Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0035412 (rhabdomyosarcoma)
 6,156 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase is the rate-limiting enzyme of the mevalonate pathway, the diverse array of end products of which are vital for a variety of cellular functions, including cholesterol synthesis and cell cycle progression. We showed previously that this enzyme holds a critical role in regulating tumor cell fate, including cell death, as its expression is down-regulated in response to retinoic acid, a potent anticancer therapeutic. Indeed, direct inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase with lovastatin, a competitive inhibitor of this enzyme, induced a pronounced apoptotic response in neuroblastoma and acute myeloid leukemic cells. We have now extended this work and evaluated a wide variety and large number of tumor-derived cell lines for their sensitivity to lovastatin-induced apoptosis. These cell lines were exposed to a wide range (0-100 microM) of lovastatin for 2 days and assayed for cell viability using the 3,4,5-dimethyl thiazlyl-2,2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and the induction of apoptosis by flow cytometric and ultrastructural analyses. Lovastatin induced a pronounced apoptotic response in cells derived from juvenile monomyelocytic leukemia, pediatric solid malignancies (rhabdomyosarcoma and medulloblastoma), and squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix and of the head and neck. Interestingly, the subset of malignancies that are particularly sensitive to lovastatin-induced apoptosis correspond to those tumor subtypes that are sensitive to the biological and antiproliferative effects of retinoids in vitro. The nature of the biologically active form of lovastatin has been challenged recently as the growth-inhibitory effects of this drug were attributed to its prodrug lactone form that does not inhibit HMG-CoA reductase function. In this report, we demonstrate that the apoptotic properties of lovastatin are triggered by the open ring acid form that is a potent inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase activity. Thus, we have identified a subset of tumors that are sensitive to lovastatin-induced apoptosis and show HMG-CoA reductase as a potential therapeutic target of these cancers.
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PMID:Differential sensitivity of various pediatric cancers and squamous cell carcinomas to lovastatin-induced apoptosis: therapeutic implications. 1120 4

Statins are the most common type of medicine used to treat hypercholesterolemia; however, they are associated with a low incidence of myotoxicity such as myopathy and rhabdomyolysis. The mechanisms for the adverse effects remain to be fully elucidated for safer chronic use and drug development. The results of our earlier work suggested that hydrophobic statins induce autophagy in cultured human rhabdomyosarcoma A204 cells. In this study, we first confirmed the statin-induced autophagy by assessing other criteria, including induced expression of the autophagy-related genes, enhanced protein degradation of autophagy marker protein p62 and electron microscopic observation of induced formation of autophagosome. We next demonstrated that the extent of inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase in the cell is parallel with the ability of a statin to induce autophagy. Thus, the primary activity of statins causes autophagy in A204 cells. Considering the mechanism for the induction, we showed that statins induce autophagy by depleting cellular levels of geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) mostly through an unknown pathway that does not involve two major small G proteins, Rheb and Ras. Finally, we demonstrated that the ability of statins to induce autophagy parallels their toxicity to A204 cells and that both can be suppressed by GGPP.
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PMID:Hydrophobic statins induce autophagy and cell death in human rhabdomyosarcoma cells by depleting geranylgeranyl diphosphate. 2209 60

Tumours, which are initially sensitive to cytotoxic agents, often develop resistance to a broad spectrum of structurally unrelated drugs. The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors have been shown to inhibit ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters but have also impact on glycosylation of such proteins. Doxorubicin is a substrate for ABC transporters like P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) which is present in human RD rhabdomyosarcoma cells. It was therefore the aim of this study to identify the compartmentalisation and action of doxorubicin in simvastatin-treated RD cells. Due to autofluorescence of doxorubicin, intracellular distribution was monitored by confocal microscopy. The biological effects were traced on the level of colony formation, caspase activation and DNA injury. Here we show that simvastatin treatment leads to ABCB1 inhibition and down-regulation of the transporter. Consequently, these cells accumulate significant amounts of doxorubicin, predominantly in the nucleus and lysosomes. While clearance of the anthracycline into lysosomes is not altered by simvastatin treatment, it significantly enhanced nuclear accumulation in a HMG-CoA reductase-independent manner. Thus, in such treated cells, topoisomerase II activity is significantly inhibited, which is further corroborated by augmented double-strand DNA breaks. Moreover, colony formation was synergistically inhibited by the combination of simvastatin and doxorubicin. Given the fact that ABCB1 expression correlates with an adverse prognosis in many tumours, adjuvant chemotherapy including statins might represent a novel therapeutic concept to overcome ABCB1-mediated multidrug resistance by direct inhibition and down-regulation.
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PMID:Simvastatin-induced compartmentalisation of doxorubicin sharpens up nuclear topoisomerase II inhibition in human rhabdomyosarcoma cells. 2356 41