Ambiguous roles of genotoxic anticancer therapeutic-induced NF-κB activation in regulating gene expression (activation or suppression) and apoptosis (anti-or pro-apoptosis) have recently been suggested. In order to clarify this controversy and determine the usefulness of NF-κB blockage for sensitizing anticancer therapy, we have systematically investigated the effect of distinct NF-κB-blocking approaches on lung cancer cells' responses to Adriamycin-induced cytotoxicity. The results show that Adriamycin-induced NF-κB activation functions as a transcriptional activator triggering the expression of anti-apoptotic genes. Blocking NF-κB with IKKβ or RelA siRNA substantially sensitized Adriamycin-induced cytotoxicity, suggesting that the NF-κB pathway could be a target for sensitizing lung cancer cells to Adriamycin's anticancer effect. Surprisingly, although it effectively blocks NF-κB activation, the IκBα super-suppressor (IκBαAA) antagonized Adriamycin-induced cell death. Additionally, the induction of death receptor 5 (DR5), which contributes to Adriamycin-induced cytotoxicity, was not affected by NF-κB blockage. Thus, our results suggest that Adriamycin-induced NF-κB is a transcriptional activator that protects lung cancer cells against apoptosis, and IKKβ or RelA siRNA rather than IκBαAA is an appropriate NF-κB blocking approach for sensitizing lung cancer cells to Adriamycin-induced cytotoxicity.
KeywordsNF-κB; Adriamycin; siRNA; cytotoxicity; sensitization Genotoxic anticancer therapeutics such as the DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor Adriamycin kill cancer cells mainly by inducing DNA damage that results in apoptosis. On the other hand, DNA damage also activates the transcription factor NF-κB. Because NF-κB activates expression of a number of anti-apoptotic genes, it is generally believed to be a cell survival signal that suppresses apoptosis. Accordingly, it is anticipated that blockage of NF-κB will sensitize cancer cells to anticancer therapeutics, which have been tested in a wide variety of cancers [Janssens and Tschopp, 2006;Wang et al., 2002]. However, NF-κB also upregulates a series of pro-apoptosis genes such as death receptor 5 (DR5), Bax, Fas ligand and p73 [Kikuchi et al., 2006;Shou et al.,. 2002;Singh et al, 2007], thus, a pro-apoptotic role of NF-κB has been proposed Furthermore, a recent finding that genotoxic stress-induced NF-κB activation may function as a transcription suppressor has added more complexity into this [Campbell et al., 2004;Ho et al., 2005;Perkins, 2004]. It is likely that the activation of NF-κB target genes and the cellular outcome in response to DNA damage-induced NF-κB activation are dependent on the cellular context [Janssens and Tschopp, 2006;Wang et al., 2002]. Thus, for improving the anticancer value of Adriamycin, it is important to determine the exact role of NF-κB in Adriamycin-induced apoptosis and to establish appropriate means for manipulating NF-κB in cancer cells.NF-κB is typically a heterodimer consisting of the RelA/p65 and p50 subunits, which is kept i...