There is an urgent need to develop new strategies to treat ovarian cancer, the most deadly gynecologic malignancy. Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are emerging as novel therapeutic drugs in the treatment of a variety of cancers, including those resistant to standard chemotherapy. Since there are multiple HDAC isoforms, determining the precise role of individual HDAC isoenzymes in the growth and progression of ovarian cancer has the potential to influence the use of selective HDAC inhibitors as strategic therapeutic agents that elicit fewer undesirable side effects. Unfortunately, there is limited information about the expression of HDAC isoforms in human ovarian tissues. This report provides evidence for the first time that Class I HDACs are expressed at significantly higher levels in ovarian cancers in comparison to normal ovarian tissues, with no significant difference in Class II HDAC expression between the two groups. Furthermore, ovarian cancer cells are far more sensitive than normal ovarian cells to the potent HDAC inhibitor romidepsin (FK228), a drug that displays greater inhibitory selectivity for Class I HDACs over Class II isoforms. Using small interfering RNA (siRNA) methodology, we demonstrate that knocking down the gene expression of HDAC3 and other members of the Class I HDAC family suppresses ovarian cancer cell growth. Taken together, the present studies offer several novel findings that have direct relevance for the strategic use of inhibitors that target Class I HDACs, particularly HDAC3, in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Chronic inflammation is an important underlying condition for ovarian tumor development, growth and progression. Since chemokine networks are activated by inflammation, patterns of chemokine gene expression were investigated in ovarian cancer cells. Chemokine specific microarrays were performed after mouse (ID8) and human (SKOV-3) ovarian surface epithelial cancer cells were exposed to the inflammatory agent bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 10 microg/ml) and pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1beta (IL-1, 10 ng/ml) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF, 10 ng/ml). In the mouse ID8 cells, LPS, IL-1 and TNF led to robust upregulation of keratinocyte chemoattractant (KC) chemokines CXCL1/2, mouse homologues of human growth-regulated oncogenes (GRO). Other chemokines, interferong inducible protein (IP)-10 (CXCL10), CCL7 and CCL20 were moderately upregulated. ID8 cells constitutively expressed CXCL16 and CCL2, but only CCL2 expression was enhanced by LPS, IL-1 and TNF. In the human SKOV-3 cells, LPS had no effect on chemokines expression due to the absence of the LPS receptor, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). However, IL-1 and TNF induced GROalpha/beta (CXCL1/2) in human SKOV-3 cells in a similar manner as observed with mouse ID8 cells. In SKOV-3 cells, IL-8 (CXCL8) was highly expressed and other chemokines GROgamma (CXCL3) and CCL20 were moderately expressed in response to IL-1 and TNF. The nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) is a known mediator of cytokine and chemokines signaling. The NFkappaB inhibitor BAY 11-7082 attenuated expression of inflammatory-induced chemokines in the mouse and human ovarian cancer cells. Taken together, the results indicate that KC/GRO chemokines are the principal chemokines induced by LPS and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1 and TNF via NFkappaB signaling in ovarian surface epithelial cancer cells.

Expression of the breast cancer susceptibility tumor-suppressor protein BRCA2, a protein potentially involved in DNA recombination repair, is tightly regulated throughout development. We have identified a transcriptional silencer at the distal end of the human BRCA2 gene promoter. This silencer is involved in the negative regulation of the expression of this gene in breast cell lines tested but not in HeLa or HepG2 cells. The 221-base-pair silencer region is characterized by a full-length Alu-repeat. Presence of specific BRCA2 silencer-binding proteins in the breast cell extracts indicates the potential regulation of BRCA2 gene expression by these proteins.The second breast cancer gene, BRCA2, encodes a nuclear protein of 3814 amino acids (1). This steroidregulated protein has unique structural features, directly interacts with the repair protein RAD51, and has domains that implicate it as a possible transcriptional transactivator (1, 2). Along with BRCA1, germline mutations in the BRCA2 gene are found to be responsible for majority of hereditary breast cancers (1, 2). Both BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene products are involved in DNA repair and recombination processes and appear to play key roles in monitoring and/or repairing DNA lesions (1). Mutations in either of these genes may cause relaxation of this monitoring event and the unrepaired DNA lesions may lead to the accumulation of mutations and ultimately to cancer (1).The role played by BRCA2 protein in sporadic breast and ovarian cancer is not known as mutations in this gene are rarely seen is such cases. If inactivation of BRCA2 associated functions contributes to sporadic malignancies, it might be achieved by epigenetic events. Other proteins involved in the BRCA2 pathway may determine the net concentration and activity of BRCA2 protein in a cell. Our study is aimed at understanding the possible mechanism of down-regulation of human BRCA2 gene. To this effect, we have found an Alu-repeat containing silencer at the upstream of BRCA2 gene promoter. We propose that protein(s) binding to this silencer may regulate BRCA2 gene expression in human breast cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS CellsCell lines used in this study include MCF-10F, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-435S, BT-549, MCF-7, HeLa, and HepG2. Most of these cells were originally procured from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA) and maintained in the recommended (by Copyright © 1999 Cloning of the BRCA2 upstream sequenceA human genomic library made in λFIXII (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA) vector was screened (4) with RT-PCR-amplified (primers 5′-GCCAACACTGAGAAAATACCCG-3′ and 5′-AAATACAGCGTGCCCAGCAG-3′) 668 bp human BRCA2 exon 1 fragment as probe to obtain three clones potentially containing the BRCA2 upstream sequence. Southern hybridization (4) of the EcoRI-digest of one of the clones revealed a 1.8-kb fragment containing the exon I. Anchor PCR (4) with the pBLuescript KS(1) clone of this 1.8 kb DNA using T7 and exon I-terminal (5′-CCTAGTTTCAGAAGCTCGC-3′) primers and Pfu DNA polymerase (Stratagene) yi...

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors have shown preclinical efficacy in solid tumors, including ovarian cancers. Our group has published that the HDAC inhibitor, romidepsin (FK228) suppresses ovarian cancer cell growth at nanomolar concentrations in vitro. HDAC inhibitors appear to be even more effective when used in combination with other anti-tumor agents. However, it remains unclear which anti-tumor agents are best suited for combination therapy. A recent report suggested that aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid, ASA) is synergistic with HDAC inhibitors in ovarian cancer cells. ASA is a relatively selective inhibitor of cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) and has anti-proliferative effects in ovarian cancer cells. The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of ASA on the activity of the HDAC inhibitor, FK228 in COX-1 positive (OVCAR-3) and COX-1 negative (SKOV-3) human ovarian cancer cell lines. The growth inhibitory effects of FK228 were enhanced by ASA in COX-1 positive ovarian cancer cells. In contrast, ASA had no influence on the results of FK228 treatment in COX-1 negative ovarian cancer cells. Upregulation of the cell cycle control protein p21 was induced robustly by FK228 in both cell lines. In the COX-1 positive cells, p21 expression was augmented by the addition of ASA to FK228 treatment. Furthermore, COX-1 siRNA attenuated the effects of combined ASA and FK228 on the levels of p21 expression and the amount of growth inhibition. The additional increase in p21 by ASA in FK228-treated cells was not observed at the promoter or transcriptional levels. However, a significant delay in p21 protein degradation in the presence of ASA and FK228 in COX-1 positive cells was associated with inhibition of proteasome activity. Our study provides a potential rationale for combining ASA with HDAC inhibitors in a subset of ovarian cancers.

Despite the presence of a cytosolic fatty acid synthesis pathway, mitochondria have retained their own means of creating fatty acids via the mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis (mtFASII) pathway. The reason for its conservation has not yet been elucidated. Therefore, to better understand the role of mtFASII in the cell, we used thin layer chromatography to characterize the contribution of the mtFASII pathway to the fatty acid composition of selected mitochondrial lipids. Next, we performed metabolomic analysis on HeLa cells in which the mtFASII pathway was either hypofunctional (through knockdown of mitochondrial acyl carrier protein, ACP) or hyperfunctional (through overexpression of mitochondrial enoyl-CoA reductase, MECR). Our results indicate that the mtFASII pathway contributes little to the fatty acid composition of mitochondrial lipid species examined. Additionally, loss of mtFASII function results in changes in biochemical pathways suggesting alterations in glucose utilization and redox state. Interestingly, levels of bioactive lipids, including lysophospholipids and sphingolipids, directly correlate with mtFASII function, indicating that mtFASII may be involved in the regulation of bioactive lipid levels. Regulation of bioactive lipid levels by mtFASII implicates the pathway as a mediator of intracellular signaling.

Mammalian cells contain two fatty acid synthesis pathways, the cytosolic FASI pathway, and the mitochondrial FASII pathway. The selection behind the conservation of the mitochondrial pathway is not completely understood, given the presence of the cytosolic FAS pathway. In this study, we show through heterologous gene reporter systems and PCR based arrays that overexpression of MECR, the last step in the mtFASII pathway, causes modulation of gene expression through the PPAR pathway. Electromobility shift assays (EMSAs) demonstrate that overexpression of MECR causes increased binding of PPARs to DNA, while cell fractionation and imaging studies show that MECR remains localized to the mitochondria. Interestingly, knock down of the mtFASII pathway lessens the effect of MECR on this transcriptional modulation. Our data are most consistent with MECR-mediated transcriptional activation through products of the mtFASII pathway, although we cannot rule out MECR acting as a coactivator. Further investigation into the physiological relevance of this communication will be necessary to better understand some of the phenotypic consequences of deficits in this pathway observed in animal models and human disease.