, actinomycin D is a key component in the treatment of Wilms tumor, Ewing’s sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma [
42]. Administration of actinomycin D to the patients over this time has generated considerable pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data. This information should be useful for setting up clinical trials for this drug in neuroblastomas. Although actinomycin D is relatively well tolerated, hematological toxicities are observed in some of the children [
42]. New drug combinations may provide a way to lower the effective chemotherapy doses in existing treatment protocols. In this study we show that, in addition to its tumor suppressive activity as a single agent, actinomycin D synergizes with the histone deacetylase inhibitor, SAHA in vitro on neuroblastoma cells.
SAHA was the first histone deacetylase inhibitorm approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, and phase II clinical trials in children with relapsed solid tumors including neuroblastoma are currently ongoing [
26,
31,
43]. Histone deacetylase inhibitors have been shown to induce G1-phase cell cycle arrest, associated with the upregulation of p21
Waf1/Cip1, independently of p53 [
44,
45]. These changes result in reduced proliferation, induction of apoptosis and differentiation [
46]. Although a number of clinical trials have been undertaken with SAHA, the efficacy of this drug as a single agent is low in neuroblastoma. The multiplicity of the genomic alterations found in neuroblastoma suggest that targeting multiple biological pathways are likely to be more effective than drugs that target a single pathway. Accordingly the use of SAHA, in combination with retinoic acid, results in improved anti-tumorigenic activity compared to either drug alone [
47,
48]. The fact that p53 wild-type cells are more sensitive to actinomycin D, and that SAHA acts independently of p53, suggests this combination may be excellent for the treatment of neuroblastoma. Note that although most of the neuroblastomas present p53 wild-type, about 2 % of the cases have p53 mutations at diagnosis and around 15 % in the relapsed tumor [
49]. According to this, the combinatory treatment of SAHA and actinomycin D could be very efficient in the treatment of p53-mutated relapsed tumors.
Inhibition of ribosome biogenesis, and specifically inhibition of RNA pol I, is a promising therapeutic option for cancer. Efforts are currently directed to develop new drugs in this direction. The small molecule CX-5461, an inhibitor of rDNA transcription, has been shown to selectively kill B-lymphoma cells in vivo while maintaining the viability of the wild type population [
19]. Recently, several novel DNA intercalating agents have been identify by drug screen that repress RNA pol I activity by inducing the degradation of the RPA194 subunit of Pol I [
50]. The results obtained here with actinomycin D suggest these novel therapeutic agents have potential against neuroblastoma.
Conclusions
In summary, our data demonstrate that actinomycin D, at low concentrations, inhibits proliferation and induces cell death in neuroblastoma cell lines, as well as tumor regression in xenograft tumor models. We provide experimental evidence showing that apoptosis is the major cell death mechanism triggered by actinomycin D treatment in p53wt cell lines and, to a less extent, in p53-deficient cell lines. Important, we show that higher N-Myc levels, an indicator of bad prognosis, sensitize neuroblastoma to actinomycin D. Our data highlights the therapeutic potential of actinomycin D and suggests that low doses of this drug could be used in combination with other agents to take advantage of its dependence on p53, but avoid its non-specific effects.
Methods
Cell culture and chemicals
SH-SY5Y cell line was purchased from American Type Culture Collection. LA1-55n, SK-N-JD and SK-N-AS were kindly supplied by Dr. Jaume Mora (Children’s Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona) and SH-EP
Tet/21 N by Dr. Manfred Schwab (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Heidelberg). Cell lines were cultured in RPMI 1640 media and supplemented with 10 % fetal bovine serum, 100 U/ml penicillin, 100 μg/ml streptomycin and 2 mM L-glutamine (GIBCO, Life Technologies). Conditional silencing of N-Myc expression in SH-EP
Tet/21 N cells line was achieved by adding 1 μg/ml of tetracycline (Sigma-Aldrich) to growth media. Others chemicals used were actinomycin D (BioVision), nutlin-3 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), SAHA (Cayman Chemical), and the pan-caspase inhibitor quinolyl-valyl-O-methylaspartyl-[−2,6-difluorophenoxy] [
51] 7-methyl ketone (QVD-Oph, R&D Systems).
Cell viability assays
3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) assay was carried out on cells seeded 24 hours prior to treatment on 96-well plates according to manufacturer’s instructions (Promega). Ratio of cell viability was calculated comparing the sample’s optical density to untreated controls at same time point. Cell number was calculated comparing the sample’s optical density to a standard curve. Assays were performed in triplicates.
Quantitative real-time PCR
RNA was isolated using TRIzol (Life Technologies) according to manufacturer’s instructions. RNA was reverse transcribed using MMLV reverse transcriptase (Life Technologies) for 30 minutes at 37 °C. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qPCR) was performed using LightCycler 480 SYBR Green I Master kit (Roche) and the following primer sets (Sigma): MYCN forward 5′-TCCACCAGCAGCACAACTATG-3′ reverse 5′-GTCTAGCAAGTCCGAGCGTGT-3′; E2F1 forward 5′-ATGTTTTCCTGTGCCCTGAG-3′ and reverse 5′-ATCTGTGGTGAGGGATGAGG-3′; 45S rRNA forward 5′-CCCGTGGTGTGAAACCTTC-3′ and reverse 5′-GACGAGACAGCAAACGGGAC-3′; β-actin forward 5′-CGTCTTCCCCTCCATCG-3′ and reverse 5′-CTCGTTAATGTCACGCAC-3′. Calculation of relative mRNA was done using Light Cycler 96 software (Roche). Assays were performed in triplicates.
Western blot
Protein extraction, separation and detection were achieved as described previously [
52]. Antibodies used were: anti-PARP-1, anti-p53, anti-MDM2 and anti-p21 from Santa Cruz Biotechnologies; anti-N-Myc (Calbiochem), anti-LC3 (MBL International), anti-E2F1, anti-β − actin and γ-H2A.X (Cell Signaling Technology) and p73 (Abcam). The assays were repeated a minimum of three times.
siRNAs and transfection
The following siRNAs were used: non-silencing siNT (GCAUCAGUGUCACGUAAUA) and p53 siRNA (GCATCTTATCCGAGTGGAA). Cells were transfected using lipofectamine 2000 according to the manufacturer instructions.
Assessment of synergism
Synergism was calculated according to the Chou-Talalay median effect analysis and determined by the combination index (CI) [
53]. Briefly, SK-N-JD and LA1-55n cell lines were treated with SAHA or actinomycin D individually at serial dilutions, or both simultaneously at fixed molar drug ratios of 1:500 (SK-N-JD) or 1:300 (LA1-55n) for 48 hours cells. The initial concentrations were 2.5 μM for SAHA and 1nM (SK-N-JD) or 20 nM (LA1-55n) for actinomycin D. Cell viability was then determined by MTS assay as previously described. The drug doses and their effect values were then used to determine whether the interaction was synergic (CI < 1), additive (CI = 1), or antagonic (CI > 1) using the CalcuSyn software v. 2.1 (Biosoft Inc.).
Cell cycle analysis
Floating and adherent cells were collected after treatment, washed twice with cold PBS, fixed with ice cold 70 % ethanol, and centrifuged. Cells were then washed and resuspended in 1 ml of phosphate-buffered saline containing propidium iodide 5 μM and RNase A 100 μg/mL (Life Technologies). 104 cells were then analyzed by flow cytometry (Beckman Coulter, Indianapolis, IN), and cell cycle distribution was determined by DNA content.
In vivo treatment of Xenograft model
Six-week old female athymic mice (Harlan Laboratories) were used to propagate subcutaneously-implanted neuroblastoma tumors derived from SK-N-JD cells. Once tumours reached 15 mm at the largest axis, the donor mice were euthanized and equal-size pieces of the tumors were engrafted in both flanks of recipient mice. When tumors were palpable, the mice were divided into 4 cohorts of 8 mice each to receive, by intra-peritoneal injections, one of the following treatments: (a) vehicle control (PEG400 50 % in saline solution), (b) vorinostat (100 mg/kg per dose), (c) actinomycin D (60 μg/kg per dose), (d) vorinostat plus actinomycin D. Injections were given daily during a 1-week period, after which the dose for each treatment were halved and given for another week. Tumor measurements were obtained once every other day and converted to tumor volume using the equation Volume = (3,1416/6 × length × width2). Weights were measured daily. The mice were humanely killed at the end of the experiment. The in vivo experimental protocol was approved by the Committee of Animal Experimentation of the Catalonian Government.
Histology and immunohistochemistry
Tumors were fixed in 10 % neutral formaldehyde, processed, and embedded in paraffin. Endogenous peroxidase activity was quenched by incubation of sections in 0.1 % hydrogen peroxide, and antigen retrieval was achieved using heat-activated 10 mM sodium citrate buffer (pH 6). Sections were incubated for 16 minutes at room temperature using antibodies against Ki67 (Ventana Medical Systems) and p53 (DAKO). All slides were counterstained with hematoxylin, dehydrated, and mounted.
Statistical analysis
Results are expressed as means ± SEM of three separate experiments. Statistical significance of was determined by one-way Anova + Tukey test ( *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001).
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
CLC performed the majority of the experiments, statistical analysis and drafted the manuscript; SRV contributed to in vivo experiments; EA carried out p53 siRNA experiments; JHL and JCF carried out immunohistochemical analysis. SCK, SA, GT, AT devised the study, participated in its conceptual design and corrected the manuscript. SA, AT conceived of the study; AT coordinated the study, and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.