Inhibition of Aurora-A results in increased cell death in 3-dimensional culture microenvironment, reduced migration and is associated with enhanced radiosensitivity in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Cancer Biol Ther. 2009 Aug;8(15):1500-6. doi: 10.4161/cbt.8.15.8958. Epub 2009 Aug 8.

Abstract

Mitosis related Aurora-A kinase is amplified in a variety of carcinomas. Overexpression of Aurora-A contributes to tumorigenesis and disease progression, and has emerged as an attractive molecular target for the design of anticancer drugs. In this study, we investigated the function of Aurora-A selectively small molecule inhibitor VX-680 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) CNE-2 cells. We found that VX-680 suppressed proliferation and induced apoptosis of 2Dimensional (2D) cultured NPC CNE-2 cells. Moreover, CNE-2 cells formed a tumor-like cell mass in 3Dimensional (3D) matrix culture microenvironment, and the tumor mass formation could be impaired when pretreated with VX-680 for indicated time. Similarly, when adding VX-680 to preformed 3D CNE-2 tumor mass, the tight spatial tumor mass experienced apparent apoptotic cell death and consequently dissociated into individual dead cells, as detected by cleaved Caspase-3 immunofluorescence assay. The migration assay showed that VX-680 decreased NPC CNE-2 cell migration ability in a dose-dependent manner. Our further study revealed that X-ray irradiation and VX-680 upregulated p53 expression level as well as arrested cell cycle in G(2)/M, sensitized NPC CNE-2 cells to radiation and effectively resulted in cell death. In summary, our data indicated that Aurora-A small molecule inhibitor VX-680, potently destructed tumor formation and induced apoptosis, reduced cell migration and enhanced radiosensitivity, offering a promising therapeutic agent for human NPC.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Apoptosis / drug effects*
  • Aurora Kinases
  • Carcinoma / enzymology
  • Carcinoma / pathology*
  • Cell Cycle / drug effects
  • Cell Division / drug effects
  • Cell Movement / drug effects
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / drug effects
  • Genes, p53
  • Humans
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / enzymology
  • Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Neoplasm Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Neoplasm Proteins / physiology
  • Piperazines / pharmacology*
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors / pharmacology*
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors*
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / physiology
  • Radiation Tolerance / drug effects
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured / drug effects
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured / enzymology
  • Tumor Cells, Cultured / radiation effects

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Neoplasm Proteins
  • Piperazines
  • Protein Kinase Inhibitors
  • tozasertib
  • Aurora Kinases
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases