Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase activity regulates apoptosis in HeLa cells after alkylating DNA damage

Xuesong Liu, Xu Luo, Yan Yan Shi, Gui-dong Zhu, Thomas Penning, Vincent L Giranda and Yan Luo

volume 7 | issue 6

June 2008
Pages: 934 - 941

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Majority of chemotherapeutic agents inhibit tumor growth by inducing apoptosis or necrosis. The DNA alkylating agent, N-methyl-N’-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), kills cells by necrosis through massive production of DNA strand breaks and subsequent over-activation of PARP. Inhibition of PARP, either through PARP1 genetic ablation or through small molecule PARP inhibitors, protected MNNG-induced cell death in certain cell types including MEF and primary cortical cultures. We report here that a potent PARP inhibitor, ABT-888, facilitates the induction of apoptotic cell death in HeLa cells treated with MNNG. Although the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol was observed in HeLa cells treated with either MNNG alone or the combination of MNNG and ABT-888 (MNNG/ABT-888), apoptosis is observed only in HeLa cells treated with MNNG/ABT-888. Bcl-2 family proteins regulate the release of cytochrome c. Down-regulation of Bax and Bak by their corresponding siRNAs or over-expression of Bcl-xl inhibited the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol, and inhibited apoptosis induced by MNNG/ABT-888. Further examination indicates that ATP concentration is greatly reduced in HeLa cells treated with MNNG alone, but not in HeLa cells treated with MNNG/ABT-888. Reduction of ATP concentration by F0F1-ATP synthase inhibitor oligomycin A renders HeLa cells resistant to the apoptosis induction by treatment with MNNG/ABT-888. Unlike in HeLa cells, ABT-888 protected MNNG induced cell death in normal human fibroblasts. Our study provides evidence that PARP activity determines the fate of HeLa cells by regulating the level of ATP after treatment with MNNG.

Authors

Xuesong Liu

1Dept. R47S, Cancer Research, Abbott Laboratories, 100 Abbott Park Road, Abbott Park, IL 60064