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Targeting head and neck squamous cell carcinoma using a novel fusion toxin-diphtheria toxin/HN-1

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Abstract

The current treatment strategies, chemotherapy and radiation therapy being used for the management of cancer are deficient in targeted approach leading to treatment related toxicities and relapse. Contrarily, fusion toxins exhibit remarkable tumor specificity thus emerging as an alternative therapy for the treatment of cancer. Diphtheria toxin-HN-1 peptide (DT/HN-1) is a fusion toxin designed to target the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The aim of this study was to construct, characterize, and evaluate the cytotoxicity and specificity of DT/HN-1 fusion toxin against the HNSCC cells. The purified DT/HN-1 fusion toxin was characterized by SDS-PAGE and western blotting. Refolding of purified fusion toxins was monitored by fluorescence spectra and circular dichroism spectra. The activity of DT/HN-1 fusion toxin was demonstrated on various HNSCC cell lines by cell viability assay, cell proliferation assay, protein synthesis inhibition assay, apoptosis and cell cycle analysis. The fusion toxin DT/HN-1 demonstrated remarkably high degree of cytotoxicity specific to the HNSCC cells. The IC50 of DT/HN-1 fusion toxin was ~1 to 5 nM in all the three HNSCC cell lines. The percentage apoptotic cells in DT/HN-1 treated UMB-SCC-745 cells are 16% compared to 4% in untreated. To further demonstrate the specific toxicity of DT/HN-1 fusion toxin towards the HNSCC cells we constructed, characterized and evaluated the efficacy of DT protein. The DT protein coding for only a fragment of diphtheria toxin without its native receptor binding domain failed to exhibit any cytotoxicity on all the cell lines used in this study thus establishing the importance of a ligand in achieving targeted toxicity. To evaluate the translocation ability of HN-1 peptide, an additional construct DTΔT/HN-1 was constructed, characterized and evaluated for its cytotoxic activity. The fusion toxin DTΔT/HN-1 deficient of the translocation domain of diphtheria toxin showed no cytotoxicity on all the cell lines clearly indicating the inability of HN-1 peptide to translocate catalytic domain of the toxin into the cytosol.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Robert Mandic, Department of Otolaryngology, University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany for UMB-SCC-745 cell line. We thank Reidar Grenman, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland for providing UT-SCC-36, UT-SCC-38 cell lines. We also thank A. Jayakumar, M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston, TX, for his timely advice and Ms. A. Jayasree for manuscript correction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stem Cell & Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, #201, Bhupat and Jyoti Mehta School of Biosciences Building, Chennai, 600036, India

    Sirisha Potala & Rama S. Verma

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  1. Sirisha Potala
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  2. Rama S. Verma
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Correspondence to Rama S. Verma.

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11033_2010_242_MOESM1_ESM.tif

(a) Schematic representation of construction of fusion toxins. The gene coding for fragment of diphtheria toxin (lacking the native receptor binding domain) was amplified from the genomic DNA of C. diphtheria and cloned to make pDTM master clone. The diphtheria toxin insert used in all the fusion toxin clones was amplified by PCR from master clone (pDTM). DNA coding for the HN-1 peptide was inserted along with diphtheria toxin gene during PCR through reverse primer. (b) Protein sequences for fusion toxins. The protein sequences for DT/HN-1, DTΔT/HN-1 and DT fusion toxins are shown. Sequence coding for the HN-1 is underlined. All clones carry a C terminal His6-tag before stop codon (TIF 1372 Kb)

11033_2010_242_MOESM2_ESM.tif

(a) SDS-PAGE analysis for all fusion toxins The Coomassie blue stained SDS-PAGE showing induction and purification of all three fusion toxins. top panel, lanes from left—uninduced and induced DT/HN-1 fusion toxin; protein molecular weight marker; uninduced and induced DTΔT/HN-1 fusion toxin; protein molecular weight marker; uninduced and induced DT protein; bottom panel, lanes from left—purified DT/HN-1 fusion toxin, protein molecular weight marker, purified DTΔT/HN-1 fusion toxin, protein molecular weight marker, purified DT protein and protein molecular weight marker. (b) Western blot analysis for purified fusion toxins Immunoblots of all the three fusion toxins with anti-His antibody are represented. Lanes from left—protein marker, DTΔT/HN-1 fusion toxin (1 μg); DT/HN-1 fusion toxin (5 μg) and DT protein (5 μg) (TIF 2604)

11033_2010_242_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Fluorescence and CD spectra of all the three fusion toxins Refolding of purified fusion toxins was studied by recording the fluorescence and CD spectra under refolded and denatured conditions. (a) Fluorescence spectra and (b) CD spectra of DT/HN-1 fusion toxin; (c) fluorescence and (d) CD spectra of DTΔT/HN-1 fusion toxin; (e) fluorescence and (f) CD spectra of DT protein (TIF 212)

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Potala, S., Verma, R.S. Targeting head and neck squamous cell carcinoma using a novel fusion toxin-diphtheria toxin/HN-1. Mol Biol Rep 38, 1389–1397 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-010-0242-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-010-0242-8

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