• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.6 s.73
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• pp.994-1004
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• 2005

The dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) promoter contains cis-acting element for the transcription factors Spl and E2F. Transcription of dhfr gene shows maximal activity during the Gl/S phase of cell cycle. The member of the Spl transcriptional factor family can act as both negative and positive regulators of gene expression. There was a report that Spl-Rb and E2F4-pl30 complexes cooperate to establish stable repression of dhfr gene expression in CHOC400 cells. Here, we examined the role of HDAC in dhfr, cyclin E, and cyclin A gene regulation using the histone deacetylation inhibitor, trichostatin A (TSA) in U2OS and C33A cells, a Rb-positive human osteosarcoma cell line, and a Rb-negative cervical carcinoma cell line, respectively. When the dhfr promoter constructs were applied in U2OS cells, TSA markedly stimulated over 14-fold of dhfr promoter activity through dhfr-Spl sites by the deletion of an E2F element. In contrast, the deletion of dhfr-Spl binding sites completely abolished promoter stimulation by TSA. The dhfr promoter activity including dhfr-Spl sites increased only 2-fold in C33A cells. Promoter activity containing only dhfr-E2F site did not have much effect by the treatment of TSA in both U2OS and C33A cells. On the other hand, treatment with TSA induced significantly mRNA expression of dhfr and cyclin E, whereas levels of cyclin A decreased in U2OS cells, but had no effect in C33A cells. These results indicate that TSA have contradictory effect, activation of dhfr and cyclin E genes on Gl phase, and down-regulation of cyclin A on G2 phase through transcriptional regulation in U2OS cells.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.755-762
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• 2005

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects more than 90% of the world's population and has a potential oncogenic nature. A histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, trichostatin A (TSA), has shown potential ability in cancer chemoprevention and treatment, but its effect on EBV-infected Akata cells has not been examined. This study investigated the effect of TSA on the proliferation and apoptosis of the cells. TSA inhibited cell growth and induced cytotoxicity in the EBV infected Akata cells. TSA treatment sensitively induced apoptosis in the cell, which was demonstrated by the increased number of positively stained cells in the TUNEL assay, the migration of many cells to the sub-$G_0/G_1$ phase in flow cytometric analysis, and the ladder formation of genomic DNA. Western blot analysis showed that caspase-dependent pathways are involved in the TSA-induced apoptosis of EBV-infected Akata cells. Overall, this study shows that EBV-infected B lymphomas are quite sensitive to TSA-provoked apoptosis.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.138-141
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• 2004

Purpose : We have previously reported that human glioblastoma cells are sensitized to radiation-induced death after their exposure to trichostatin A (TSA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDAC-1), prior to the irradiation. We aimed to measure the magnitude of the radiosensitizing effect of TSA in human head and neck cancer cell lines. Materials and Methods : Human head and neck cancer cell lines, HN-3 and HN-9, were exposed to 0, 50, 100, and 200 nM TSA for 18 hr prior to irradiation. Then, the TSA-treated cells were irradiated with 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 Gy, and cell survival was measured by clonogenic assay. Results : Pre-irradiation exposure to TSA was found to radiosensitize HN-3 and HN-9 cell lines. In HN-9 cells, the fraction surviving after 2 Gy (SF2) was significantly reduced by treatment of TSA at concentration as low as 50 nM. However, a treatment with 200 nM TSA was required to significantly decrease SF2 in the HN-3 cell line. SER of pre-irradiation treatment with 200 nM TSA was 1.84 in HN-3 and 7.24 in HN-9, respectively. Conclusions : Our results clearly showed that human head and neck cancer cell lines can be sensitized to ionizing radiation by pre-irradiation inhibition of histone deacetylase (HDAC) using TSA, and that this potentiation might well be a general phenomenon.