Background
There is significant interest in naturally occurring bioactive products that have clinical potential in the prevention and treatment of cancer. Among them is resveratrol (RES), which belongs to a class of defense molecules called phytoalexins and is produced in a wide variety of plants (including grapes, peanuts, and mulberries) in response to stress, injury, UV irradiation, and fungal infection [
1]. RES is normally present in many dietary products such as grapes, peanuts, berries and wine [
2,
3], which is known to affect a broad range of intracellular mediators involved in the initiation, promotion and progression of cancer [
3‐
5]. As an anticancer agent, RES has pleiotropic effects, altering many different signaling pathways, leading to suppression of tumor cell proliferation, adhesion, invasion and metastasis, reduced signs of inflammation and angiogenesis, and induction of apoptosis and differentiation [
4,
6‐
13]. Nevertheless, although numerous studies have described intracellular changes leading to cell cycle arrest or apoptosis in response to RES treatment, the effects are often cell type specific [
14,
15], the precise mechanisms associated with the anti-proliferative and chemopreventive effects of RES have not been well elucidated.
Recently, RES was shown to up-regulate a set of genes involved in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response to unfolded proteins[
16]. In addition, induction of CHOP/GADD153, one of the components of the ER stress-mediated apoptosis pathway, was shown to be implicated in RES-induced apoptosis in colon cancer cells [
17]. Accordingly, evidence was reported more recently that RES could indeed trigger ER stress-induced cell death in dopaminergic cells[
18]. UPR could therefore be a potential mechanism of RES cytotoxicity.
Conditions that disrupt protein folding in the ER, such as a chemical insult or nutrient deprivation, activate stress signaling pathways collectively termed as the unfolded protein response (UPR) [
19,
20]. The UPR is the major protective and compensatory mechanism enabling stressed cells to survive during ER stress. UPR induction results in both an initial decrease in general protein synthesis, to reduce the influx of nascent proteins into the ER, and increased transcription of ER resident chaperones, folding enzymes, and components of the protein degradative machinery to prevent the aggregation of the accumulating misfolded proteins. The key players in the UPR are well characterized and it is mediated through three ER transmembrane receptors: pancreatic ER kinase (PERK), activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) and inositol-requiring enzyme 1 (IRE1) [
21‐
23]. In resting cells, all of these ER stress receptors are maintained in an inactive state through their association with the ER chaperone, GRP78 (also called BiP). This interaction is destabilized in the presence of misfolded/unfolded proteins, resulting in the dissociation of GRP78/BiP from PERK, ATF6 and IRE1, thereby initiating the UPR. Initially, the UPR is a pro-survival response enabling the cell to survive reversible environmental stresses. However, if the stress is too severe or lasts for too long, UPR activation eventually leads to cell-cycle arrest and the induction of apoptosis[
24‐
29].
CHOP/GADD153 is a member of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein family that is induced by ER stress and participates in ER stress-mediated apoptosis [
30]. In this study we demonstrate that RES treatment indeed caused the activation of UPR in Raji and Daudi Burkitt's lymphoma cells. Our results demonstrate that a proportion of the ability of RES to kill Burkitt's lymphoma Raji and Daudi cells has been attributed to upregulation of CHOP/GADD153.
Methods
Cell culture
Human Raji and Daudi Burkitt's lymphoma cells, human HMy2.CIR B lymphoblast cells were grown as suspension culture in RPMI1640 medium supplemented with 10% FBS. Resveratrol (Sigma-Aldrich, Inc., St. Luis, MO) was dissolved as a 100 mM stock solution in DMSO.
Viability assay
The in vitro toxicology assay (methyl-thiazol-tetrazolium, MTT based) was performed according to manufacturer's instruction (KeyGEN, Nanjing, China). Cells (1.5 × 104 cells/100 μl) were incubated in a 96-well plate with different effectors for the times indicated in the figure legends.
Cell death analysis
For cell death assays, according to the manufacturer's instructions, cells were stained with Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide (KeyGEN, Nanjing, China) and analyzed by fluorescence-activated cell scanner (FACScan) flow cytometer (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ).
RT-PCR detection of unspliced and spliced XBP-1
To determine relative expression levels of XBP-1/XBP-1 s within a sample, the XBP-1 cDNA fragment was amplified with the following pair of primers: 5'-GTTGAGAACCAGGAGTTAAGACAG-3' (forward) and 5'-CAGAGGGTATCTCAAGACTAGG-3' (reverse). A 456-bp PCR product was expected if the XBP-1 cDNA fragment was derived form the unspliced form (that contains the 26-bp intron) and a 430-bp PCR product was expected if the XBP-1 cDNA fragment is derived form the spliced form. The GAPDH fragment was amplified with the following pair of primers: 5'-CTCAGACACCATGGGGAAGGTGA-3' (forward) and 5'-ATGATCTTGAGGCTGTTGTCATA-3' (reverse) to produce a 450-bp fragment of GAPDH. The temperature profile was at 94°C for 2 minutes, followed by 30 cycles of 94°C for 15 seconds, 60°C for 1 minute, and 72°C for 30 seconds. The numbers of PCR amplification cycle of XBP-1 and GAPDH were 35 and 25 respectively. PCR products were run on 2% agarose gels containing ethidium bromide followed by visualization under UV.
RNA isolation and real-time RT-PCR
Total RNA was isolated from cells using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Real time PCR analysis was performed in triplication on the ABI 7500 sequence detection system (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) using the SYBR Green PCR Master mix (Applied Biosystems, Warrington, UK). For CHOP, the forward primer was 5'-ATGAGGACCTGCAAGAGGTCC-3' and the reverse was 5'-TCCTCCTCAGTCAGCCAAGC-3'. For GRP78, the forward primer was 5'-GTTCTTGCCGTTCAAGGTGG-3' and reverse was 5'-TGGTACAGTAACAACTGCATG-3'. For GRP94, the forward primer was 5'-TACCCACATCTGCTCCACGTG-3' and reverse was 5'-ACCAAGCTTGATGTTGGTAC-3'. For ATF4, the forward primer was 5'-AAGCCTAGGTCTCTTAGATG-3' and reverse was 5'-TTCCAGGTCATCTATACCCA-3'. For GADD34, the forward primer was 5'-AAGCTCACAGAACCTCTAC-3' and reverse was 5'-GATGTCCACAGAAGAACTTC-3'. For β-actin, the forward primer was 5'-GAGACCTTCAACACCCCAGCC-3' and the reverse was 5'-GGATCTTCATGAGGTAGTCAG-3'. All the reactions were performed in triplicate and normalized using β-actin as control gene.
Western blot analysis
Cells were lysed in lysis buffer (20 mM Tris-HCl, 150 mM NaCl, 2 mM EDTA, 1% Triton-X100) containing a protease inhibitor cocktail (Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louis, MO). Cell extract protein amounts were quantified using the BCA protein assay kit. Equivalent amounts of protein (20 μg) were separated using 12% SDS-PAGE and transferred to PVDF membrane (Millipore Corporation, Billerica, MA). Western immunoblotting was performed using primary antibodies against CHOP (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA), GRP78 (BD Bioscience, San Diego, CA), GRP94 (Abcam, Cambridge, MA), ATF6 (Abcam, Cambridge, MA), eIF2a (Cell Signaling, Danvers, MA), phospho-eIF2a (Ser51) (Cell Signaling, Danvers, MA), phospo-PERK (Thr980) (Cell Signaling, Danvers, MA), Histone H2B (Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA), or GAPDH (Chemicon, Bedford, MA), horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated anti-rabbit or anti-mouse secondary antibodies (Amersham Biosciences, UK) and ECL solutions (Amersham Biosciences, UK).
Small interfering RNA (siRNA)
The siRNA sequences used here were as follows: siRNA against CHOP (siCHOP), AAGAACCAGCAGAGGUCACAA and scramble (CCGUAUCGUAAGCAGUACU) that has no homology to any known genes was used as control. In addition, position-mismatched (sequence underlined) siCHOP (simutCHOP; AAGAACCAGCAGACCUCACAA) was also used to confirm the specificity of siCHOP. Transfection of siRNA oligonucleotide was performed with Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) according to the manufacturer's recommendations. The cells were transfected on three consecutive days, and subsequent treatment was performed 72 h after the first transfection.
Detection of Ca2+concentrations
The cytoplasmic level of Ca2+ was determined by flow cytometry (Becton Dickinson FACS Calibur), using Indo 1/AM (Calbiochem, La Jolla, CA). Cells were pretreated with vehicle or BAPTA, a Ca2+ chelator (10 μM) for 3 h before adding 100 μM RES for incubation for 24 h to detect the changes in Ca2+ concentration. The cells were harvested and washed twice, then resuspended in Indo 1/AM (3 μg/ml) and incubated at 37°C for 30 min before being analyzed by flow cytometry.
Statistics
The statistical significance of the difference was analyzed by ANOVA and post hoc Dunnett's test. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. All experiments were repeated three times, and data were expressed as the mean ± SD (standard deviation) from a representative experiment.
Discussion
The use of nontoxic chemical substances is considered a promising alternative strategy for the treatment of human cancer. In recent years, many natural or dietary substances have been shown to inhibit experimental carcinogenesis[
39]. In this regard, RES, a phytoalexin found in grapes and peanuts hat has shown promise as a novel chemotherapeutic agent, which exerts a wide array of biological effects, including anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative and potential chemopreventive activity against human cancer[
40]. Moreover, RES has been shown to suppress the growth of transformed cells also through induction of apoptosis[
9,
41,
42]. Over the past decade, RES has emerged as one of the most promising naturally occurring compound with immense therapeutic potential. However, unlike other commonly occurring natural or synthetic drugs, the precise effect and mode of action of RES has remained enigmatic. In this study we tried to establish the pro-apoptotic role of RES in Burkitt's lymphoma cells and to decipher the mechanisms underlying this action. We showed that treatment of Daudi and Raji Burkitt's lymphoma cells with RES was able to induce ER stress and activated all 3 branches of the UPR. It was interesting to note that both the full-length and cleaved ATF6 increased upon RES exposure. Full-length, as well as cleaved ATF6 was also reported to be increased in cells treated with 4HPR[
43]. Since lack of information on the metabolism of these two proteins at the present, the underlying mechanisms remain to be clarified in the future.
The mechanism of ER stress and the unfolded protein response is primarily a cell protective mechanism [
44,
45], resulting in transient induction of cell cycle arrest and accumulation of molecular chaperons such as GRP78/BiP to bind and recover unfolded proteins. However, it has repeatedly been described that prolonged exposure of cells to either ER stress can induce a switch from cell survival to apoptosis, and the cell protective function of these mechanisms appears to be only a timely restricted protection[
44,
46]. The induction of GADD153/CHOP, synthesized as a downstream component upon the activation of PERK/eIF2a pathway, may be related to the cell death-mediating effect of ER stress. GADD153/CHOP is a proapoptotic protein that is able to downregulate the expression of Bcl-2, and to upregulate the expression of some proapoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family[
47,
48]. Overexpression of GADD153/CHOP has been reported to lead to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, which are believed to be important targets for cancer drug development[
30]. In the current study, we found that RES exposure induced apoptotic executor GADD153/CHOP expression in Raji and Daudi cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that prohibition of GADD153/CHOP induction attenuated RES-induced cytotoxicity in Raji and Daudi cells, suggesting that induction of apoptotic branches of UPR might be implicated in RES-mediated cell cytotoxicity. The activation of UPR by RES was reported in dopaminergic cells recently [
18] and data described in this study was provided further insights as to how UPR might be involved in the cytotoxic action of RES in Burkitt's lymphoma cells.
ER is a principal site for protein synthesis and modification prior to directing protein delivery to other organelles and its proper functioning is essential for cell survival. Any external or internal factors, such as calcium store depletion, inhibition of glycosylation, reduction of disulfide bonds, et al., that impinge on ER structure and function will ultimately result in accumulation of unfoled or misfolded proteins, leading to ER stress[
20,
22]. RES might activate ER stress responses via different mechanisms. For instance, although preferentially functioning as an antioxidant, RES paradoxically has a propensity to stimulate formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in some cells [
49,
50], which can cause oxidation of nascent proteins, thus leading to misfolded proteins and ER stress. It has also been reported that RES inhibits 20 S proteasomal activity[
18], which can cause accumulation of misfolded or unfolded proteins and ER stress. In addition, resveratrol mimics the situation of calorie restriction and ATP deficiency[
51], which can hinder proper folding of nascent proteins. Furthermore, red wine polyphenol compounds is reported to increase intracellular calcium[
50], suggesting that RES possibly cause ER stress through regulation of calcium store in ER. In the current study, pretreatment with BAPTA for 3 hours dramatically reduced RES-induced apoptosis. Apparently, Ca2+ plays an important role in RES-induced apoptosis in Burkitt's lymphoma cells. Further deciphering the mechanisms by which RES leads to ER stress in details, might potentiate the combinational treatment using RES and other inducers of ER stress to combat with malignancies.
Competing interests
The authors declare that have no competing interests.
Authors' contributions
YY carried out the molecular genetic studies, cell culture, and participated in the data analysis. YYG carried out the DNA cloning and flow cytometry. BQL participated in real-time PCR and cell culture. XFN participated in the DNA cloning and cell culture. YZ participated in flow cytometry and MTT assay. HQW conceived of the study, and participated in manuscript drafting and coordinate. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.