MCF-7 breast cancer cells transfected with protein kinase C-alpha exhibit altered expression of other protein kinase C isoforms and display a more aggressive neoplastic phenotype.

Increased protein kinase C (PKC) activity in malignant breast tissue and positive correlations between PKC activity and expression of a more aggressive phenotype in breast cancer cell lines suggest a role for this signal transduction pathway in the pathogenesis and/or progression of breast cancer. To examine the role of PKC in the progression of breast cancer, human MCF-7 breast cancer cells were transfected with PKC-alpha, and a group of heterogenous cells stably overexpressing PKC-alpha were isolated (MCF-7-PKC-alpha). MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells expressed fivefold higher levels of PKC-alpha as compared to parental or vector-transfected MCF-7 cells. MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells also displayed a substantial increase in endogenous expression of PKC-beta and decreases in expression of the novel delta- and eta-PKC isoforms. MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells displayed an enhanced proliferative rate, anchorage-independent growth, dramatic morphologic alterations including loss of an epithelioid appearance, and increased tumorigenicity in nude mice. MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells exhibited a significant reduction in estrogen receptor expression and decreases in estrogen-dependent gene expression. These findings suggest that the PKC pathway may modulate progression of breast cancer to a more aggressive neoplastic process.

Effect of retinoic acid on phorbol ester-stimulated differentiation and protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation in the U937 human monoblastoid cell.

Phorbol esters stimulate differentiation of certain human leukemic cell lines. Although activation of protein kinase C may mediate certain effects of phorbol esters, controversy exists as to the role of protein kinase C activation in phorbol ester-induced differentiation. Retinoic acid modulates responses to phorbol esters in several cell types. Retinoic acid has also been found to alter protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation in leukemic cells. We correlated the effects of retinoic acid on protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation and differentiation stimulated by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), a phorbol ester, in the human monoblastoid U937 cell line. At concentrations less than 1 nM, which were 100-fold less than those directly stimulating differentiation, retinoic acid potentiated TPA-induced differentiation of the U937 cell as assessed by enhanced adherence to plastic and acquisition of nonspecific esterase activity. TPA-stimulated decreases in cellular proliferation were not affected by retinoic acid treatment. Without altering the sensitivity to TPA, retinoic acid increased the maximal response to this agent. Retinoic acid enhanced TPA-stimulated phosphorylation of a Mr 48,000 substrate in intact 32P-labeled U937 cells and also increased the protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation of a similar Mr 48,000 substrate and a Mr 80,000 substrate in cellular extracts. In cellular extracts the retinoic acid-induced enhancement of protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation was predominantly localized to the cytosolic fraction. Increases in protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation were evident within a 12-h exposure to 1 nM retinoic acid and were observed at retinoic concentrations of 0.01 to 1 nM. A retinoic acid-induced increase in the protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation of an exogenous substrate, histone, was observed following diethylaminoethyl extraction of cytosol, but not a solubilized particulate fraction. The conditions of retinoic acid treatment increasing protein kinase C activity and enhancing protein kinase C-dependent phosphorylation of endogenous substrates were similar to those conditions potentiating phorbol ester-induced differentiation. Thus, the retinoic acid-induced amplification of phorbol ester signal transduction at the level of protein kinase C activation could mediate the effects of this vitamin on phorbol ester-induced differentiation.

Development of latent residual drug damage to the hematopoietic marrow during the subsequent growth of tumors.

Growth of the Lewis lung (LLca) tumor in BDF1 mice was found to be accompanied by a marked expansion of the multipotential stem (CFUs-8) and committed erythroid (BFUe) and myeloid (CFU-gm) progenitor cells of the marrow with a concomitant depression of more differentiated compartments. The long-term effects of adriamycin (AdR), busulfan (BU), cis-diaminedichloroplatinum II (DDP), and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on the LLca-induced expansion of the CFUs-8 and CFU-gm were investigated at eight weeks after drug treatment. Of the four drugs studied, only BU demonstrated a reduction of CFUs-8 at eight weeks after treatment and prior to tumor inoculation. However, all of the drugs were found to prevent the expansion of the CFUs-8 compartment after 16 days of tumor growth. BU also resulted in a depressed CFU-gm compartment at the time of tumor inoculation, while CFU-gm in ADR-, DDP-, and 5-FU-treated animals was either at control levels (AdR), or unexpectedly elevated (DDP and 5-FU). Similar to the observations made for CFUs-8, all drugs prevented the expansion of the CFU-gm associated with tumor growth. The data suggest that qualitative differences observed between the long-term effects of the drugs on the marrow compartments may be more accurately related to the temporal "fixation" of residual drug damage brought about by enhanced differentiation of a drug-limited pluripotential CFUs, than to the actual magnitude of hematopoietic damage.

Cardiac complications of intensive dose mitoxantrone and cyclophosphamide with autologous bone marrow transplantation in metastatic breast cancer.

Fifteen women with metastatic breast cancer undergoing autologous bone marrow transplantation were treated with an intensive induction regimen including cyclophosphamide and mitoxantrone in a phase I-II study. The cardiotoxicity of these two drugs in combination have not been previously reported. Three patients developed deeply inverted T-waves during or shortly following conclusion of high-dose chemotherapy with associated declines in ejection fraction of 0.04, 0.19 and 0.27. One patient developed a brief episode of congestive heart failure which resolved with supportive care. These three patients were the only ones to have received previous left chest wall radiotherapy during the course of their disease, prior to treatment with autologous bone marrow rescue. No patient developed dysrhythmia or QRS changes during a mean hospital stay of 33.7 days (range 27-40 days).

Long-term consequences of chemotherapeutic agents on hematopoiesis: development of altered radiation tolerance.

The long-term effects of chemotherapeutic agents on subsequent radiation tolerance of the hematopoietic marrow were studied after a single injection of doxorubicin, 5-fluorouracil, or cyclophosphamide at a maximum tolerated dose. At designated intervals following drug treatment, drug-treated and age-matched control male B6D2F1 mice were exposed to 4.5 Gy of total-body irradiation, and the recovery kinetics of the stem cell (assayed at days 8 and 13 colony-forming spleen units) and progenitor (burst-forming erythroid units, and colony-forming erythroid and granulocyte/macrophage units) compartments were established. Response deficits were calculated for each compartment by comparison of treated and control recovery curves at 5 intervals over 32 weeks. Based on these response deficits, a number of conclusions were drawn: 1) There is selective drug specificity for the more primitive (13d) and mature (8d) CFUs subpopulations; 2) these sensitivities determine the temporal consequences of drug treatment on subsequent radiation tolerance in the marrow (e.g., acute, delayed, or long term); and 3) drugs that influence long-term radiation tolerance of the marrow are dose dependent and initially affect the more primitive stem cells. The data suggest that the initial lesion in the stem cell compartment, resulting in long-term enhancement of radiosensitivity, involves a major restriction (either in cell number or in genetic functionality) of the proliferative potential necessary for recovery from subsequent radiation insult.

S-allylmercaptocysteine, a stable thioallyl compound, induces apoptosis in erythroleukemia cell lines.

The antiproliferative potential of S-allylmercaptocysteine (SAMC), a stable organosulfur compound of aged garlic extract, has been investigated using two erythroleukemia cell lines, HEL and OCIM-1. It induces a dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth with a 50% lethal dose of 0.046 mM for OCIM-1 cells and 0.093 mM for HEL cells. [3H]thymidine incorporation was reduced in cells treated with this thioallyl compound, and analysis of high-molecular-weight DNA showed fragmentation compatible with apoptosis. Flow cytometric analyses of DNA revealed an abnormal cell cycle progression in both types of erythroleukemia cells, with the major portion of the unsynchronized cells in the G2/M phase. Measurement of acid-soluble free sulfhydryl groups showed an initial increase in response to SAMC followed by a progressive dose-dependent decrease with extended incubation of cells. We conclude from these studies that SAMC is an effective antiproliferative agent against erythroleukemia cells that induces cell death by apoptosis.

Altered radiosensitivity of hematopoietic stem cells by vincristine pretreatment: superoxide dismutase activity as a possible mechanism.

The effect of vincristine (VCR) on hematopoietic stem cell and progenitor compartments and its ability to induce transient periods of radioresistance was investigated so that we could ascertain the drug-radiation intertreatment interval affording optimal radioprotection and determine if its ability to induce increased levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) is a potential mechanism for this radioprotection. Measurement of marrow stem cell and progenitor compartments demonstrated that these subsets displayed differential sensitivity to VCR and that this sensitivity appeared to be proportional to how "primitive" the subset was. Treatment with VCR prior to irradiation was observed to enhance significantly both 8- and 12-day spleen colony-forming unit recovery with maximal radioprotection occurring for a drug-radiation interval of 12-48 hours. Monitoring of copper-zinc SOD levels demonstrated an increase in activity following VCR that was localized in a fraction of the bone marrow enriched for stem cells and progenitors. The temporal pattern of this increase, however, did not correlate with the drug-radiation schedules affording optimal radioprotection, which indicates that other factors appear to be operative in this radioprotection as well.