Epigenetic impacts of ascorbate on human metastatic melanoma cells

In recent years, increasing evidence has emerged demonstrating that high-dose ascorbate bears cytotoxic effects on cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, making ascorbate a pro-oxidative drug that catalyzes hydrogen peroxide production in tissues instead of acting as a radical scavenger. This anticancer...

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Main Authors: Sascha eVenturelli, Tobias W. Sinnberg, Alexander C. Berger, Seema eNoor, Mitchell Paul Levesque, Alexander eBöcker, Heike eNiessner, Ulrich eLauer, Michael eBitzer, Claus eGarbe, Christian eBusch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-08-01
Series:Frontiers in Oncology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fonc.2014.00227/full
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author Sascha eVenturelli
Tobias W. Sinnberg
Alexander C. Berger
Seema eNoor
Mitchell Paul Levesque
Alexander eBöcker
Heike eNiessner
Ulrich eLauer
Michael eBitzer
Claus eGarbe
Christian eBusch
author_facet Sascha eVenturelli
Tobias W. Sinnberg
Alexander C. Berger
Seema eNoor
Mitchell Paul Levesque
Alexander eBöcker
Heike eNiessner
Ulrich eLauer
Michael eBitzer
Claus eGarbe
Christian eBusch
author_sort Sascha eVenturelli
collection DOAJ
description In recent years, increasing evidence has emerged demonstrating that high-dose ascorbate bears cytotoxic effects on cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, making ascorbate a pro-oxidative drug that catalyzes hydrogen peroxide production in tissues instead of acting as a radical scavenger. This anticancer effect of ascorbate is HIF-1α- and O2–dependent. However, whether the intracellular mechanisms governing this effect are modulated by epigenetic phenomena remains unknown. We treated human melanoma cells with physiological (200 µM) or pharmacological (8 mM) ascorbate for 1 h to record the impact on DNA methyltransferase (DNMT)-activity, histone deacetylases (HDACs) and microRNA expression after 12 h. The results were analyzed with the MIRUMIR online tool that estimates the power of microRNA to serve as potential biomarkers to predict survival of cancer patients.FACS cell cycle analyses showed that 8 mM ascorbate shifted BLM melanoma cells towards the sub-G1 fraction starting at 12 h after an initial primary G2/M arrest, indicative for secondary apoptosis induction. In pharmacological doses ascorbate inhibited the DNMT-activity in nuclear extracts of MeWo and BLM melanoma cells, but did not inhibit human HDAC enzymes of classes I, II and IV. The expression of 151 microRNAs was altered 12 h after ascorbate treatment of BLM cells in physiological or pharmacological doses. Pharmacological doses up-regulated 32 microRNAs (≥4-fold) mainly involved in tumor suppression and drug resistance in our preliminary microRNA screening array. The most prominently up-regulated microRNAs correlated with a significantly increased overall survival of breast cancer- or nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients of the MIRUMIR database with high expression of the respective microRNA. Our results suggest a possible epigenetic signature of pharmacological doses of ascorbate in human melanoma cells and support further pre-clinical and possibly even clinical evaluation of ascorbate for melanoma therapy.
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spelling doaj.art-d1bca33934fd41e6a04ed5f30ff68aa52022-12-21T17:15:26ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Oncology2234-943X2014-08-01410.3389/fonc.2014.00227104401Epigenetic impacts of ascorbate on human metastatic melanoma cellsSascha eVenturelli0Tobias W. Sinnberg1Alexander C. Berger2Seema eNoor3Mitchell Paul Levesque4Alexander eBöcker5Heike eNiessner6Ulrich eLauer7Michael eBitzer8Claus eGarbe9Christian eBusch10University Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Internal Medicine I, Tuebingen, GermanyUniversity Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Dermatology, Section of Dermato-OncologyUniversity Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Internal Medicine I, Tuebingen, GermanyUniversity Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Dermatology, Section of Dermato-OncologyDepartment of Dermatology, Universitaets-Spital Zuerich, SwitzerlandEvotec AG, Hamburg, GermanyUniversity Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Dermatology, Section of Dermato-OncologyUniversity Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Internal Medicine I, Tuebingen, GermanyUniversity Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Internal Medicine I, Tuebingen, GermanyUniversity Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Dermatology, Section of Dermato-OncologyUniversity Hospital of Tuebingen, Department of Dermatology, Section of Dermato-OncologyIn recent years, increasing evidence has emerged demonstrating that high-dose ascorbate bears cytotoxic effects on cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, making ascorbate a pro-oxidative drug that catalyzes hydrogen peroxide production in tissues instead of acting as a radical scavenger. This anticancer effect of ascorbate is HIF-1α- and O2–dependent. However, whether the intracellular mechanisms governing this effect are modulated by epigenetic phenomena remains unknown. We treated human melanoma cells with physiological (200 µM) or pharmacological (8 mM) ascorbate for 1 h to record the impact on DNA methyltransferase (DNMT)-activity, histone deacetylases (HDACs) and microRNA expression after 12 h. The results were analyzed with the MIRUMIR online tool that estimates the power of microRNA to serve as potential biomarkers to predict survival of cancer patients.FACS cell cycle analyses showed that 8 mM ascorbate shifted BLM melanoma cells towards the sub-G1 fraction starting at 12 h after an initial primary G2/M arrest, indicative for secondary apoptosis induction. In pharmacological doses ascorbate inhibited the DNMT-activity in nuclear extracts of MeWo and BLM melanoma cells, but did not inhibit human HDAC enzymes of classes I, II and IV. The expression of 151 microRNAs was altered 12 h after ascorbate treatment of BLM cells in physiological or pharmacological doses. Pharmacological doses up-regulated 32 microRNAs (≥4-fold) mainly involved in tumor suppression and drug resistance in our preliminary microRNA screening array. The most prominently up-regulated microRNAs correlated with a significantly increased overall survival of breast cancer- or nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients of the MIRUMIR database with high expression of the respective microRNA. Our results suggest a possible epigenetic signature of pharmacological doses of ascorbate in human melanoma cells and support further pre-clinical and possibly even clinical evaluation of ascorbate for melanoma therapy.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fonc.2014.00227/fullMelanomaCancerepigeneticsmicroRNAvitamin CHDAC
spellingShingle Sascha eVenturelli
Tobias W. Sinnberg
Alexander C. Berger
Seema eNoor
Mitchell Paul Levesque
Alexander eBöcker
Heike eNiessner
Ulrich eLauer
Michael eBitzer
Claus eGarbe
Christian eBusch
Epigenetic impacts of ascorbate on human metastatic melanoma cells
Frontiers in Oncology
Melanoma
Cancer
epigenetics
microRNA
vitamin C
HDAC
title Epigenetic impacts of ascorbate on human metastatic melanoma cells
title_full Epigenetic impacts of ascorbate on human metastatic melanoma cells
title_fullStr Epigenetic impacts of ascorbate on human metastatic melanoma cells
title_full_unstemmed Epigenetic impacts of ascorbate on human metastatic melanoma cells
title_short Epigenetic impacts of ascorbate on human metastatic melanoma cells
title_sort epigenetic impacts of ascorbate on human metastatic melanoma cells
topic Melanoma
Cancer
epigenetics
microRNA
vitamin C
HDAC
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fonc.2014.00227/full
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