Dataset Information

FANCD2 re-expression is associated with glioma grade and chemical inhibition of the Fanconi Anaemia pathway sensitises gliomas to chemotherapeutic agents.

ABSTRACT: Brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer. Around half of primary brain tumours are glioblastoma multiforme (GBMs) where treatment remains a significant challenge, where survival rates have improved little over the last 40 years, thus highlighting an unmet need for the identification/development of novel therapeutic targets and agents to improve GBM treatment. Using archived and fresh glioma tissue, we show that in contrast to normal brain or benign schwannomas GBMs exhibit re-expression of FANCD2, a key protein of the Fanconi Anaemia (FA) DNA repair pathway, and possess an active FA pathway. Importantly, FANCD2 expression levels are strongly associated with tumour grade, revealing a potential exploitable therapeutic window to allow inhibition of the FA pathway in tumour cells, whilst sparing normal brain tissue. Using several small molecule inhibitors of the FA pathway in combination with isogenic FA-proficient/deficient glioma cell lines as well as primary GBM cultures, we demonstrate that inhibition of the FA pathway sensitises gliomas to the chemotherapeutic agents Temozolomide and Carmustine. Our findings therefore provide a strong rationale for the development of novel and potent inhibitors of the FA pathway to improve the treatment of GBMs, which may ultimately impact on patient outcome.

SUBMITTER: Patil AA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4171640 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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FANCD2 re-expression is associated with glioma grade and chemical inhibition of the Fanconi Anaemia pathway sensitises gliomas to chemotherapeutic agents.

Patil Abhijit A AA Sayal Parag P Depondt Marie-Lise ML Beveridge Ryan D RD Roylance Anthony A Kriplani Deepti H DH Myers Katie N KN Cox Angela A Jellinek David D Fernando Malee M Carroll Thomas A TA Collis Spencer J SJ

Oncotarget 20140801 15

Brain tumours kill more children and adults under 40 than any other cancer. Around half of primary brain tumours are glioblastoma multiforme (GBMs) where treatment remains a significant challenge, where survival rates have improved little over the last 40 years, thus highlighting an unmet need for the identification/development of novel therapeutic targets and agents to improve GBM treatment. Using archived and fresh glioma tissue, we show that in contrast to normal brain or benign schwannomas G ...[more]

PMID: 25071006

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Project description:BackgroundPediatric high-grade gliomas (pHGG) are the leading cause of cancer-related death during childhood. Due to their diffuse growth characteristics, chemoresistance and location behind the blood-brain barrier (BBB), the prognosis of pHGG has barely improved in the past decades. As such, there is a dire need for new therapies that circumvent those difficulties. Since aberrant expression of DNA damage-response associated Fanconi anemia proteins play a central role in the onset and therapy resistance of many cancers, we here investigated if FANCD2 depletion could sensitize pHGG to additional DNA damage.MethodsWe determined the capacity of celastrol, a BBB-penetrable compound that degrades FANCD2, to sensitize glioma cells to the archetypical DNA-crosslinking agent carboplatin in vitro in seven patient-derived pHGG models. In addition, we tested this drug combination in vivo in a patient-derived orthotopic pHGG xenograft model. Underlying mechanisms to drug response were investigated using mRNA expression profiling, western blotting, immunofluorescence, FANCD2 knockdown and DNA fiber assays.FindingsFANCD2 is overexpressed in HGGs and depletion of FANCD2 by celastrol synergises with carboplatin to induce cytotoxicity. Combination therapy prolongs survival of pHGG-bearing mice over monotherapy and control groups in vivo (P<0.05). In addition, our results suggest that celastrol treatment stalls ongoing replication forks, causing sensitivity to DNA-crosslinking in FANCD2-dependent glioma cells.InterpretationOur results show that depletion of FANCD2 acts as a chemo-sensitizing strategy in pHGG. Combination therapy using celastrol and carboplatin might serve as a clinically relevant strategy for the treatment of pHGG.FundingThis study was funded by a grant from the Children Cancer-Free Foundation (KIKA, project 210). The disclosed funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Dataset Information

FANCD2 re-expression is associated with glioma grade and chemical inhibition of the Fanconi Anaemia pathway sensitises gliomas to chemotherapeutic agents.

Publications

FANCD2 re-expression is associated with glioma grade and chemical inhibition of the Fanconi Anaemia pathway sensitises gliomas to chemotherapeutic agents.

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