s-nitro-n-acetylpenicillamine and Glioblastoma

Nitric oxide (NO) is a chemical messenger implicated in neuronal damage associated with ischemia neurodegenerative disease and excitotoxicity. In the present study, we examined the biological effects of NO and its mechanisms in human malignant glioblastoma cells. Addition of a NO donor, S-nitroso-N-acetyl-penicillamine (SNAP), induced apoptosis in U87MG human glioblastoma cells, accompanied by opening mitochondrial permeability transition pores, release of cytochrome c and AIF, and subsequently by caspase activation. NO-induced apoptosis occurred concurrently with significantly increased levels of the Bak and Bim. Treatment with SNAP resulted in sustained activation of JNK and its downstream pathway, c-Jun/AP-1. The expression of dominant-negative (DN)-JNK1 and DN-c-Jun suppressed the activation of AP-1, the induction of Bak and Bim, and the SNAP-induced apoptosis. In addition, de novo protein synthesis was required for the initiation of apoptosis in that the protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide (CHX), inhibited NO-induced apoptotic cell death as well as up-regulation of Bak and Bim. These results suggest that NO activates an apoptotic cascade, involving sustained JNK activation, AP-1 DNA binding activity, and subsequent Bak and Bim induction, followed by cytochrome c and AIF releases and caspases cascade activation, resulting in human malignant brain tumor cell death.

Topics: Apoptosis; Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; bcl-2 Homologous Antagonist-Killer Protein; Bcl-2-Like Protein 11; Cell Line, Tumor; Glioblastoma; Humans; MAP Kinase Kinase 4; Membrane Proteins; Mitochondria; Nitric Oxide; Nitric Oxide Donors; Oxidative Stress; Penicillamine; Phosphorylation; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun; Signal Transduction; Up-Regulation

Coculture of T98G glioblastoma cells with the myeloid and monocytic cell lines, HL-60, and THP-1 produced minimal amounts of interleukin-8 (IL-8). Pretreatment of HL-60 or THP-1 cells with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) enhanced their capacity to induce IL-8 production by T98G cells. In contrast, the murine macrophage cell lines J774 A.1 and RAW 264.7 induced high levels of IL-8 production by T98G cells without PMA activation. To determine the molecules responsible for the induction of IL-8 by T98G cells, we carried out coculture experiments with a membrane fraction prepared from RAW cells and indicated that membrane-associated and free forms of murine IL-1alpha acted on human T98G cells to produce IL-8. RAW cells were unique in that increasing the number of RAW cells relative to the number of T98G cells (RAW/T98G ratio > 4:1) significantly suppressed IL-8 production by T98G cells. Because RAW cells produce large amounts of nitric oxide (NO), we assumed that the suppression of IL-8 production was ascribable to the NO produced by the RAW cells. This was supported by the inverse relationship between increasing concentrations of NO and IL-8 production seen in this coculture system. The involvement of NO in the suppression of IL-8 production was confirmed by the finding that N-monomethyl-L-arginine (NMMA), which inhibits NO production, reversed this suppression, whereas S-nitroso-N-acetyl-D,L-penicillamine (SNAP), a strong NO generator, suppressed IL-8 production. Our results indicate that high levels of NO suppress IL-8 production by T98G cells, and murine IL-1alpha plays a major role in the induction of IL-8 production by T98G cells. It is, therefore, possible that excessive production of NO during the interaction of glioma cells with macrophages may play a regulatory role in chemokine production, thus mitigating inflammatory responses.

Topics: Animals; Cell Line; Coculture Techniques; Glioblastoma; HL-60 Cells; Humans; Interleukin-8; Macrophages; Mice; Monocytes; Nitric Oxide; omega-N-Methylarginine; Penicillamine; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate; Tumor Cells, Cultured