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-Difluoromethylornithine Induction of Apoptosis
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Kimmel Cancer Institute, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107 [L. Y. Y. F., V. T. N., P. N. M.]; and Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033 [A. E. P.]
| Abstract |
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-Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) is an irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase, the first enzyme in polyamine synthesis. Previous work showed simultaneous administration of DFMO and a zinc-deficient (ZD) diet to weanling rats from the beginning inhibited the onset of zinc-deficiency-induced esophageal cell proliferation by activating apoptosis and reduced the incidence of N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine (NMBA)-induced esophageal cancer. Because esophageal cancer initiation by NMBA is very rapid in ZD rats, this study determined whether DFMO is effective in preventing esophageal carcinogenesis when administered after the establishment of a carcinogenic environment. Weanling rats were given a ZD diet for 5 weeks to establish sustained increased esophageal cell proliferation and then an intragastric dose of NMBA. Thereafter, 20 rats were switched to DFMO-containing water while nine control ZD animals remained on deionized water; all of the animals continued on the ZD diet. Esophagi were collected 15 weeks later. The upper portion was processed for immunohistochemical analysis of cell proliferation, apoptosis, and expression of related genes, and the lower was processed for polyamine content. DFMO substantially reduces the levels of esophageal putrescine and spermidine and esophageal tumor incidence from 89 to 10% in ZD rats. Importantly, DFMO-treated ZD esophagi display increased rate of apoptosis accompanied by intense bax expression and greatly reduced cell proliferation by proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression. In addition, the p16ink4a/retinoblastoma control at G1 to S, deregulated in ZD esophagi, is restored after DFMO treatment. These results demonstrate that DFMO, a highly effective chemopreventive agent in esophageal carcinogenesis, reverses and counteracts esophageal cell proliferation/cancer initiation in ZD animals by way of stimulating apoptosis. | Introduction |
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The ZD rat model of NMBA-induced esophageal cancer, which closely mimics human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, is a valuable tool to investigate mechanism(s) underlying cancer initiation and prevention. In this in vivo model, esophageal cell proliferation is induced by a reduced dietary intake of an essential trace metal and tumor induction by NMBA, an agent strongly suspected of causing the human cancer (8 , 9) . In addition, NMBA produces morphologically similar lesions in rat and human (10) , and nutritional zinc-deficiency (11, 12, 13) has been implicated in the etiology of esophageal cancer in several high-risk areas for the disease. Results from our studies (14, 15, 16) have provided evidence that increased cell proliferation plays a critical role in rat esophageal carcinogenesis. Using the cell proliferation-driven, single NMBA-dose, ZD rat esophageal cancer model (16) , we first reported a role for apoptosis in the mechanism of cancer prevention by DFMO (5) . Our results showed that simultaneous administration of DFMO and a ZD diet to weanling rats from the beginning inhibited the onset of zinc-deficiency-induced esophageal cell proliferation by stimulating apoptosis and of NMBA-induced esophageal tumorigenesis in ZD rats.
Because esophageal cancer initiation by NMBA is very rapid in this cell proliferation-driven esophageal cancer model (17) , the present study determined whether DFMO, administered after the establishment of a carcinogenic environment, i.e., after weanling rats had been given a ZD diet for 5 weeks to establish sustained cell proliferation in the esophagus and then a single NMBA dose to initiate cancer formation, is effective in preventing esophageal carcinogenesis. This experimental design is relevant to the human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma situation because both increased esophageal cell proliferation (18 , 19) and exposure to carcinogenic nitrosamines (8 , 9) were reported in high-risk areas for esophageal cancer in China.
| Materials and Methods |
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Experimental Design
Thirty-four weanling male Sprague Dawley rats (Taconic Laboratory, Germantown, NY) were given a ZD diet and deionized water for 5 weeks to establish increased cell proliferation in the esophagus. After 5 weeks (0 h), five rats were sacrificed for cell proliferation studies, and the remaining 29 animals each received a single intragastric dose of NMBA at 2-mg/kg body weight. One h after NMBA dosing, 20 ZD rats were switched to deionized water containing 1% DFMO, while nine control ZD rats remained on deionized water. All of the animals continued on the ZD diet and were killed 15 weeks later for tumor incidence analysis and related studies.
Tumor Analysis
At sacrifice, the animals were anesthetized with isoflurane (AZ-Buck, Owings Mills, MD), blood was collected from the retroorbital venous plexus of each animal, and serum was prepared for zinc analysis by atomic absorption spectroscopy (15)
. Whole esophagi were excised and opened longitudinally. Esophageal tumors greater than 1 mm in diameter were mapped and counted.
Isolation of Esophageal Tissue
A small portion of the esophagus (upper one-third) was cut, fixed in buffered formalin, and embedded in paraffin. Serial cross-sections (4 µm) were prepared and were stained with H&E or left unstained for immunohistochemical studies. Esophageal epithelium was prepared from the remaining esophagus using a blade to strip off the connective tissue layer. Samples containing only the esophageal epithelia were snap frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C until polyamine analysis.
Polyamine Analysis
Polyamine content was determined after separation by ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography using fluorescence detection after post-column derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde as described previously (20)
. The tissue samples were extracted using 0.1 N HCl and then deproteinized by the addition of 10% perchloric acid. After centrifugation to remove protein, the supernatant was filtered through a 0.22 µm filter, and aliquots were applied to a column (Beckman Ultrasphere octadecyl silane 5 µm; 4.6 mm x 25 cm protected by a 4.6 mm x 4 cm guard column of octadecyl silane-5S) equilibrated with a mixture of 70% buffer A [0.1 M Na acetate, 0.01 M Na octane sulfonate (pH 4.5)] and 30% buffer B [20 parts 0.2 M Na acetate, 0.01 M Na octane sulfonate, (pH 4.5); 6 parts acetonitrile; 3 parts methanol]. The column was then eluted with a linear gradient of 70% buffer A/30% buffer B to 100% buffer B over 40 min at a flow rate of l ml/min at 35°C (21)
. The results were expressed as nmol/mg protein. Protein was determined by the method of Bradford (22)
.
Cell Proliferation Determination by PCNA Immunohistochemistry
Monoclonal mouse anti-PCNA (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA) was used at 1:250 dilution, followed by incubations with biotinylated goat antimouse antibody and streptavidin horseradish peroxidase, as described previously (16)
. PCNA was localized by a final incubation with 3-amino-9-ethylcarbazole-substrate-chromogen system (DAKO Corp., Carpinteria, CA) and a light hematoxylin counterstain. Cells with red reaction product in the nucleus were positive for PCNA. PCNA analysis has the potential to identify cell cycle subpopulations (G1, S, G2, and M). Dark-staining nuclei represent S-phase cells, light staining nuclei represent G1-S and G2 cells, cells with cytoplasmic staining usually depict mitoses, and nonstaining nuclei represent quiescent (G0) cells (23)
. Preliminary analysis (data not shown) demonstrated a good correlation between S-phase cells measured with PCNA or bromodeoxyuridine.
Scoring of PCNA-labeled Nuclei
LI (percentage) was calculated by dividing the number of respective PCNA-labeled nuclei by the total number of cells counted/cross-section of an entire esophagus.
Apoptosis Analysis
Both the TUNEL (in situ end labeling of DNA in apoptotic cells) and morphological methods using H&E staining were used.
TUNEL Assay.
The 3'-OH end labeling of apoptotic cell DNA was performed by using an ApopTaq Plus in situ peroxidase detection kit (Intergen Co., Purchase, NY). Briefly, after deparaffinization and rehydration in graded alcohols, tissue sections were incubated with proteinase K. Endogenous peroxidase was inhibited with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase enzyme was then applied to catalyze the addition of digoxigenin-labeled nucleotides to the 3'-OH ends of the fragmented DNA (37°C/l h). Subsequently, the slides were incubated with a horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-digoxigenin antibody. Staining was developed with DAB (Sigma Chemical Co.), and sections were counterstained with methyl green. Sections (Intergen) from normal female rat mammary gland, in which extensive apoptosis occurs, served as a positive control. Negative controls were run in which terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase was omitted.
Morphological Criteria.
Apoptotic cells take on varied forms depending on their stage in the apoptotic process, as characterized by (a) diffuse staining of cytoplasm with only minimal nuclear condensation; (b) distinct apoptotic bodies resulting from nuclear disintegration; and (c) dense staining of nuclei retaining normal nuclear structure. All of the forms were considered equivalent for the purpose of analysis (24)
.
Scoring of Apoptotic Cells
AI (percentage) is calculated by dividing the number of apoptotic cells by the total number of cells/cross-section of an esophagus.
Immunohistochemical Analysis of the Expression of Apoptosis-related Genes: bcl-2 and bax
After deparaffinization and rehydration in graded alcohols, the sections were heated in citrate buffer (0.01 M; pH 6.0) in a microwave (90°C; 10 min) before nonspecific binding sites were blocked with goat serum. Sections were then incubated overnight at 37°C in a humidified chamber with polyclonal rabbit bcl-2 antibody (Santa Cruz) at 1:3000 dilution or with polyclonal rabbit bax antibody (Santa Cruz) at 1:800 dilution, followed by incubation with biotinylated goat antirabbit antibody. Bcl-2 and bax expression was visualized by a final incubation in DAB.
Immunohistochemical Detection of p16ink4a and Rb
After deparaffinization and rehydration in graded alcohols, the sections were heated in citrate buffer (0.01 M; pH 6.0) for Rb in a microwave oven (9095°C; 3 x 5 min) before nonspecific binding sites were blocked with goat serum. The antigen retrieval procedure was not done on sections for p16ink4a staining. Sections were incubated overnight at 37°C in a humidified chamber with respective primary antibodies: mouse anti-p16ink4a monoclonal antibody (Santa Cruz) at 1:300 dilution; and mouse anti-Rb monoclonal antibody (PharMingen, San Diego, CA) at 1:20 dilution. Incubation with appropriate biotinylated secondary antibodies followed. Slides were then incubated with streptavidin horseradish peroxidase. Expression of p16ink4a and Rb was localized by a final incubation with DAB and a light hematoxylin counterstain.
Protein Extraction and Western Blotting
Western blotting analysis of bax and bcl-2 was conducted on esophageal epithelia from a previous study (5)
, in which weanling rats were given a ZD diet and 1% DFMO in the drinking water from the beginning for 5 weeks and then received a single dose of NMBA. This DFMO protocol reduced the incidence of esophageal tumors in ZD rats from 80 to 4%. Esophageal epithelia, isolated from DFMO-treated and DFMO-untreated ZD rats at end point for tumor analysis, were homogenized in a buffer containing 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4), 150 mM NaCl, 1% Triton X-100, 1% sodium deoxycholate, 0.1% SDS, 5 mM EDTA, 100 µg/ml aprotinin, 50 µg/ml leupeptin, 1 mM benzamidine, 7 µg/ml pepstatin, and 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. Debris was removed by centrifugation at 16,000 x g for 20 min. The protein concentration in the extract samples was measured using a Bradford protein assay kit (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA). Proteins (100 µg) were separated by 14% SDS-PAGE and transferred onto Immobilon-P membranes (Millipore, Bedford, MA). After transfer, membranes were stained with Ponceau S (Sigma Chemical Co.) to test for equal loading of the samples and washed three times with PBS/Tween 20. Membranes were individually probed with goat polyclonal antibodies against bax and bcl-2. After antibody binding, membranes were incubated with appropriate horseradish peroxidase conjugate (Pierce Chemical Co., Rockford, IL). All of the incubations and washes were performed in PBS. Immunodetection was performed using the enhanced chemiluminescence method for Western blotting detection (Pierce Chemical Co.).
Statistical Analysis
Data on polyamine contents, cell proliferation, and apoptosis were analyzed by one-way ANOVA using SAS statistical computer program (25)
. Tumor incidence differences were analyzed by Fishers exact test (26)
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| Results |
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DFMO Treatment Reverses Initiation of Esophageal Tumorigenesis in ZD Rats.
Consistent with our previous results (16)
, a single dose of NMBA produced a 89% (8/9) incidence of esophageal tumors in ZD rats with a multiplicity of 2.8 ± 2.2 tumors/esophagus at week 15. On the other hand, ZD rats that were switched to drinking water containing 1% DFMO after 5 weeks of a deficient diet exhibited a greatly reduced tumor incidence of 10% (2/20) with a markedly lower multiplicity of tumors/esophagus (0.15 ± 0.49) at the end point. These differences are significant at P < 0.0001 (two-tailed Fishers exact test) for tumor incidence and P = 0.008 for tumors/esophagus. In addition, similar levels of serum zinc content were found in ZD/H2O rats (56 ± 16 µg/100 ml) and ZD/DFMO animals (58 ± 14 µg/100 ml); these levels were substantially lower than those reported for zinc-sufficient rats (5)
. Our results demonstrate that DFMO, given after the establishment of a carcinogenic environment by dietary zinc deficiency and administration of the carcinogen, effectively prevents esophageal cancer formation in ZD rats.
DFMO Reverses Pre-established Esophageal Cell Proliferation in ZD Rats.
PCNA immunostaining showed DFMO, given after the animals had been fed a ZD diet for 5 weeks, effectively reversed the pre-established esophageal cell proliferation (Fig. 1, AC)
. As illustrated in Fig. 1A
, esophagus from a ZD/H2O animal at 0 h (before NMBA treatment) showed hyperplasia and a focal hyperplastic lesion with numerous PCNA-stained nuclei. At week 15 after NMBA treatment, abundant PCNA-positive nuclei were found in areas of hyperplasia, dysplasia, focal hyperplastic upgrowth (Fig. 1B)
, and papillomas (data not shown). In stark contrast, esophagus of ZD/DFMO rats (Fig. 1C)
showed a very small number of PCNA-positive nuclei in basal cells of a restored esophageal epithelium that was two to three cells thick and resembled that reported for pair-fed, zinc-sufficient rats (15)
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| Discussion |
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On the other hand, Table 1
shows that ZD/DFMO rats weighed 18% less than ZD/H2O animals at week 15. DFMO administration is known to cause reduced food consumption and, thus, decreased body weight in several rodent cancer models (5
, 29)
. Our earlier work (15)
has established that the profound effect of dietary zinc deficiency on esophageal cell proliferation/tumorigenesis in rats is specific and overrides the opposing effect of caloric restriction, simultaneously accomplished by a reduced intake of zinc. Thus, the dramatic effect of DFMO in reversing and inhibiting the cell proliferation-driven esophageal tumorigenesis in DFMO/ZD rats is specific and unlikely to be attributed to a further caloric restriction in these animals relative to ZD/H2O rats.
To date, the ability of DFMO to enhance apoptosis in cancer prevention has only been demonstrated in a few in vivo models (5
, 30)
. Importantly, the present results show that induction of apoptosis is a mechanism underlying the chemopreventive and antiproliferative activities of DFMO. Thus, morphological changes detected in epithelial cells (Fig. 4, CD)
, DNA fragmentation detected by TUNEL assay (Fig. 4, GH)
, overexpression of bax (Fig. 6B)
, a proapoptotic protein, and underexpression of bcl-2 (Fig. 6D)
, an antiapoptotic protein, all of which are characteristic of apoptosis, are observed in esophagi from ZD/DFMO rats at week 15. On the contrary, proliferative esophagi from ZD/H2O animals at 0 h or week 15 only show sporadic occurrence of apoptotic cells (Fig. 4, AB and EF)
, accompanied by strong staining of bcl-2 (Fig. 6C)
and weak expression of bax (Fig. 6A)
.
Because preneoplastic precursor lesions have been detected in ZD esophagus as early as 24 h after NMBA treatment, and tumor induction is rapid under the carcinogenic environment provided by uncontrolled cell proliferation (17) , the results from this study suggest that effective cancer prevention by DFMO under the present experimental condition entails: (a) prompt induction of apoptosis to remove damaged cells and, thus, reverse esophageal cell proliferation; and (b) sustained inhibition of cell proliferation to annul the continued effect of dietary zinc deficiency. In this study, experiments to determine the onset of apoptosis after DFMO treatment have not been performed. However, it is possible that the reversal of cell proliferation brought about by apoptosis may occur rapidly or within hours after the application of the chemopreventive agent, a conclusion based on our recent results obtained with zinc replenishment in ZD rats (31) .
Many studies have now demonstrated roles for polyamines in apoptosis, but the underlying mechanism for these effects is still unknown. Overaccumulation of polyamines may induce apoptosis in both oxidation-dependent (32 , 33) and oxidation-independent processes (34, 35, 36) . Spermine has been shown to trigger caspase-3 activation both in vivo (37) and in vitro as a result of enhanced release of mitochondrial cytochrome c (38) , and polyamines are needed for the movement of plasma membrane phospholipids that accompanies apoptosis (39) . In contrast, the ability of DFMO, which lowers overall polyamine levels, to induce apoptosis is clearly demonstrated in the current report and our previous studies (5) in the esophagus of ZD rats and in several other recent papers (30 , 40) for other tissues. Thus, an increased AI was seen in a human gastric cancer model after exposure to DFMO (40) , and DFMO increased the AI in rat colon adenomas induced by azoxymethane (30) . The effects of alteration in polyamine levels on apoptosis may be biphasic with both elevated and reduced levels favoring cell death, but it is noteworthy that DFMO causes a major increase in the ratio of spermine to its precursors spermidine and putrescine. It is possible that this alteration has the same effect as gross elevation of polyamine content.
Many studies on experimental animals have confirmed the potential value of DFMO as a chemopreventive agent, and current clinical trials to examine whether these results are translatable to the clinic for the treatment of individuals at high risk from neoplastic disease should establish whether this drug is useful, provided that adequate protocols are followed (see Refs. 4 , 7 , 30 ) and references therein). Although it is clear that the effects of DFMO are related to the reduction in the ability to synthesize polyamines, a better understanding of the mechanism by which altered polyamines alter the development of neoplastic growth is needed both to optimize the conditions for the use of DFMO and to allow for the production of second generation agents with greater effectiveness and ease of use. The ZD rat esophageal cancer model provides a useful model system in which such mechanistic studies can be carried out.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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1 Supported by Grant 97B115-REV and 99B045-REN from the American Institute for Cancer Research (to L. Y. Y. F.), and Grant GM-26290 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH (to A. E. P.). ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Kimmel Cancer Institute, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. Phone: (215) 503-4763; Fax: (215) 923-7144; E-mail: L_Fong{at}hendrix.JCI.TJU.EDU ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: ODC, ornithine decarboxylase; DFMO,
-difluoromethylornithine; ZD, zinc-deficient; NMBA, N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine; PCNA, proliferating cell nuclear antigen; LI, labeling index; TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling; DAB, 3,3'-diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride; AI, apoptotic index. ![]()
Received 7/12/00; revised 12/24/00; accepted 1/ 5/01.
| References |
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-Difluoromethylornithine inhibits N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine-induced esophageal carcinogenesis in zinc-deficient rats: effects on esophageal cell proliferation and apoptosis. Cancer Res., 58: 5380-5388, 1998.
-difluoromethylornithine. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomark. Prev., 3: 325-330, 1994.[Abstract]
-difluoromethylornithine on murine mammary carcinogenesis. Carcinogenesis (Lond.), 12: 1649-1651, 1984.
-difluoromethylornithine of azoxymethane-induced tumors, aberrant crypt foci and prostaglandin E2 levels in rat colon. Carcinogenesis (Lond.), 20: 425-430, 1999.
-Difluoromethylornithine induces apoptosis as well as anti-angiogenesis in the inhibition of tumor growth and metastasis in a human gastric cancer model. Int. J. Cancer, 85: 243-247, 2000.[Medline]
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