Antineoplastic effect of decoy oligonucleotide derived from MGMT enhancer

PLoS One. 2014 Dec 2;9(12):e113854. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113854. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

Silencing of O(6)-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (MGMT) in tumors, mainly through promoter methylation, correlates with a better therapeutic response and with increased survival. Therefore, it is conceivable to consider MGMT as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cancers. Our previous results demonstrated the pivotal role of NF-kappaB in MGMT expression, mediated mainly through p65/NF-kappaB homodimers. Here we show that the non-canonical NF-KappaB motif (MGMT-kappaB1) within MGMT enhancer is probably the major inducer of MGMT expression following NF-kappaB activation. Thus, in an attempt to attenuate the transcription activity of MGMT in tumors we designed locked nucleic acids (LNA) modified decoy oligonucleotides corresponding to the specific sequence of MGMT-kappaB1 (MGMT-kB1-LODN). Following confirmation of the ability of MGMT-kB1-LODN to interfere with the binding of p65/NF-kappaB to the NF-KappaB motif within MGMT enhancer, the efficacy of the decoy was studied in-vitro and in-vivo. The results of these experiments show that the decoy MGMT-kB1-LODN have a substantial antineoplastic effect when used either in combination with temozolomide or as monotherapy. Our results suggest that MGMT-kB1-LODN may provide a novel strategy for cancer therapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Binding Sites
  • Cell Death / drug effects
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Dacarbazine / analogs & derivatives
  • Dacarbazine / pharmacology
  • Enhancer Elements, Genetic / genetics*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Injections, Intralesional
  • Mice, Nude
  • NF-kappa B / metabolism
  • Nucleotide Motifs / genetics
  • O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase / genetics*
  • O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase / metabolism
  • Oligonucleotides / pharmacology*
  • Protein Binding / drug effects
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Temozolomide
  • Treatment Outcome
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • NF-kappa B
  • Oligonucleotides
  • RNA, Messenger
  • locked nucleic acid
  • Dacarbazine
  • O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA Methyltransferase
  • Temozolomide

Grants and funding

This work was supported by 49040: Kamin, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, office of the Israeli chief scientist. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.