pheophorbide-a and Skin-Neoplasms

Pheophorbide a (Pa), a chlorophyll derivative, is a photosensitizer that can induce significant antitumor effects in several types of tumor cells. The present study investigated the mechanism of Pa-mediated photodynamic therapy (Pa-PDT) in the human skin cancer cell lines A431 and G361. PDT significantly inhibited the cell growth in a Pa-concentration-dependent manner. We observed increased expression of Beclin-1, LC3B and ATG5, which are markers of autophagy, after PDT treatment in A431 cells but not in G361 cells. In G361 cells, Pa-PDT strongly induced PARP cleavage and subsequent apoptosis, which was confirmed using Annexin V/Propidium iodide double staining. Pa-PDT predominantly exhibited its antitumor effects via activation of ERK1/2 and p38 in A431 and G361 cells, respectively. An in vivo study using the CAM xenograft model demonstrated that Pa-PDT strongly induced autophagy and apoptosis in A431-transplanted tumors and/or apoptosis in G361-transplanted tumors. These results may provide a basis for understanding the underlying mechanisms of Pa-PDT and for developing Pa-PDT as a therapy for skin cancer.

Topics: Animals; Apoptosis; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; Autophagy; Autophagy-Related Protein 5; Beclin-1; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Chlorophyll; Enzyme Activation; Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases; Humans; MAP Kinase Signaling System; Membrane Potential, Mitochondrial; Membrane Proteins; Mice; Microtubule-Associated Proteins; p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; Photochemotherapy; Photosensitizing Agents; Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerases; Skin Neoplasms; Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Lung adenocarcinoma is a leading human malignancy with fatal prognosis. Ninety percent of the deaths, however, are caused by metastases. The model of subcutaneous tumor xenograft in nude mice was adopted to study the growth of control and photodynamically treated tumors derived from the human A549 lung adenocarcinoma cell line. As a side-result of the primary studies, observations on the metastasis of these tumors to the murine lungs were collected, and reported in the present paper. The metastasizing primary tumors were drained by a prominent number of lymphatic vessels. The metastatic tissue revealed the morphology of well-differentiated or trans-differentiated adenocarcinoma. Further histological and histochemical analyses demonstrated the presence of golden-brown granules in the metastatic tissue, similar to these found in the tumor tissue. In contrast to the primary tumors, the electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed no nitric oxide - hemoglobin complexes (a source of intense paramagnetic signals), in the metastases. No metastases were found in other murine organs; however, white infarctions were identified in a single liver. Taken together, the A549-derived tumors growing subcutaneously in nude mice can metastasize and grow on site in the pulmonary tissue. Thus, they can represent an alternative for the model of induced metastatic nodule formation, following intravenous administration of the cancerous cells.

Topics: Adenocarcinoma; Adenocarcinoma of Lung; Animals; Cell Line, Tumor; Chlorophyll; Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy; Humans; Injections, Subcutaneous; Light; Liver Neoplasms; Lung Neoplasms; Male; Mice; Mice, Nude; Neoplasm Transplantation; Neoplasms, Experimental; Photosensitizing Agents; Skin Neoplasms; Transplantation, Heterologous

Cell recurrence in cancer photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an important issue that is poorly understood. It is becoming clear that nitric oxide (NO) is a modulator of PDT. By acting on the NF-κB/Snail/RKIP survival/anti-apoptotic loop, NO can either stimulate or inhibit apoptosis. We found that pheophorbide a/PDT (Pba/PDT) induces the release of NO in B78-H1 murine amelanotic melanoma cells in a concentration-dependent manner. Low-dose PDT induces low NO levels by stimulating the anti-apoptotic nature of the above loop, whereas high-dose PDT stimulates high NO levels inhibiting the loop and activating apoptosis. When B78-H1 cells are treated with low-dose Pba/PDT and DETA/NO, an NO-donor, intracellular NO increases and cell growth is inhibited according to scratch-wound and clonogenic assays. Western blot analyses showed that the combined treatment reduces the expression of the anti-apoptotic NF-κB and Snail gene products and increases the expression of the pro-apoptotic RKIP gene product. The combined effect of Pba and DETA/NO was also tested in C57BL/6 mice bearing a syngeneic B78-H1 melanoma. We used pegylated Pba (mPEG-Pba) due to its better pharmacokinetics compared to free Pba. mPEG-Pba (30 mg/Kg) and DETA/NO (0.4 mg/Kg) were i.p. injected either as a single molecule or in combination. After photoactivation at 660 nM (fluence of 193 J/cm(2)), the combined treatment delays tumor growth more efficiently than each individual treatment (p<0.05). Taken together, our results showed that the efficacy of PDT is strengthened when the photosensitizer is used in combination with an NO donor.

Topics: Animals; Cell Line, Tumor; Chlorophyll; Female; Flow Cytometry; Melanoma, Amelanotic; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester; Nitric Oxide; Nitric Oxide Donors; Nitroso Compounds; Photochemotherapy; Photosensitizing Agents; Skin Neoplasms; Wound Healing

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a therapeutic modality whose efficacy depends on several factors including type of photosensitizer, light fluence and cellular response. Cell recurrence is one of the problems still unsolved in PDT. In this work we found that in B78-H1 murine amelanotic melanoma cells there is a correlation between cell recurrence and the NF-κB/Snail/RKIP loop.. Proliferation and migration of surviving cells were analyzed by MTT and wound-scratch assays. The levels of ROS/NO in B78-H1 melanoma cells treated with pheophorbide a (Pba) and light (Pba/PDT) were measured by FACS, while expression of NF-κB, Snail and RKIP were determined by Western blots. The mechanism of cell death was investigated by caspase and microscopy assays.. Our data show that after a low-dose Pba/PDT treatment, B78-H1 cells are able to recover. This correlates with a low level of NO production, which blocks apoptosis via NF-κB pathway. Western blot analyses showed that a low-dose Pba/PDT increases the expression of NF-κB and anti-apoptotic Snail, but reduces the expression of pro-apoptotic RKIP. The role played by NF-κB in the modulation of Snail and RKIP was investigated using DHMEQ: a NF-κB inhibitor which behaves as NO donor. DHMEQ caused a decrease of Snail and an increase of RKIP expression. When B78-H1 cells were treated with a low dose Pba/PDT and DHMEQ, the NO level strongly increased, with the result that Snail was down-regulated and RKIP was upregulated, as observed with a high-dose Pba/PDT.. One major problem in PDT is the cellular rescue occurring in tissue regions receiving a low-dose PDT. To minimize this problem and sensitize cancer cells to PDT we propose a combined treatment in which the photosensitizer is delivered with a donor of NO acting on the NF-κB/Snail/RKIP loop.

Topics: Animals; Apoptosis; Blotting, Western; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Chlorophyll; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Melanoma, Amelanotic; Mice; NF-kappa B; Nitric Oxide; Phosphatidylethanolamine Binding Protein; Photochemotherapy; Photosensitizing Agents; Reactive Oxygen Species; Skin Neoplasms; Snail Family Transcription Factors; Transcription Factors

Anti-tumor-promoting activity of pheophorbide a (PPBa) a chlorophyll-related compound, was examined in a two-stage carcinogenesis experiment in ICR mouse skin by 7,12-dimethylbenz[a] anthracene (DMBA, 0.19 mumol) and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA, 1.6 nmol). Topical application of PPBa (160 nmol) markedly reduced the average number of tumors per mouse and the ratio of tumor-bearing mice (inhibitory ratio: IR = 56%, P < 0.01 and 31%, P < 0.005, respectively). PPBa exhibited potent anti-inflammatory activity in ICR mouse ears and moderate inhibitory activity toward TPA-induced superoxide (O2-) generation in differentiated HL-60 cells. While CuPPBa, a synthetic copper complex of PPBa, exhibited higher anti-inflammatory activity than that of indomethacin, it showed little antioxidative effect against formation of lipid hydroperoxides (LOOHs) and malondialdehyde (MDA), suggesting that the antioxidative effect of PPBa might not be important for anti-inflammatory activity. These results imply that the active mechanism of PPBa for anti-tumor promotion might be partly involved in inhibition of TPA-induced inflammatory responses by suppressing leukocyte activation.

Topics: 9,10-Dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene; Animals; Anticarcinogenic Agents; Carcinogens; Chlorophyll; Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; Female; Mice; Mice, Inbred ICR; Neoplasms, Experimental; Skin Neoplasms; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate