Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Hypoxia-induced resistance to cisplatin-mediated apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells is reversed by gambogic acid independently of HIF-1α

  • Published:
Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In vitro evidence of hypoxia-induced resistance to cisplatin (CDDP)-mediated apoptosis exists in human osteosarcoma (OS). Gambogic acid (GA) is a promising chemotherapeutic compound that could increase the chemotherapeutic effectiveness of CDDP in human OS cells by inducing cell cycle arrest and promoting apoptosis. This study examined whether GA could overcome OS cell resistance to CDDP. Hypoxia significantly reduced levels of CDDP-induced apoptosis in the OS cell lines MG63 and HOS. However, combined treatment with GA and CDDP revealed a strong synergistic action between these drugs, and higher protein levels of the apoptosis-related factor Fas, cleaved caspase-8 and cleaved caspase-3 and lower expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α are detected in both cell lines. Meanwhile, drug resistance was not reversed by exposure to the HIF-1α inhibitor 2-methoxyestradiol. These findings strongly suggest that hypoxia-induced resistance to CDDP is reversed by GA in OS cells independently of HIF-1α. Furthermore, in vivo studies using xenograft mouse models revealed that combination therapy with CDDP and GA exerted increased antitumor effects by inducing apoptosis. Taken together, our results demonstrate that GA may be a new potent therapeutic agent useful for targeting human OS cells.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

GA:

Gambogic acid

CDDP:

Cisplatin

2ME2:

2-Methoxyestradiol

OS:

Osteosarcoma

HIF-1α:

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1a

CCK-8:

Cell counting kit-8

References

  1. Bertout JA, Patel SA, Simon MC (2008) The impact of O2 availability on human cancer. Nat Rev Cancer 8:967–975

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Saikumar P, Dong Z, Patel Y et al (1998) Role of hypoxia-induced Bax translocation and cytochrome c release in reoxygenation injury. Oncogene 17:3401–3415

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Aragones J, Jones DR, Martin S et al (2001) Evidence for the involvement of diacylglycerol kinase in the activation of hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-1 by low oxygen tension. J Biol Chem 276:10548–10555

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Santore MT, McClintock DS, Lee VY et al (2002) Anoxia-induced apoptosis occurs through a mitochondria-dependent pathway in lung epithelial cells. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 282:L727–L734

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Unruh A, Ressel A, Mohamed HG et al (2003) The hypoxia-inducible factor-1a is a negative factor for tumor therapy. Oncogene 22:3213–3220

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Carmeliet P, Dor Y, Herbert JM et al (1998) Role of HIF-1 alpha or in hypoxia-mediated apoptosis, cell proliferation and tumour angiogenesis. Nature 394:485–490

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Moritz W, Meier F, Stroka DM et al (2002) Apoptosis in hypoxic human pancreatic islets correlates with HIF-1alpha expression. FASEB J 16(7):745–747

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Akakura N, Kobayashi M, Horiuchi I et al (2001) Constitutive expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha renders pancreatic cancer cells resistant to apoptosis induced by hypoxia and nutrient deprivation. Cancer Res 61(17):6548–6554

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Gatta G, Corazziari I, Magnani C et al (2003) Childhood cancer survival in Europe. Ann Oncol 5:v119–v127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Link MP, Goorin AM, Miser AW et al (1986) The effect of adjuvant chemotherapy on relapse-free survival in patients with osteosarcoma of the extremity. N Engl J Med 314:1600–1606

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhao W, You CC, Zhuang JP et al (2013) Viability inhibition effect of gambogic acid combined with cisplatin on osteosarcoma cells via mitochondria-independent apoptotic pathway. Mol Cell Biochem 382:243–252

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Zhao W, Zhou SF, Zhang ZP et al (2011) Gambogic acid inhibits the growth of osteosarcoma cells in vitro by inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Oncol Rep 25(5):1289–1295

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Berenbaum MC (1989) What is synergy? Pharmacol Rev 41:93–141

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Greco WR, Bravo G, Parsons JC (1995) The search for synergy: a critical review from a response surface perspective. Pharmacol Rev 47:331–385

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Zhang JL, Wang Z, Hu W et al (2013) DHA regulates angiogenesis and improves the efficiency of CDDP for the treatment of lung carcinoma. Microvasc Res 87:14–24

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Wang LH, Li Y, Yang SN et al (2014) Gambogic acid synergistically potentiates cisplatin-induced apoptosis in non-small-cell lung cancer through suppressing NF-κB and MAPK/HO-1 signalling. Br J Cancer 110:341–352

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Wang F, Zhang W, Guo L et al (2014) Gambogic acid suppresses hypoxia-induced hypoxia-inducible factor-1α/vascular endothelial growth factor expression via inhibiting phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt/mammalian target protein of rapamycin pathway in multiple myeloma cells. Cancer Sci 105:1063–1070

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  18. Hussein D, Estlin EJ, Dive C et al (2006) Chronic hypoxia promotes hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha-dependent resistance to etoposide and vincristine in neuroblastoma cells. Mol Cancer Ther 5:2241–2250

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Kilic M, Kasperczyk H, Fulda S et al (2007) Role of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha in modulation of apoptosis resistance. Oncogene 26:2027–2038

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Adamski J, Price A, Dive C, Makin G (2013) Hypoxia-induced cytotoxic drug resistance in osteosarcoma is independent of HIF-1Alpha. PLoS One 8:e65304. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065304

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Liu L, Ning X, Sun L et al (2008) Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha contributes to hypoxia-induced chemoresistance in gastric cancer. Cancer Sci 99(1):121–128

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Sermeus A, Cosse JP, Crespin M et al (2008) Hypoxia induces protection against etoposide-induced apoptosis: molecular profiling of changes in gene expression and transcription factor activity. Mol Cancer 7:27

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Mabjeesh NJ, Escuin D, LaVallee TM et al (2003) 2ME2 inhibits tumor growth and angiogenesis by disrupting microtubules and dysregulating HIF. Cancer Cell 3:363–375

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Lockshin RA, Zakeri Z (2007) Cell death in health and disease. J Cell Mol Med 11:1214–1224

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Siddik ZH (2003) Cisplatin: mode of cytotoxic action and molecular basis of resistance. Oncogene 22:65–79

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Unruh A, Ressel A, Mohamed HG et al (2003) The hypoxia-inducible factor-1a is a negative factor for tumor therapy. Oncogene 22:3213–3220

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by Grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81441081).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jing-Long Yan or Gong-Ping Xu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Additional information

Zhao Wei and Xia Shi-Qi have contributed equally to this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhao, W., Xia, SQ., Zhuang, JP. et al. Hypoxia-induced resistance to cisplatin-mediated apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells is reversed by gambogic acid independently of HIF-1α. Mol Cell Biochem 420, 1–8 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-016-2759-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-016-2759-1

Keywords

Navigation