Corresponding Author: Macus Tien Kuo, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Box 951, Houston, TX 77030.
Mol Cancer Ther. 2013 Nov;12(11):2581-90. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-13-0302. Epub 2013 Aug 26.
Many malignant human tumors, including melanomas, are auxotrophic for arginine due to reduced expression of argininosuccinate synthetase-1 (ASS1), the rate-limiting enzyme for arginine biosynthesis. Pegylated arginine deiminase (ADI-PEG20), which degrades extracellular arginine, resulting in arginine deprivation, has shown favorable results in clinical trials for treating arginine-auxotrophic tumors. Drug resistance is the major obstacle for effective ADI-PEG20 usage. To elucidate mechanisms of resistance, we established several ADI-PEG20-resistant (ADI(R)) variants from A2058 and SK-Mel-2 melanoma cells. Compared with the parental lines, these ADI(R) variants showed the following characteristics: (i) all ADI(R) cell lines showed elevated ASS1 expression, resulting from the constitutive binding of the transcription factor c-Myc on the ASS1 promoter, suggesting that elevated ASS1 is the major mechanism of resistance; (ii) the ADI(R) cell lines exhibited enhanced AKT signaling and were preferentially sensitive to PI3K/AKT inhibitors, but reduced mTOR signaling, and were preferentially resistant to mTOR inhibitor; (iii) these variants showed enhanced expression of glucose transporter-1 and lactate dehydrogenase-A, reduced expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase, and elevated sensitivity to the glycolytic inhibitors 2-deoxy-glucose and 3-bromopyruvate, consistent with the enhanced glycolytic pathway (the Warburg effect); (iv) the resistant cells showed higher glutamine dehydrogenase and glutaminase expression and were preferentially vulnerable to glutamine inhibitors. We showed that c-Myc, not elevated ASS1 expression, is involved in upregulation of many of these enzymes because knockdown of c-Myc reduced their expression, whereas overexpressed ASS1 by transfection reduced their expression. This study identified multiple targets for overcoming ADI-PEG resistance in cancer chemotherapy using recombinant arginine-degrading enzymes.
许多恶性人类肿瘤,包括黑色素瘤,由于精氨琥珀酸合成酶-1(ASS1)的表达减少,是精氨酸的营养缺陷型,ASS1 是精氨酸生物合成的限速酶。聚乙二醇化精氨酸脱亚氨酶(ADI-PEG20)降解细胞外精氨酸,导致精氨酸缺乏,在治疗精氨酸营养缺陷型肿瘤的临床试验中取得了良好的效果。耐药性是有效使用 ADI-PEG20 的主要障碍。为了阐明耐药机制,我们从 A2058 和 SK-Mel-2 黑色素瘤细胞中建立了几种 ADI-PEG20 耐药(ADI(R))变体。与亲本系相比,这些 ADI(R)变体表现出以下特征:(i)所有 ADI(R)细胞系均表现出 ASS1 表达升高,这是由于转录因子 c-Myc 与 ASS1 启动子的组成性结合所致,表明升高的 ASS1 是主要的耐药机制;(ii)ADI(R)细胞系表现出增强的 AKT 信号传导,对 PI3K/AKT 抑制剂更敏感,但对 mTOR 信号传导降低,对 mTOR 抑制剂更耐药;(iii)这些变体表现出葡萄糖转运蛋白-1 和乳酸脱氢酶-A 的表达增强,丙酮酸脱氢酶的表达降低,以及对糖酵解抑制剂 2-脱氧葡萄糖和 3-溴丙酮酸的敏感性增加,与增强的糖酵解途径(Warburg 效应)一致;(iv)耐药细胞表现出更高的谷氨酰胺脱氢酶和谷氨酰胺酶表达,对谷氨酰胺抑制剂更敏感。我们表明,c-Myc 而不是升高的 ASS1 表达参与了许多这些酶的上调,因为 c-Myc 的敲低降低了它们的表达,而通过转染过表达 ASS1 降低了它们的表达。这项研究确定了使用重组精氨酸降解酶克服癌症化疗中 ADI-PEG 耐药性的多个靶点。