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Downregulation of survivin and aurora A by histone deacetylase and RAS inhibitors: A new drug combination for cancer therapy
Author(s) -
Biran Anat,
Brownstein Michael,
Haklai Ronit,
Kloog Yoel
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.25367
Subject(s) - survivin , cancer research , histone deacetylase , differentiation therapy , cell growth , cell cycle , mitosis , cancer , cancer cell , cell cycle checkpoint , histone deacetylase inhibitor , biology , cell culture , chemistry , medicine , histone , microbiology and biotechnology , retinoic acid , biochemistry , acute promyelocytic leukemia , genetics , gene
Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, such as valproic acid (VPA), constitute a novel class of anticancer agents that cause an increase in acetylated histones and thus restore the expression of dormant tumor‐suppressor and other genes related to cell differentiation, cell‐cycle arrest or apoptosis of tumor cells. The Ras inhibitor farnesylthiosalicylic acid (FTS, salirasib) attenuates cancer cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo and, under certain circumstances, induces cell death. FTS by itself does not induce differentiation or complete growth arrest. The abovementioned activity of VPA as a differentiation agent suggested that it might be worth investigating its possible therapeutic potential in synergistic combination with FTS. Here, we examined whether the combined application of VPA and FTS could synergistically inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells that express oncogenic K‐Ras (A549 nonsmall‐cell lung carcinoma cells), DLD1 (colon carcinoma cells) or chronically active wild‐type K‐Ras and constitutively active B‐Raf (ARO, thyroid carcinoma cells). The results showed that combined treatment with VPA and FTS synergistically reduces proliferation in all of these cancer cell lines by downregulating Ras and blocking the expression of Survivin and Aurora A. These alterations, which were most pronounced following the combined treatment, led to a mitotic crisis, as reflected by mislocalization of the chromosomal passenger complex. Our findings thus demonstrate that combination therapy with VPA and FTS might offer a promising therapeutic approach to the treatment of epithelial tumors.