We have previously shown that tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK), a member of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily, can stimulate glioma cell survival via binding to the Fn14 receptor, activation of the NF-kappaB pathway, and upregulation of BCL-X(L) gene expression.
To elucidate the functional consequences of promoter methylation in the identified target death receptor 4 (DR4), we investigated tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL)-mediated and anti-DR4-mediated apoptosis in glioma cell lines (U373 and A172) with loss of DR4 and one glioma cell line (LN18) with robust DR4 expression.
We show that in 3D CL matrix, interleukin-1 beta (IL-1beta) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), cytokines which are elevated in gliomas in vivo, increased glioma cell invasiveness with correspondent elevation of MMP-2 and MMP-9.
Our therapeutic strategy was to use human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs) as a cellular vehicle for the targeted delivery and local production of the biologic agent tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) at the glioma tumor site. hMSCs were transduced with a lentivirus expressing secretable TRAIL (S-TRAIL) and mCherry (red fluorescent protein).
Sensitization of TNFalpha activated glioma cells to apoptosis by Ebselen involved 2 pathways: (i) abrogation of TNFalpha induced NF-kappaB activation and (ii) induction of Fas-associated death inducing signaling complex (DISC) formation.
Here we investigated the sensitivity of a panel of glioma cell lines (U87, U251, U343, U373, MZ-54, and MZ-18) to apoptosis induced by the death receptor ligand tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), TRAIL in combination with gamma irradiation, and TRAIL in combination with proteasome inhibitors (MG132 and epoxomicin).
Here we show that in contrast to other cancer types, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha suppresses YKL-40 expression in glioma cell lines in a nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) dependent manner.
The role of the DR5-mediated extrinsic apoptotic pathway was further studied in the three human glioma cell lines; 50 ng/ml of the DR5 ligand TRAIL (tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand) and 2 microM 2-ME showed no synergism, as determined by MTT assays.
The therapeutic use of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has been proposed to treat this disease based on its ability to kill glioma cell lines in vitro and in vivo.
PrPc protein was significantly increased when glioma spheroids were treated with either ATP, nerve growth factor (NGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), or tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), whereas mRNA levels as evaluated by Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) remained unchanged.
These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of local IFNgamma and TNFalpha gene transfer as a treatment strategy for glioma and illustrate possible physiological pathways responsible for the therapeutic benefit observed.
Of various cytokines and growth factors, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), and interleukin 1 most potently enhanced VEGF mRNA levels of a glioma cell line, U251.
When the TNF-alpha gene was transfected into U251-SP cells, the expression of ICAM-1 was detected on the cell surface from 3 days after the transfection and continued until at least 9 days.
The cells secreted significant amounts of TNF-alpha into the culture medium and exhibited reinforcement of cytotoxicity toward a human glioma cell line (U251-SP), being three times more cytotoxic than nontransfected LAK cells.