RESUMO
Melanoma is highly malignant, and generally exhibits radioresistance, responding poorly to radiation therapy. We previously reported that activation of P2X7, P2Y6, and P2Y12 receptors is involved in the DNA damage response after γ-irradiation of human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. However, it is not clear whether these receptors are also involved in the case of melanoma cells, although P2X7 receptor is highly expressed in various cancers, including melanoma. Here, we show that P2X7 receptor antagonist enhances radiation-induced cytotoxicity in B16 melanoma cells in vitro and in vivo. We confirmed that these cells express P2X7 receptor mRNA and exhibit P2X7 receptor-mediated activities, such as ATP-induced pore formation and cytotoxicity. We further examined the radiosensitizing effect of P2X7 receptor antagonist Brilliant Blue G (BBG) in vitro by colony formation assay of B16 cells. γ-Irradiation dose-dependently reduced cell survival, and pretreatment with BBG enhanced the radiation-induced cytotoxicity. BBG pretreatment also decreased the number of DNA repair foci in nuclei, supporting involvement of P2X7 receptor in the DNA damage response. Finally, we investigated the radiosensitizing effect of BBG on B16 melanoma cells inoculated into the hind footpad of C57BL/6 mice. Neither 1 Gy γ-irradiation alone nor BBG alone suppressed the increase of tumor volume, but the combination of irradiation and BBG significantly suppressed tumor growth. Our results suggest that P2X7 receptor antagonist BBG has a radiosensitizing effect in melanoma in vitro and in vivo. BBG, which is used as a food coloring agent, appears to be a promising candidate as a radiosensitizer.
Assuntos
Raios gama/uso terapêutico , Melanoma Experimental/terapia , Antagonistas do Receptor Purinérgico P2X/uso terapêutico , Radiossensibilizantes/uso terapêutico , Receptores Purinérgicos P2X7/metabolismo , Corantes de Rosanilina/uso terapêutico , Animais , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Dano ao DNA , Reparo do DNA , Humanos , Masculino , Melanoma Experimental/metabolismo , Melanoma Experimental/patologia , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Antagonistas do Receptor Purinérgico P2X/farmacologia , Radiossensibilizantes/farmacologia , Receptores Purinérgicos P2X7/genética , Corantes de Rosanilina/farmacologia , Carga Tumoral/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
Radiosensitizers are used in cancer therapy to increase the γ-irradiation susceptibility of cancer cells, including radioresistant hypoxic cancer cells within solid tumors, so that radiotherapy can be applied at doses sufficiently low to minimize damage to adjacent normal tissues. Radiation-induced DNA damage is repaired by multiple repair systems, and therefore these systems are potential targets for radiosensitizers. We recently reported that the transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) channel is involved in early responses to DNA damage after γ-irradiation of human lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells. Therefore, we hypothesized that TRPV1 channel inhibitors would have a radiosensitizing effect by blocking repair of radiation-induced cell damage. Here, we show that pretreatment of A549 cells with the TRPV1 channel inhibitors capsazepine, AMG9810, SB366791 and BCTC suppressed the γ-ray-induced activation of early DNA damage responses, i.e., activation of the protein kinase ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) and accumulation of p53-binding protein 1 (53BP1). Further, the decrease of survival fraction at one week after γ-irradiation (2.0 Gy) was enhanced by pretreatment of cells with these inhibitors. On the other hand, inhibitor pretreatment did not affect cell viability, the number of apoptotic or necrotic cells, or DNA synthesis at 24 h after irradiation. These results suggest that inhibition of DNA repair by TRPV1 channel inhibitors in irradiated A549 cells caused gradual loss of proliferative ability, rather than acute facilitation of apoptosis or necrosis. TRPV1 channel inhibitors could be novel candidates for radiosensitizers to improve the efficacy of radiation therapy, either alone or in combination with other types of radiosensitizers.