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Inhibition of autophagy induced by TSA sensitizes colon cancer cell to radiation

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Radiotherapy is one of the main treatments for clinical cancer therapy. However, its application was limited due to lack of radiosensitivity in some cancers. Trichostatin A (TSA) is a classic histone deacetylases inhibitor (HDACi) that specifically inhibits the biochemical functions of HDAC and is demonstrated to be an active anticancer drug. However, whether it could sensitize colon cancer to radiation is not clear. Our results showed that TSA enhanced the radiosensitivity of colon cancer cells as determined by CCK-8 and clonogenic survival assay. Moreover, apoptotic cell death induced by radiation was enhanced by TSA treatment. Additionally, TSA also induced autophagic response in colon cancer cells, while autophagy inhibition led to cell apoptosis and enhanced the radiosensitivity of colon cancer cells. Our data suggested that inhibition of cytoprotective autophagy sensitizes cancer cell to radiation, which might be further investigated for clinical cancer radiotherapy.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 81272497).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Genetics, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China

    Gang He, Yan Wang & Bo Zhang

  2. Department of oncology, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China

    Xueli Pang

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  1. Gang He
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  2. Yan Wang
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  3. Xueli Pang
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  4. Bo Zhang
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Correspondence to Xueli Pang or Bo Zhang.

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He, G., Wang, Y., Pang, X. et al. Inhibition of autophagy induced by TSA sensitizes colon cancer cell to radiation. Tumor Biol. 35, 1003–1011 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1134-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1134-z

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