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Use of multifunctional sigma-2 receptor ligand conjugates to trigger cancer-selective cell death signaling.

ABSTRACT: One major challenge in the development of cancer therapeutics is the selective delivery of the drugs to their cellular targets. In the case of pancreatic cancer, the ?-2 receptor is a unique target that triggers apoptosis upon activation. We have previously developed a series of chemical compounds with high affinity for the ?-2 receptor and showed rapid internalization of the ligands. One particular specific ligand of the ?-2 receptor, SV119, binds to pancreatic cancer cells and induces target cell death in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we characterized the ability of SV119 to selectively deliver other death-inducing cargos to augment the cytotoxic properties of SV119 itself. When conjugated to SV119, small molecules that are known to interfere with intracellular prosurvival pathways retained their ability to induce cell death, the efficiency of which was enhanced by the combinatorial effect of SV119 delivered with its small molecule cargo. Our findings define a simple platform technology to increase the tumor-selective delivery of small molecule therapeutics via ?-2 ligands, permitting chemotherapeutic synergy that can optimize efficacy and patient benefit.

SUBMITTER: Spitzer D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3251632 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Use of multifunctional sigma-2 receptor ligand conjugates to trigger cancer-selective cell death signaling.

Spitzer Dirk D Simon Peter O PO Kashiwagi Hiroyuki H Xu Jinbin J Zeng Chenbo C Vangveravong Suwanna S Zhou Dong D Chang Katherine K McDunn Jonathan E JE Hornick John R JR Goedegebuure Peter P Hotchkiss Richard S RS Mach Robert H RH Hawkins William G WG

Cancer research 20111107 1

One major challenge in the development of cancer therapeutics is the selective delivery of the drugs to their cellular targets. In the case of pancreatic cancer, the σ-2 receptor is a unique target that triggers apoptosis upon activation. We have previously developed a series of chemical compounds with high affinity for the σ-2 receptor and showed rapid internalization of the ligands. One particular specific ligand of the σ-2 receptor, SV119, binds to pancreatic cancer cells and induces target c ...[more]

PMID: 22065721

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Project description:The sigma-2 receptor is an attractive target for tumor imaging and targeted therapy because it is overexpressed in multiple types of solid tumors, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer. SV119 is a synthetic small molecule that binds to sigma-2 receptors with high affinity and specificity. This study investigates the utility of SV119 in mediating the selective targeting of liposomal vectors in various types of cancer cells.SV119 was covalently linked with polyethylene glycol-dioleyl amido aspartic acid conjugate (PEG-DOA) to generate a novel functional lipid, SV119-PEG-DOA. This lipid was utilized for the preparation of targeted liposomes to enhance their uptake by cancer cells. Liposomes with various SV119 densities (0, 1, 3, and 5 mole%) were prepared and their cellular uptake was investigated in several tumor cell lines. In addition, doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded into the targeted and unmodified liposomes, and the cytotoxic effect on the DU-145 cells was evaluated by MTT assay.Liposomes with or without SV119-PEG-DOA both have a mean diameter of approximately 90 nm and a neutral charge. The incorporation of SV119-PEG-DOA significantly increased the cellular uptake of liposomes by the DU-145, PC-3, A549, 201T, and MCF-7 tumor cells, which was shown by fluorescence microscopy and the quantitative measurement of fluorescence intensity. In contrast, the incorporation of SV119 did not increase the uptake of liposomes by the normal BEAS-2B cells. In a time course study, the uptake of SV119 liposomes by DU-145 cells was also significantly higher at each time point compared to the unmodified liposomes. Furthermore, the DOX-loaded SV119 liposomes showed significantly higher cytotoxicity to DU-145 cells compared to the DOX-loaded unmodified liposomes.SV119 liposomes were developed for targeted drug delivery to cancer cells. The targeting efficiency and specificity of SV119 liposomes to cancer cells was demonstrated in vitro. The results of this study suggest that SV119-modified liposomes might be a promising drug carrier for tumor-targeted delivery.

Project description:BackgroundSigma-2 receptor ligands have been studied for treatment of pancreatic cancer because they are preferentially internalized by proliferating cells and induce apoptosis. This mechanism of apoptosis is poorly understood, with varying reports of caspase-3 dependence. We evaluated multiple sigma-2 receptor ligands in this study, each shown to decrease tumor burden in preclinical models of human pancreatic cancer.ResultsFluorescently labeled sigma-2 receptor ligands of two classes (derivatives of SW43 and PB282) localize to cell membrane components in Bxpc3 and Aspc1 pancreatic cancer cells and accumulate in lysosomes. We found that interactions in the lysosome are critical for cell death following sigma-2 ligand treatment because selective inhibition of a protective lysosomal membrane glycoprotein, LAMP1, with shRNA greatly reduced the viability of cells following treatment. Sigma-2 ligands induced lysosomal membrane permeabilization (LMP) and protease translocation triggering downstream effectors of apoptosis. Subsequently, cellular oxidative stress was greatly increased following treatment with SW43, and the hydrophilic antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) gave greater protection against this than a lipophilic antioxidant, ?-tocopherol (?-toco). Conversely, PB282-mediated cytotoxicity relied less on cellular oxidation, even though ?-toco did provide protection from this ligand. In addition, we found that caspase-3 induction was not as significantly inhibited by cathepsin inhibitors as by antioxidants. Both NAC and ?-toco protected against caspase-3 induction following PB282 treatment, while only NAC offered protection following SW43 treatment. The caspase-3 inhibitor DEVD-FMK offered significant protection from PB282, but not SW43.ConclusionsSigma-2 ligand SW43 commits pancreatic cancer cells to death by a caspase-independent process involving LMP and oxidative stress which is protected from by NAC. PB282 however undergoes a caspase-dependent death following LMP protected by DEVD-FMK and ?-toco, which is also known to stabilize the mitochondrial membrane during apoptotic stimuli. These differences in mechanism are likely dependent on the structural class of the compounds versus the inherent sigma-2 binding affinity. As resistance of pancreatic cancers to specific apoptotic stimuli from chemotherapy is better appreciated, and patient-tailored treatments become more available, ligands with high sigma-2 receptor affinity should be chosen based on sensitivities to apoptotic pathways.

Project description:Sigma-2-ligands (S2L) are characterized by high-affinity interaction with their cognate sigma-2 receptor, overexpressed in rapidly proliferating tumor cells. As such, S2L were developed as imaging probes (ISO1) or as cancer therapeutics, alone (SV119 [C6], SW43 [C10]) and as delivery vehicles for cytotoxic drug cargoes following chemical conjugation (C6-Erastin, C10-SMAC). However, the exact mechanism of S2L-induced cytotoxicity remains to be fully elucidated. A series of high-affinity S2L were evaluated regarding their cytotoxicity profiles across pancreatic, ovarian, and synovial cancer cell lines. While C6 and C10 displayed distinct cytotoxicities (extended aliphatic side chains), C0 (no aliphatic side chain) and ISO1 (structurally unrelated) were essentially non-toxic, enabling us to investigate the unique mechanism of S2L cytotoxicity. Confocal microscopy and lipidomics analysis in cellular and mouse models revealed that C10 induced an increase in intralysosomal free cholesterol, a corresponding increase in cholesterol esters, suggestive of unaltered intracellular cholesterol trafficking and processing, and cytotoxicity due to cholesterol excess, a phenomenon that contrasts the effects of inhibiting NPC1 function. RNA-sequencing revealed that gene clusters involved in cholesterol homeostasis and ER stress response were activated exclusively by cytotoxic S2L. ER stress markers were confirmed on qPCR, and ER stress modulators inhibited or enhanced cytotoxicity of C10 confirming the involvement of ER stress response in the cytotoxicity of S2L. Moreover, C10 increased sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2) and low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) which were also confirmed with qPCR and at the protein level and were found to be a pro-survival mechanism activated by ER stress response. Moreover, inhibiting the processes downstream this adaptive response with simvastatin resulted in synergistic treatment outcomes when combined with C10 in vitro and in vivo. Of note, the conjugates retained the S2L-mediated cholesterol phenotype of their parental ligands, which suggests that disrupting cholesterol homeostasis might contribute to the overall cytotoxicity of the drug conjugates. Furthermore, these phenomena were seen exclusively with cytotoxic S2L. Based on these findings, we conclude that S2L-mediated cell death is due to free cholesterol accumulation that leads to ER stress. Consequently, the cytotoxic profiles of S2L drug conjugates are proposed to be enhanced via concurrent ER stress inducers or simvastatin, strategies that could be instrumental on the path toward tumor eradication.

Project description:Sigma-2 receptors have been implicated in both tumor proliferation and neurodegenerative diseases. Recently the sigma-2 receptor was identified as transmembrane protein 97 (TMEM97). Progesterone receptor membrane component 1 (PGRMC1) was also recently reported to form a complex with TMEM97 and the low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor, and this trimeric complex is responsible for the rapid internalization of LDL. Sigma-2 receptor ligands with various structures have been shown to induce cell death in cancer cells. In the current study, we examined the role of TMEM97 and PGRMC1 in mediating sigma-2 ligand-induced cell death. Cell viability and caspase-3 assays were performed in control, TMEM97 knockout (KO), PGRMC1 KO, and TMEM97/PGRMC1 double KO cell lines treated with several sigma-2 ligands. The data showed that knockout of TMEM97, PGRMC1, or both did not affect the concentrations of sigma-2 ligands that induced 50% of cell death (EC50), suggesting that cytotoxic effects of these compounds are not mediated by TMEM97 or PGRMC1. Sigma-1 receptor ligands, (+)-pentazocine and NE-100, did not block sigma-2 ligand cytotoxicity, suggesting that sigma-1 receptor was not responsible for sigma-2 ligand cytotoxicity. We also examined whether the alternative, residual binding site (RBS) of 1,3-Di-o-tolylguanidine (DTG) could be responsible for sigma-2 ligand cytotoxicity. Our data showed that the binding affinities (K i) of sigma-2 ligands on the DTG RBS did not correlate with the cytotoxicity potency (EC50) of these ligands, suggesting that the DTG RBS was not fully responsible for sigma-2 ligand cytotoxicity. In addition, we showed that knocking out TMEM97, PGRMC1, or both reduced the initial internalization rate of a sigma-2 fluorescent ligand, SW120. However, concentrations of internalized SW120 became identical later in the control and knockout cells. These data suggest that the initial internalization process of sigma-2 ligands does not appear to mediate the cell-killing effect of sigma-2 ligands. In summary, we have provided evidence that sigma-2 receptor/TMEM97 and PGRMC1 do not mediate sigma-2 ligand cytotoxicity. Our work will facilitate elucidating mechanisms of sigma-2 ligand cytotoxicity.

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Use of multifunctional sigma-2 receptor ligand conjugates to trigger cancer-selective cell death signaling.

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Use of multifunctional sigma-2 receptor ligand conjugates to trigger cancer-selective cell death signaling.

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