Abstract
Mutation of p53 is rare in Ewing's sarcoma (ES), suggesting that targeting and activation of wild-type p53 may be an effective therapeutic strategy for ES. The recently developed small-molecule MDM2 inhibitor nutlin-3 restores wild-type p53 function, resulting in the inhibition of cancer cell growth and the induction of apoptosis. In the present study, we explored the responsiveness of ES cell lines with wild-type or mutated p53 to nutlin-3. We found that treatment with nutlin-3 increased p53 level and induced p53 target gene expression (MDM2, p21, PUMA) in ES cells with wild-type p53, but not in ES cells with mutated p53. Consistently, nutlin-3 elicited apoptosis only in wild-type p53 cells, as assessed by caspase-3 activity assay and flow cytometric analyses of mitochondrial depolarisation and DNA fragmentation. In addition, we found nutlin-3 to evoke cellular senescence, indicating that nutlin-3 induces pleiotropic anticancer effects in ES. Furthermore, combined treatment with nutlin-3 and an inhibitor of NF-κB produced synergistic antineoplastic activity in ES cells. Our findings suggest that the direct activation of p53 by nutlin-3 treatment may be a useful new therapeutic approach for patients with ES.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1432-1441 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | European Journal of Cancer |
Volume | 47 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Apoptosis
- Cellular senescence
- Ewing's sarcoma
- NF-κB
- Nutlin-3
- p53
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Oncology
- Cancer Research