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

Oncogene volume 26, pages 2435–2444 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

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. IC50 values for WP1066 were 5.6 μ M in U87-MG cells and 3.7 μ M 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-XL 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.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms E Faith Hollingsworth for her technical help and Ms Kathryn Carnes for editing. This work was supported by a generous donation to Y Kondo and S Kondo from the Anthony D Bullock III Foundation and by Cancer Center Support Grant CA16672 to MD Anderson Cancer Center from the National Cancer Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    A Iwamaru, E Iwado, H Aoki, T Yokoyama, R Sawaya, S Kondo & Y Kondo

  2. Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    S Szymanski, I Fokt, T Madden & W Priebe

  3. Department of Biostatistics & Applied Mathematics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    K Hess

  4. Departments of Neuro-oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    C Conrad

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, The Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    R Sawaya & S Kondo

  6. The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    S Kondo

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  1. A Iwamaru
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  2. S Szymanski
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  3. E Iwado
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Correspondence to S Kondo.

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Iwamaru, A., Szymanski, S., Iwado, E. et al. A novel inhibitor of the STAT3 pathway induces apoptosis in malignant glioma cells both in vitro and in vivo. Oncogene 26, 2435–2444 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1210031

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1210031

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