Non-DHFR-mediated effects of methotrexate in osteosarcoma cell lines: epigenetic alterations and enhanced cell differentiation
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Cancer Cell International |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | http://cancerci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12935-016-0289-2 |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12935-016-0289-2 |
| Field | Paediatry |
| Keywords | methotrexate;osteosarcoma;epigenetic regulation;DNA methylation;histone acetylation;all-trans retinoic acid;osteogenic differentiation |
| Description | Methotrexate is an important chemotherapeutic drug widely known as an inhibitor of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) which inhibits the reduction of folic acid. DHFR-mediated effects are apparently responsible for its primary antineoplastic action. However, other non-DHFR-mediated effects of methotrexate have been recently discovered, which might be very useful in the development of new strategies for the treatment of pediatric malignancies. The principal goal of this study was to analyze the possible impact of clinically achievable methotrexate levels on cell proliferation, mechanisms of epigenetic regulation (DNA methylation and histone acetylation), induced differentiation and the expression of differentiation-related genes in six osteosarcoma cell lines. Methotrexate significantly decreased the proliferation of Saos-2 cells exclusively, suggesting that this reference cell line was sensitive to the DHFR-mediated effects of methotrexate. In contrast, other results indicated non-DHFR-mediated effects in patient-derived cell lines. Methotrexate-induced DNA demethylation was detected in almost all of them; methotrexate was able to lower the level of 5-methylcytosine in treated cells, and this effect was similar to the effect of 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. Furthermore, methotrexate increased the level of acetylated histone H3 in the OSA-06 cell line. Methotrexate also enhanced all-trans retinoic acid-induced cell differentiation in three patient-derived osteosarcoma cell lines, and the modulation of expression of the differentiation-related genes was also shown. Overall non-DHFR-mediated effects of methotrexate were detected in the patient-derived osteosarcoma cell lines. Methotrexate acts as an epigenetic modifier and has a potential impact on cell differentiation and the expression of related genes. Furthermore, the combination of methotrexate and all-trans retinoic acid can be effective as a differentiation therapy for osteosarcoma. |
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