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Molecular predictors of human nervous system cancer responsiveness to enediyne chemotherapy

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Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To identify and mathematically model molecular predictors of response to the enediyne chemotherapeutic agent, neocarzinostatin, in nervous system cancer cell lines.

Methods

Human neuroblastoma, breast cancer, glioma, and medulloblastoma cell lines were maintained in culture. Content of caspase-3 and Bcl-2, respectively, was determined relative to actin content for each cell line by Western blotting and optical densitometry. For each cell line, sensitivity to neocarzinostatin was determined. Brain tumor cell lines were stably transfected with human Bcl-2 cDNA cloned into the pcDNA3 plasmid vector.

Results

In human tumor cell lines of different tissue origins, sensitivity to neocarzinostatin is proportional to the product of the relative contents of Bcl-2 and caspase-3 (r 2 = 0.9; P < 0.01). Neuroblastoma and brain tumor cell lines are particularly sensitive to neocarzinostatin; the sensitivity of brain tumor lines to neocarzinostatin is enhanced by transfection with an expression construct for Bcl-2 and is proportional in transfected cells to the product of the relative contents of Bcl-2 and caspase-3 (r 2 = 0.7).

Conclusion

These studies underscore the potential of molecular profiling in identifying effective chemotherapeutic paradigms for cancer in general and tumors of the nervous system in particular.

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Acknowledgments

The studies described were funded by grants to NFS from the National Cancer Institute (R01-CA074289) and the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (R01-NS038569).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology & Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA

    Danny Rogers, Zhiping Mi, Tong Hu & Nina F. Schor

  2. Pediatric Center for Neuroscience, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Karen D. Nylander

  3. Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 777, Rochester, NY, 14642, USA

    Nina F. Schor

Authors
  1. Danny Rogers
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  2. Karen D. Nylander
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  3. Zhiping Mi
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  4. Tong Hu
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  5. Nina F. Schor
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Correspondence to Nina F. Schor.

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Rogers, D., Nylander, K.D., Mi, Z. et al. Molecular predictors of human nervous system cancer responsiveness to enediyne chemotherapy. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 62, 699–706 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-008-0725-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-008-0725-7

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