JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY 153507-517 (1992)

Cycloheximide Protection Against Actinomycin D Cytotoxicity

MICHAEL J. BORRELLI,* DIANE M. STAFFORD, CYNTHIA M. RAUSCH, JOHN P. OFENSTEIN, STEVEN C. COSENZA, AND KENNETH J. SOPRANO

Department of Radiation Oncology, Research Laboratory, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI 48073 (M.j.t?., D.M.S., C.M.R., I.P.O.), and Department of Microbiology

and Immunology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pcnnsylvania 19140 (S.C.C., K.1.S.)

Pretreatment plus concomitant treatment with 10 kg/ml cycloheximide protected Chinese hamster ovary cells and Swiss 3T3 cells against the cytotoxicity of actino- mycin D. The cycloheximide treatment reduced the intracellular concentration of actinomycin D by reducing the level of actinomycin D bound to the acid precipi- table fraction of the cell. Levels of unbound actinomycin D were unaffected by cycloheximide, indicating that the plasma membrane permeability to AD was not reduced. Actinomycin D inhibited total transcription but did not reduce cytoplas- mic levels of rRNA nor of most tested mRNA; however, cytoplasmic levels of c-myc mRNA were reduced below detectability. Cycloheximide treatment further inhibited total transcription and had no effect on cytoplasmic levels of r R N A nor of most tested mRNA. Cytoplasmic levels of c-myc were elevated by cycloheximide and remained so even in the presence of actinomycin D. These data suggested that a reduction in cytoplasmic levels of short lived, essential mRNA, such as c-myc mRNA, was one lethal lesion of actinomycin D. Furthermore, cyclohexirnide's protection may result, in part, from its ability to stabilize and/or elevate cytoplas- mic levels of these niRNA, thus counteracting their depletion by actinomycin D. Protection may also result from the cycloheximide-induced rcduction of actino- mycin D bound to the acid precipitable fraction of the cells. 0 1992 Wiley-Lis, Inc

Actinomycin D (AD) is an antibiotic used in the treat- ment of a limited number of cancers. Its cytotoxicity has been ascribed to its ability to bind to double- stranded DNA; the primary intracellular binding site for AD (Sobell, 1985; Baserga, 1986; Snyder et al., 1989; Zhou et al., 1989). One consequence of the AD-DNA interaction is the inhibition of transcription, which is believed to contribute to AD cytotoxicity (Sobell, 1985; Baserga, 1986; Snyder et al., 1989; Zhou et al., 1989). The AD-DNA interaction also induces DNA-protein crosslinks, which may lead to single strand DNA breaks (Fox et al., 1985), and Clark and Greenspan (1979) have reported a cytoplasmic site of action for AD. It is not known how much cytotoxicity is attributable to these latter two effects of AD.

Incubating Chinese hamster ovary cells with 10 pgiml cycloheximide (CHM) for 1 h a t 37"C, prior to and then during AD treatment, provided substantial pro- tection against AD cytotoxicity (Borrelli et al., 1991a). The 1-h pretreatment was essential even though cyclo- heximide diffused into cells within several minutes (Shearer and Sypherd, 1988), suggesting that the pro- tection involved more than a direct chemical interac- tion between CHM and AD. Among the effects that Q 1992 WILEY-LISS, INC.

could account for the protection against AD are: (1) a reduction in AD permeability across the plasma mem- brane, (2) a reduction in the amount of AD that binds to the DNA, and/or (3) a change in cellular function that counteracts the adverse effect(s) of AD.

To test for the possibility of altered AD permeability and/or AD binding, CHO cells were treated with 3H- actinomycin D (3H-AD). The amounts of intracellular free drug and drug bound to the acid precipitable cell fraction were determined.

CHM elevates and/or stabilizes cytoplasmic levels of certain mRNA species (Sorrentino et al., 1985; Den- hardt et al., 1986), which may include essential mRNA whose cytoplasmic levels are depleted by AD. The re- duction of such mRNA may represent a lethal lesion, whereas stabilizat.ion and/or elevation of their cytoplas- mic levels may be one means by which CHM counter-

Received April 19,1992; accepted June 16,1992. *To whom reprint requestskorrespondence should be addressed.

508 BORRELLI ET AL.

acts a lethal effect of AD. Cellular parameters influ- enced by transcription were measured in order to identify those that varied in a manner that correlated with AD-induced cell killing and the protection pro- vided by CHM. These included: total cellular RNA lev- els, 'H-uridine incorporation, and cytoplasmic levels of selected RNA species (determined with the Northern blot technique). The latter included mRNA transcrlbed from growth-associated genes, i.e., genes whose expres- sion has been associated with progression through the cell cycle.

The effects of CHM on AD-induced DNA-protein crosslinks and DNA single strand breaks are being in- vestigated as part of another study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS Cell culture

CHO cells were cultured in McCoy's 5A modified me- dium and Swiss 3T3 cells were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (4.5 gil glucose). Both media were bicarbonate buffered and contained 10% iron-sup- plemented calf serum (Hyclone Inc., Logan UT), 0.07 gil penicillin G potassium, and 0.10 gil streptomycin sul- phate. Cells were grown as monolayer cultures in a 37.0"C humidified incubator perfused with air contain- ing 5% CO, to maintain the medium pH a t 7.4. Cul- tures were grown to approximately 809645% of conflu- ency for all experiments.

Drug treatment A stock solution of 8.0 mgiml or 4.0 mgiml AD (type A

4262 from Sigma Chemical, St. Louis, MO) in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was made and then diluted serially with DMSO to obtain solutions with lower concentra- tions. These solutions were subsequently diluted 1,000- fold in medium (37.0°C, pH 7.4) to obtain the desired AD concentration in pgiml. All final AD solutions con- tained 0.1% DMSO. A 1 mgiml stock solution of CHM was prepared in culture medium and then diluted to give a working solution of 10 pgiml. The drug-contain- ing media were kept in the incubator until needed.

After aspirating off the medium, drug-containing medium was added and the cultures were returned to the 37.0"C incubator. To determine the effect of CHM on AD cytotoxicity, cells were pretreated for 1 h with CHM and then treated with medium containing both CHM and AD.

Cell survival Cells were seeded into 25 cm2 culture flasks 48 h

prior to experimentation. Following drug treatment, the cells were trypsinized from the substrate, counted, diluted appropriately, and plated into 25 cm2 culture flasks for the colony formation assay (Borrelli et al., 1986). The cell density in the colonizing flasks was kept constant at 4,000 cellsicm2 by adding lethally irradi- ated (25 Gy) feeder cells (Highfield et al., 1984; Borrelli et al., 1989). For the lower survival levels, 75 cm' flasks were used t o maintain the proper cell density.

Survival was normalized to the plating efficiency of the control, untreated cells (72% for CHO cells and 48% for Swiss 3T3 cells).

Determination of intracehlar- actinomycin D content using 3H-actinomycin D

CHO cells were grown in 35 mm culture dishes and then subjected to the AD and AD plus CHM treatments described above, except that the AD solutions con- tained 8 pCiiml of 3H-actinomycin D (3H-AD; 5.24 Cii mmol). Following the prescribed incubation time, the cells were rinsed three times with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and aspirated dry.

To measure total cellular 'H-AD content, 0.25 N NaOH (1 mlilO" cells) was added t o each dish and the cells were scrapped from the substrate to facilitate dis- solution. Aliquots of these samples were added to a scintifluor and assayed by liquid scintillation counting.

"-AD associated with the acid-precipitable cell frac- tion was determined by adding 2.0 ml of ice cold trichlo- roacetic acid (TCA) and allowing the cells to stand at room temperature for 10 min. This TCA treatment was repeated and the dishes were aspirated dry. The cells were then solubilized with 0.25 N NaOH and assayed as described above.

For each experimental treatment, cells were tryp- sinized from three separate 35 mm dishes and then counted t o determine the average number of cells per dish. This number was used to calculate the average radioactivity per cell.

Determination of total cellular RNA For each time point and treatment, three replicate,

100 mm culture dishes were assayed. The cells were trypsinized from the dish and resuspended in 10 ml of cold phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). A 100 p1 aliquot of each sample was used to determine cell number and the remainder was transferred to a 15 ml centrifuge tube and pelleted a t 1,000 rpm. Total cellular RNA content was determined using one of the following as- says.

Orcinol assay. Nucleic acids were isolated from cells using a modification of the procedure of Schmidt and Thannhauser (1945) as described by Merchant et al. (1964). Briefly, the cell pellets were suspended in 2.0 ml of cold, 10% TCA. Following a 5-min incubation on ice, the tubes were centrifuged at 2,000 rpm for 5 min, after which the supernatant was discarded. The pellets were resuspended in 2.0 ml of cold TCA and then boiled for 15 min.

Total cellular RNA content was determined by the orcinal assay (Mejbaum, 1939). One ml of the boiled supernatant was added to 3 ml of the orcinol solution (5 ml of 3.7% orcinol, 3.2% ferric ammonium sulfate in water, added to 85 ml of 12 N HC1) in 15 ml, polypropyl- ene centrifuge tubes. The caps were sealed tightly and the tubes were boiled for 20 min. After cooling, the OD,,, nm was determined for each sample. This was compared to a standard curve made by using known quantities of either yeast tRNA or mRNA to determine pg RNAI5 x lo6 cells.

Acridine orange assay. Cells (-2 x lo6) from each dish were stained with acridine orange using the proce- dure of Darzynkiewicz et al. (1976). Three samples from each dish were assayed. The ratio of RNA (red fluores- cence) to DNA (green fluorescence) was determined in

CYCLOHEXIMIDE-INDUCED DRUG PROTECTION 509

each cell using a flow cytometer. This was visualized as a plot of cell number vs. the ratio of red to green fluores- cence. Cells stained with acridine orange or Hoechst 33342 demonstrated that the cellular DNA profile was unaffected by any of the treatments (data not shown); hence, a change in the ratio of RNA to DNA (red to green fluorescence) was indicative of a change in total cellular RNA content.

Control cells treated with 1.0 mgiml of RNase for 1 h a t 37.0"C indicated the position (channel number of the mode of the ratio profile) corresponding to a RNA to DNA ratio of 0 (confirmed with orcinol assay). The channel number corresponding to the mode of the con- trol cell RNA to DNA ratio was assigned a value of 1.0. The normalized RNA to DNA ratio of the experimental cells was determined by the channel number of the mode of their RNA to DNA ratio distribution. Control cells were assigned an RNA content of 57.3 pg RNA/5 x lo6 cells, viz., the average RNA content for control cells as determined by the orcinol assay. The RNA content of the experimental cells was determined by multiplying their normalized RNA to DNA ratio by 57.3 pg RNAi5 x 10~cel ls .

Determination of "H-uridine incorporation Continuous label. Cells were grown in 35 mm cul-

ture dishes and then treated with AD and/or CHM as described above, except that the medium contained 2.0 pCiiml of 3H-uridine. Labeling times of 1,3, or 5 h were used.

After rinsing twice with PBS, the cells were treated with 10% TCA and 0.25 N NaOH, as described above. A measured volume (lOO-ZOO p1) was analyzed by liquid scintillation counting.

For each experimental treatment, cells were tryp- sinized from three separate 35 mm dishes and then counted to determine the average number of cells per dish. This value was used to determine the average radioactivity per cell.

Pulse label. Cells were labeled with 8.0 pCiiml of 3H-uridine for 30 min. Afterward, the samples were prepared as described above. The midpoint of the label- ling time was used to plot the data.

Isolation of total cellular RNA Following treatment, cells were trypsinized from 100

mm culture dishes or 75 cm2 culture flasks, rinsed with 10 ml of culture medium, pelleted at 1,000 rpm, resus- pended in cold PBS, and repelleted. The LiC1-urea method of Tushinski et al. (1977) was used to isolate total cellular RNA. RNasin (Promega) was used to in- hibit RNase activity during the isolation procedure.

Northern blot analysis Relative levels of specific RNA were determined us-

ing the Northern blot technique. Total cellular RNA was separated electrophoretically in a 1% agarose de- naturing gel (Lehrach et al., 1977). In order to hybrid- ize sufficient quantities of the oligolabeled probes to obtain good autoradiographs, 30 Fgilane of CHO cell RNA was required, whereas only 10 Fg/lane of 3T3 cell RNA was required. The RNA was blotted from the gels

onto nitrocellulose paper using 2 0 ~ saline sodium ci- trate (SSC) as the transfer solution. After baking the blots for 2 h at 80°C in a vacuum oven, they were prehy- bridized, then hybridized to 32P-labeled oligonucleotide probes, and autoradiographed a t - 70°C. Probes were used to investigate changes in the following mRNA species: A9 calcyclin, c-ras, c-myc, ornithine decarbox- ylase (ODC), HMG co-A reductase, H4 histone, 70 kDa heat shock protein, p53, and beta actin. A probe was also used to determine 285 rRNA levels.

The level of 28s rRNA in each gel lane was used to assess variations in the amount of total RNA loaded. Comparisons with relative levels determined by prob- ing blots with an oligolabeled probe to 28s rRNA indi- cated that ethidium bromide staining of the gel pro- vided the same results (data not shown). Hence, hybridization with the 28s oligolabeled probe was dis- continued.

RESULTS Survival data

AD concentrations less than 0.3 pgiml were noncyto- toxic for both CHO and 3T3 cells, whereas AD exhibited a reproducible, concentration-dependent cytotoxicity between 0.3 pgiml and 4.0 pg/ml. Increasing the con- centration further yielded a progressively smaller in- crease in cell killing, suggesting a saturation of the drug's cytotoxicity. Data from typical AD survival ex- periments with CHO or 3T3 cells are presented in a and b, respectively, of Figure 1. These illustrate both the concentration-dependent cytotoxicity of AD and the protection provided by CHM. No cytotoxicity was ob- served in cells exposed to CHM alone for periods up to 6 h (1 h pretreatment included) (Fig. la) , and it was dem- onstrated earlier that residual DMSO from the drug stock was noncytotoxic (Borrelli et al., 1991b).

In an earlier study (Borrelli et al., 1991a), a different preparation of AD was used (Type A1410, Sigma Chem- ical, St. Louis, MO). For a given concentration, the Type A1410 AD was approximately twice as effective for both transcription inhibition and cell killing as the Type A4262 AD used for this study. We have also noted a smaller, but significant, variation in the activity of different lots of the same type of AD. Sigma lists the Type A1410 AD as being more pure (98%) than the Type A4262 AD (95%). Hence, it is unlikely that the additional cytotoxicity of the former was due to a cyto- toxic impurity. These experiences emphasize the need to determine the activity of each AD preparation before using it for further experimentation.

When CHM was removed prior to adding AD, the protective effects of CHM wore off gradually, e.g., cells still retained 25% of their protection (ratio of survival levels) after removing CHM 1 h prior to a 5-h exposure to 4.0 pgiml AD (Fig. la). Even 3 h after removing CHM, a significant amount of protection remained (data not shown).

Effects of cycloheximide on intracellular actinomycin D content

When 3H-AD was added to CHO cells in the presence of 4 pg/ml AD, more than 60% of the total cellular

BORRELLI ET AT,. 510

a b 2.0 q / m l A 0

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10 -' 20 ug/ml AD

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Fig. 1. Cytotoxicity of AD (2.0 pg/ml and 4.0 pg/ml) and protection of CHM. CHM (10 Fgiml) was applied for 1 h prior to and then during AD treatment (CHM then CHM + AD). (a) Data for CHO cells. When CHM was removed from the medium 1 h prior to adding AD some residual protection remained (AD after CHM). (b) Data for 3T3 cells.

b LD 0 7

a 0 - 10000

n

c

Recovery Time ( h ) Recovery Time (h)

Fig. 2. Effect of CHM on the distribution of AD within CHO cells. Cells were labeled for 3 h with medium containing 8 FCiiml 3H-actino- mycin D (3H-AD), after which the AD and "H-AD were removed and the residual intracellular "-AD content was measured as a function of recovery time. Error bars represent the standard deviation of three measurements and when not visible, the symbol was larger than the

standard deviation. (a) Total intracellular 3H-AD (circles) was deter- mined by rinsing the cells and then solubilizing them in NaOH. "H-AD associated with the TCA precipitable cell fraction (squares) was determined by treating cells with TCA to remove unbound 'H- AD. (b) Counts associated with unbound (free) 3H-AD.

counts were associated with the acid precipitable frac- tion (Fig. 2a). Similar results were obtained using lower total AD concentrations (data not shown). CHM treatment decreased the total cellular "-AD counts by only 4096, but reduced "-AD counts associated with the acid precipitable fraction by more than threefold (Fig. 2a). Figure 2b shows the counts associated with free intracellular 3H-AD, i.e., intracellular AD not as-

sociated with the acid precipitable fraction (Total cellu- lar counts - counts in acid precipitable fraction = free "-AD counts). Initially, the free "-AD within CHM- treated cells appeared elevated slightly (0 h point), but, thereafter, no significant differences were observed. Hence, the reduction in total cellular counts of 3H-AD by CHM was due solely to the reduced affinity of AD for the acid precipitable cell fraction.

CYCLOHEXIMIDE-INDUCED DRUG PROTECTION 511

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TREATMENT TIME (h)

Fig. 3. The effects of A D (4.0 pg/ml), CHM (10 pg/ml), or CHM (10 pgiml for 1 h), then CHM plus AD on the total RNA content of CHO cells. The RNA content of all samples at 0 h was the same as that in the control cells. Error bars represent the standard deviation of three measurements and when not visible, the symbol was larger than the

standard deviation. (a) Total RNA content measured by the orcinol assay. (b) Total RNA content measured from the ratio of red (RNA) to green [DNA) fluorescence in cells stained with acridine orange. The RNA content of control cells was assigned a value of 56 mg/lOfi cells, a value determined with the orcinol assay.

After removing all drugs, both total cellular and acid precipitable counts of 3H-AD decreased in all samples with increasing recovery time (Fig. 2a,b). Five h after removing the drugs, there was still a twofold difference between the CHM-treated and nontreated cells with respect to either total residual 3H-AD or "-AD in the acid precipitable fraction. For all recovery times, CHM made no difference in the counts of free "-AD (Fig. 2b).

Effects on total cellular RNA levels and 3H-uridine incorporation

Figure 3a,b demonstrates that total cellular RNA levels were unaffected by any of the drug treatments used, as determined by either the orcinol or acridine orange assays, respectively. Of the total cellular RNA, -75-80% is rRNA (Lehninger, 1975; Baserga, 1986). Hence, a significant change in a small number of mRNA species would not likely be detected by these bulk assays.

Pulse or continuous labeling with 3H-uridine was used t o determine if changes inxotal cellular transcrip- tion correlated with cell survival (Fig. 4a-c). CHM re- duced the level of incorporated 3H-uridine more than threefold following a 5-h continuous labeling a t 37°C. AD was more effective in inhibiting 3H-uridine incorpo- ration (Fig. 4a) and did so in a concentration-dependent manner (Fig. 4b). Treatment with CHM for 1 h followed by incubation with both AD and CHM resulted in the greatest decrease (Fig. 4a). The inhibitory effects of CHM and AD on 3H-uridine incorporation appeared to be additive when cells were incubated with both drugs concomitantly.

The 0 h points in Figure 4c represent 3H-uridine in- corporation during a 30-min pulse labeling initiated 2 h

45 min into a treatment of 3 h 15 min with: 2.0 kg/ml AD, 4.0 pg/ml AD, or CHM plus 4.0 pgiml AD (follow- ing 1 h CHM pretreatment). Each treatment reduced 'H-uridine incorporation to -3% of that in control cells (Fig. 4 c). There was a slight, but significant, difference between the incorporation rates in cells receiving the different drug treatments: cells treated with 2.0 pgiml AD had the highest incorporation rate, whereas those treated with CHM plus 4.0 pg/ml AD had the lowest. After removing the drugs, there was no significant in- crease in 3H-uridine incorporation until the 5-h recov- ery point.

This increase in 'H-uridine incorporation was very slight even though the 3H-AD associated with the acid precipitable cell fraction was more than fivefold lower than a t the 0 h point. Total uridine incorporation is dominated by rRNA synthesis, which is purported to be more sensitive to AD than mRNA synthesis (Perry and Kelley, 1970; Baserga, 1986). One interpretation of this data is that the AD still associated with the acid precip- itable cell fraction 5 h after drug removal was still capable of inhibiting most of the rRNA synthesis. Evi- dence that this was not true for some mRNA species is presented below.

The small differences in 'H-uridine incorporation in Figure 4b,c may be related to the concentration-depen- dent nature of AD cell killing. However, the data dem- onstrate clearly that CHM did not protect against AD cytotoxicity by reducing total transcription inhibition or facilitating recovery from total transcription inhibi- tion. Cells treated with CHM plus AD had the lowest level of 'H-uridine incorporation during or following AD treatment, yet had the highest clonogenic survival of all AD-treated cells.

512 BORRELLI ET AL.

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Fig. 4. "H-uridine incorporation in CHO cells. Cells treated with CHM plus AD received a 1-h pretreatment with CHM. Error bars represent the standard deviation of three measurements and when not visible, the symbol was larger than the standard deviation. (a) Effects ofCHM, AD, or CHM plus AD on 3H-uridine incorporation. The label- ing was continuous with 2.0 pCi/ml 'JH-uridine: drug treatments and the 'H-uridine labeling were initiated simultaneously. (b) Concentra- tion-dependent inhibition of 'H-uridine incorporation by AD. The la- beling was continuous with 2.0 pCiirnl 3H-uridine: AD treatment and

Northern blot analysis of cells treated with CHM andfor AD at 37.0"C

The Northern blot technique was used to determine if changes in cytoplasmic levels of specific RNA species correlated with cell survival. Of the mRNA examined, only cytoplasmic levels of c-myc mRNA were affected; they were reduced to undetectable levels by treatment with AD and elevated above control levels during treat- ment with CHM (Fig. 5). AD did induce a gradual, concentration-dependent decrease in the CHM-ele- vated c-myc mRNA levels when cells were incubated concomitantly with AD and CHM following CHM pre- treatment. Cytoplasmic levels of other tested mRNA

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the "H-uridine labeling were initiated simultaneously. (c) Recovery of 3H-uridine incorporation following 3 h t r e a h e n t with AD, or CHM plus AD. Drugs were removed from the cells to initiate the recovery time. Cells received a 30-min pulse with medium containing 8 pCi/ml 3H-uridine initiated 15 min prior to the indicated recovery time. The 0 h point was obtained by adding the label to cells 2h and 30 min into the drug treatment and continuing the drug treatment (with label) for an additional 30 min.

(see Materials and Methods) were unaffected by any of the treatments. Northern blots that were probed for some of these other RNA species are presented below.

Figure 6 shows Northern blot data for a similar ex- periment performed with Swiss 3T3 cells. Changes in c-myc mRNA induced by the different drug treatments were the same as those observed in CHO cells. As illus- trated, c-ras mRNA and p53 mRNA levels were unef- fected by any treatment. The same was true for the other mRNA tested (data not shown). The oligolabeled probes exhibited a greater affinity for hybridizing to 3T3 mRNA than to CHO mRN4. The greatest differ-

c- myc

c-ras

CYCLOHEXIMIDE-INDUCED DRUG PROTECTION

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

P53

c-myc

513

Fig. 5. Northern blot analysis of CHO cells. RNA levels in control cells (lanes 1, 5, and 9) are compared to the effects induced by: 4.0 pgiml AD (lanes 2, 6, lo), pretreatment for 1 h with 10 Lg/ml CHM followed by treatment with 4.0 pgiml AD plus CHM (lanes 3,7 ,11) , or treatment with 4.0 pg/ml AD for 3 h followed by recovery after re- moval of AD (lanes 4,8,12). The treatments were for 1 h (lanes 14),3 h (lanes 5-8), or 5 h (lanes 9-12). Data for hybridization with c-myc and c-ras probes are presented.

o-ras

ence was observed for the p53 probe (compare Figures 6 and 7a).

AD reduced cytoplasmic levels of c-myc mRNA for a temporal duration that was proportional to the AD con- centration and exposure time used (Fig. 7a,b). No con- centration dependence was observed for the time re- quired for AD to reduce c-myc mRNA to undetectable levels (Fig. 7a). AD concentrations of 1.0 pg/ml to 4.0 pgiml induced little reduction in cytoplasmic c-myc lev- els following a 1-h incubation, but each of these concen- trations reduced c-myc mRNA to undetectable levels within 3 h. It was the rate of c-myc mRNA recovery that exhibited the distinct dependence on AD concentration, recovering to control levels a t a rate inversely propor- tional to the AD concentration and exposure time (Fig. 7b); e.g., full recovery occurred within 3 h following a 3-h exposure to 1.0 p,g/ml AD, whereas 5 h following a 3.0 h exposure to 4.0 pg/ml AD c-myc mRNA still re- mained below control levels (Figs. 5,7b). Remember, no recovery in total ‘H-uridine incorporation was ob- served 3 h after removing AD (Fig. 4cj.

Any AD cytotoxicity associated with a reduction in essential mRNA would occur during the time interval in which these mRNA were reduced, including both the incubation time with AD and the recovery interval fol- lowing AD removal until the mRNA returned to nor- mal cytoplasmic levels.

Cytoplasmic levels of c-myc mRNA remained ele- vated with no significant decrease for more than 5 h after removing CHM (following a 1-h treatment). Lev- els of other tested m-RNA, e.g., p53 and c-ras, remained constant (Fig. 8a). When cells were challenged with AD 1 h after removing CHM, cytoplasmic levels of c-myc mRNA were still reduced to undetectable levels within 3 h (Fig. 8b); however, whereas they were still detect-

Fig. 6 . Northern blot analysis of Swiss 3T3 cells. RNA levels in control cells (lanes 1 and 5) are compared to the effects induced by: treatment with 10 Lgiml CHM (lanes 2 and G ) , pretreatment with 10 pgiml CHM followed by treatment with 4.0 +g/ml AD plus CHM (lanes 3 and 71, or treatment with 4.0 pgiml AD (lanes 4 and 8). Treatment times were for 2 h (lanes 1 4 ) or 4 h (lanes 5-81, Data for hybridization to p53, c-myc, and w a s probes are presented.

able, c-myc mRNA levels remained higher than in cells treated with AD and no CHM pretreatment (Fig. 8b). As discussed above, when CHM was present during AD treatment following CHM pretreatment the elevated c-myc mRNA levels declined but always remained above control levels, even after 5 h with AD (Figs. 5,6).

DISCUSSION Cycloheximide (CHM) did not reduce the level of un-

bound (free) AD within cells, indicating that the steady state established between the extracellular and intra- cellular free AD concentrations was not affected by CHM. From this observation it can be concluded that the plasma membrane permeability to AD was not al- tered by CHM. Consequently, the reduction in intracel- lular actinomycin D (AD) was due solely to the decrease in AD within the acid precipitable cell fraction and represented a reduced affinity of the drug for its intra- cellular binding sites.

The acid precipitable cell fraction contains the cellu- lar DNA, the principal intracellular binding site for AD (Fox et al., 1985; Sobell, 1985; Snyder et al., 1989; Zhou et al., 1989). There is no evidence of another cellular site with the AD binding capacity of the DNA. Hence, it is reasonable to argue that the majority of 3H-AD within the acid precipitable cell fraction was associated with DNA and that the CHM-induced reduction in 3H-AD within the acid precipitable cell fraction was

514

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112

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P53

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b

ODC

c -myc

c-ras

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9101112 b

c-myc

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Fig. 8. The effects of CHM on cytoplasmic RNA levels in CHO cells. (a) Elevated levels of c-myc mRNA in CHO cells induced by CHM (10 pg/ml) treatment (lanes 2, 5, and 8) remained high even after CHM was removed from the medium (lanes 3,6, and 9). Lanes 1,4, and 7 are from control cells. Treatment or recovery was for 1 h (lanes 1-3), 3 h (lanes 4 4 ) , or 5 h (lanes 7-91. The levels of other tested RNA species remained constant through all of these treatments, as illustrated by p 53 and c-ras mRNA. (b) Even though c-myc mRNA levels remained elevated after removing CHM (lanes 2 and 6) subsequent treatment with AD (4.0 pg/ml) (lanes 4 and 8) reduced c-myc mRNA to undetect- able levels within 2-3 h. Following the same AD treatment, it ap- peared that c-myc mRNa levels in CHM pre-treated cells remained higher than in those treated with AD only (lanes 3 and 7). Treatment or recovery were for 1 h (lanes 1 4 ) or 3 h (lanes 5-8). Lanes 1 and 5 are from control cells.

representative of a reduction in DNA-associated 'H- AD. The evidence is strong that the CYtotoxic activity of AD results from its binding to DNA (Fox et al., 1985; Sobell, 1985; Snyder et al., 1989; Zhou et al., 1989); consequently, the CHM-induced reduction of AD in the acid precipitable cell fraction may have contributed to the reduced cytotoxicity.

Fig. 7. The effect of AD on the cytoplasmic levels of selected RNA in CHO cells. (a) The effect of 1.0 pglml AD (lanes 2 , 6 , lo), 2.0 pgiml AD (lanes 3,7,11), or 4.0 yglml AD (lanes 4,8,12) on RNA levels in CHO cells. Lanes 1,5, and 9 are from control cells. Treatment times were for 1 h (lanes 14), 3 h (lanes 5-8), or 5 h (lanes 9-12). Data for hybridiza- tion to 285 rRNA, p53, c-myc, and c-ras probes are presented. (b) Recovery of c-myc mRNA following treatment with AD concentrations of 1.0 yg/ml (lanes 2 ,6 , and lo), 2.0 pg/ml (lanes 3 ,7 , and 11L and 4.0 pglml (lanes 4, 8, and 12). Lanes 1, 5, and 9 are from control cells. Recovery times were for I h (lanes 141, 3 h (lanes 5-81, or 5 h (lanes 9-12). The levels of all other tested RNA species remained constant, as illustrated here by ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and c-ras mRNA.

Total cellular RNA levels remained constant follow- ing all drug treatments, the level of total cellular RNA synthesis was not indicative of cell survival, and the CHM-induced reduction in AD binding did not reverse

515 CYCLOHEXIMIDE-INDUCED DRUG PROTECTION

the inhibition of total cellular RNA synthesis. Since both total RNA synthesis and total RNA content are dominated by rRNA, these findings suggested that changes in rRNA content or synthesis were not in- volved in AD cytotoxicity or in CHM protection.

The Northern blot analyses demonstrated that the cytoplasmic levels of c-myc mRNA correlated with: AD cytotoxicity, CHM protection against AD, and the re- sidual protection against AD sustained by cells follow- ing CHM pretreatment (CHM removed before AD treatment). Since transcription inhibition has been in- dicated as one cytotoxic effect of AD (Sobell, 1985; Baserga, 1986; Snyder et al., 1989; Zhou et al., 19891, our results suggested the hypothesis that some AD cy- totoxicity resulted from a sustained reduction of essen- tial, short-lived mRNA (such as c-myc) that exhibit rapid turnover in situ. The Northern blot survey in- volved probing blots for a limited number of selected RNA species and we do not conclude that depletion of c-myc mRNA alone was the lethal event. I t is more likely that other essential mRNA were affected by AD in a manner similar to that of c-myc and that the collec- tive decrease of these mRNA was cytotoxic. Decreases in the synthesis of such mRNA may have been respon- sible for the small, but significant, dose-dependent dif- ference in 'H-uridine incorporation in AD-treated cells seen in Figure 4b,c. The ability to maintain certain cytoplasmic levels of essential mRNA may either coun- teract a cytotoxic effect of AD or promote repair of some AD-induced damage. Efforts to identify other mRNA that behave like c-myc mRNA in response to AD and CHM are underway.

It has been postulated that CHM increases cytoplas- mic levels of some RNA species by inhibiting transla- tion of the corresponding protein, which in turn func- tions as a feedback regulator of transcription (Sorrentino et al., 1985; Denhardt, 1986). CHM also stabilizes short-lived mRNA against degradation (Sor- rentino et al., 1985; Denhardt, 1986). Thus the increase in cytoplasmic c-myc mRNA may have been the result of both continued transcription and greater stability against degradation.

Since c-myc levels were elevated by CHM prior to AD treatment, one might conclude that the protection pro- vided by elevated mRNA levels occurred because a sur- plus was created of mRNA that AD would otherwise diminish and that the reduced level of bound AD had no influence on transcription-related cytotoxicity. The ob- servation that CHM did not reverse AD-induced tran- scription inhibition appears to support such a conclu- sion. However, the 3H-uridine incorporation data must be interpreted carefully because rRNA synthesis domi- nates total cellular transcription. An AD concentration of 0.3 pgiml can totally inhibit rRNA synthesis (Perry and Kelley, 1970; Baserga, 1986); hence, a fourfold, CHM-induced reduction in bound AD during incuba- tion with 4.0 pg/ml AD (Fig. 2a) would be expected to have little effect in reversing the inhibition of total cellular transcription. Such a reduction in AD binding might permit renewed synthesis of some mRNA species since higher concentrations of AD are required to in-

hibit mRNA transcription (Perry and Kelley, 1970; Baserga, 1986). The observation that c-myc mRNA re- turned to detectable levels within 3 h after removing AD, whereas total 3H-uridine incorporation exhibited no recovery, supports this contention. Continued syn- thesis of mRNA during incubation with CHM and AD might have contributed to the protection against tran- scription-related cytotoxicity; however, nuclear run-on transcription assays were not performed and no conclu- sions concerning such synthesis can be made.

It is logical to presume that essential mRNA must. be translated for their elevated cytoplasmic levels to func- tion as a protection mechanism against AD. Even though the CHM treatment reduced protein synthesis to 5% of control levels (Lee and Dewey, 19861, the ele- vated, cytoplasmic levels of mRNA (that respond to CHM like c-myc) might be sufficient to compensate for the reduction in translation and maintain requisite lev- els of the resultant proteins. The proteins translated from the essential mRNA may also be among those that are preferentially translated in the presence of CHM (Sorrentino et al., 1985), perhaps, in part, a result of these mRNA levels being elevated.

Preliminary experiments with other protein synthe- sis inhibitors, viz., histidinol (Lee et al., 1990) and puro- mycin, have shown them to be equally effective in pro- tecting cells against AD cytotoxicity (Borrelli and Lee, unpublished data). These results argue against the pro- tection arising from a direct interaction between AD and CHM. It is more likely that the protection resulted from a common effect of these drugs, e.g., protein syn- thesis inhibition. CHM, histidinol, and puromycin also protect cells against the cytotoxicity resulting from treatment with adriamycin (Borrelli et al., 1991a), methotrexate, or bleomycin sulphate (Borrelli and Lee, unpublished data).

It is unlikely that changes in mRNA levels induced by CHM provided protection against these other drugs. A stronger probability is that CHM reduced the affinity of the drugs for their target molecules as it reduced the affinity of AD for the acid precipitable cell fraction. Like AD, some of these other antineoplastic drugs, e.g., adriamycin, induce protein-DNA crosslinks (Fox et al., 1985). The reduction in bound AD might decrease the formation of these crosslinks and any associated cyto- toxicity. This possibility is currently being investi- gated.

The CHM-induced protection against AD was signif- icantly greater than that against adriamycin (Borrelli et al., 1991a1, possibly because transcription inhibition is a cytotoxic effect of AD and not so for adriamycin. Accumulation of essential mRNA molecules by CHM would provide additional protection against AD but not against adriamycin.

Some insight into how CHM treatment might inter- fere with AD binding might be gleaned from similar effects induced by CHM and thermotolerance. CHM and thermotolerance both protect cells against hyper- thermic cell killing (Lee and Dewey, 1986; Gerner and Schneider, 1975), and like CHM, thermotolerance pro- vides protection against AD cytotoxicity (Donaldson et

516 BORRELLI ET AL

al., 1978). Both treatments reduce the heat-induced ac- cumulation of nuclear-associated proteins (Armour et al., 1988; Borrelli et al., 1992) and stabilize cellular proteins against thermal denaturation (Lepock et a]., 1990; Borrelli et al., 1991a). There is speculation that the CHM-induced change in the protein denaturation profile and the NAP reduction resulted because heat- labile nascent polypeptides were absent because their synthesis was inhibited by CHM. The nature of the shift in the protein denaturation profile (Borrelli et al., 1991a) and the magnitude of the NAP decrease (more than twofold; Borrelli et al., 1992) make this possibility unlikely.

The heat-induced increase in nuclear-associated pro- teins (NAPs) is one event suspected of being a lethal hyperthermic lesion (Tomasovic et al., 1978; Roti Roti, 1979). The NAP increase may result from heat-dena- tured proteins aggregating on the nuclear matrix and/or chromatin (Warters et al., 1986) and the thermo- stabilization of proteins by CHM and thermotolerance might be responsible for inhibiting the NAP increase. It may be that the CHM andior thermotolerance-induced event(s1 that resulted in protein thermostabilization and inhibited NAPs from associating with the nuclei of heated cells also inhibited the binding of AD to the nucleus. The protein stabilization may be caused by the heat shock proteins and/or their cognates. There is evi- dence that the 70 KDa heat shock cognate protein (HSC-70) is involved in guiding the folding of nascent proteins (Beckman et al., 1990). CHM may free up the HSC-70 for other purposes such as stabilizing proteins against thermal denaturation or inhibiting AD bind- ing. The relationship between protein thermostabiliza- tion and inhibition of AD binding is purely speculative; however, the circumstantial evidence presented above makes this a possibility worth investigating.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors thank Ms. Michilene Moussalli, Ms.

Francine Palmer, Mr. Sal La Forgia, and Mr. Utpal Gupta for their technical assistance. We also thank Drs. Diane R. Soprano and Thomas Owen for their in- sightful discussions concerning this project. This re- search was supported by NIH grants CA 49715 (M.J.B.) and CA 40332 (K.J.S.) and William Beaumont Hospital Research Institute grant 89-06 (M.J.B.).

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