A tumor-suppressor gene, p16(INK4), which is deleted or mutated in tumors, regulates cell-cycle progression through a G(1)-S restriction point by inhibiting CDK4(CDK6)/cyclin-D-mediated phosphorylation of pRb. We have found that ectopic p16(INK4) expression increased cellular sensitivity of human non-small-cell-lung-cancer (NSCLC) A549 cells to a selective growth-inhibitory effect induced by the topoisomerase-I inhibitor 11, 7-ethyl-10-[4-(1-piperidino)-1-piperidino] carbonyloxy camptothecin (CPT-11) in vitro. In this study, we observed enhanced apoptosis characterized by DNA fragmentation in A549 cells transfected with p16(INK4) cDNA (A549/p16-1) and treated with CPT-11. This apoptosis was suppressed by the inhibitor of interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme (ICE/caspase-1) or ICE-like proteases, Z-Asp-CH2-DCB, as determined by DNA fragmentation and proteolytic cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase, a natural substrate for CPP32/caspase-3. In A549/p16-1 cells, cytosolic peptidase activities that cleaved Z-DEVD-7-amino-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin increased during CPT-11-induced apoptosis and were suppressed by a highly specific caspase-3 and caspase-3-like inhibitor, Z-DEVD-fluoromethylketone. These findings indicate that p16(INK) is positively involved in the activation pathway of the caspase-3 induced by CPT-11. The increased delay in S-phase progression and subsequent induction of apoptosis were observed in CPT-11-treated A549/p16-1 cells on the basis of DNA histograms. Specific down-regulation of the cyclin-A protein level in A549/p16-1 cells was observed after CPT-11-treatment, whereas cyclin B, cdk2, and cdc2 protein levels were unaffected. These results suggest that ectopic p16(INK4) expression inappropriately decreases cyclin A and thereby terminates CPT-11-induced G(2)/M accumulation, which is followed by increased apoptosis in p16(INK4)-expressing A549 cells.
Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.