OBJECTIVES: Chemotherapeutic drugs induce senescence in cancer cells but, unlike replicative senescence or oncogene-induced senescence, do so rather inefficiently and depending on DNA damage. A thorough understanding of the biology of chemotherapy-induced senescent cells requires their isolation from a mixed population of adjacent senescent and non-senescent cancer cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We have developed and optimized a rapid iodixanol (OptiPrep)-based gradient centrifugation system to identify, isolate and characterize doxorubicin (DXR)-induced senescent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells (HepG2 and Huh-7) in vitro. RESULTS: After cellular exposure to DXR, we used iodixanol gradient-based centrifugation to isolate and re-plate cells on collagen-coated flasks, despite their low or null proliferative capacity. The isolated cell populations were enriched for DXR-induced senescent HCC cells, as confirmed by proliferation arrest assay, and β-galactosidase and DNA damage-dependent γH2A.X staining. CONCLUSIONS: Analysing pure cultures of chemotherapy-induced senescent versus non-responsive cancer cells will increase our knowledge on chemotherapeutic mechanisms of action, and help refine current therapeutic strategies.

• MeSH
• doxorubicin farmakologie   MeSH
• hepatocelulární karcinom patologie   MeSH
• kyseliny trijodbenzoové farmakologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• nádory jater patologie   MeSH
• poškození DNA účinky léků   MeSH
• separace buněk * metody   MeSH
• stárnutí buněk účinky léků   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• doxorubicin MeSH
• iodixanol MeSH Prohlížeč
• kyseliny trijodbenzoové MeSH

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death, which develops in the context of fibrosis and cirrhosis caused by chronic inflammation, in turn due to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), alcohol consumption and/or hepatitis viral infection. An increased number of senescent cells are associated with age-related tissue degeneration during NAFLD-induced HCC, or during chemotherapeutic treatment. Senolytic agents target selectively senescent cells. A combination of the senolytic drugs dasatinib and quercetin (D+Q) reduced hepatic lipid accumulation and alleviated age-associated physical dysfunction in mice. However, whether D+Q can impact the treatment of HCC, at the end-stage of the NAFLD inflammatory spectrum, is unknown. Here, using two well-established HCC cell lines (HepG2, Huh-7), we demonstrate that the maximal cytostatic doses for D and/or Q (1 + 1 μM) lacked efficacy in removing doxorubicin-induced β-gal-positive senescent cells. Moreover, D+Q did not affect doxorubicin-dependent induction of flattened morphology, activation of p16, expression of SASP-associated genes or formation of γH2AX foci. We then investigated the antitumor efficacy of doxorubicin, D+Q, or the combination, in xenograft studies conducted with HCC cells inoculated in athymic nude mice. Doxorubicin reduced tumor growth by 30% compared to control mice, while D+Q was ineffective in synergizing with doxorubicin and in clearing doxorubicin-induced HCC senescent cells. Unexpectedly, D+Q alone appeared to have acute pro-tumorigenic effects in control mice. While our data need to be confirmed in animal models that fully recapitulate NAFLD, we demonstrate that these compounds are ineffective, alone or in synergy with senescence-inducing chemotherapy, against experimental HCC.

• Klíčová slova
• HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma), NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease), dasatinib, quercertin, senolytic agents,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH