The autophagy inhibitor spautin-1, either alone or combined with doxorubicin, decreases cell survival and colony formation in canine appendicular osteosarcoma cells

PLoS One. 2018 Oct 29;13(10):e0206427. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0206427. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Dogs diagnosed with appendicular osteosarcoma typically succumb to metastatic disease within a year of diagnosis. The current standard of care for curative intent, amputation followed by adjuvant chemotherapy, increases survival time but chemoresistance is a major contributor to mortality. Unfortunately, the mechanisms driving the progression of metastatic disease and the development of chemoresistance are unknown. One theory is that autophagy may contribute to chemoresistance by providing neoplastic cells with a mechanism to survive chemotherapy treatment. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of combining an autophagy inhibitor with a standard chemotherapeutic drug on response to chemotherapy in canine appendicular osteosarcoma cells. We hypothesized that combining the autophagy inhibitor spautin-1 with doxorubicin treatment would enhance chemoresponsiveness. Using commercial (D17) and primary cell lines derived from 1° and 2° sites of osteosarcoma, we showed that this combination treatment enhances cell killing and inhibits colony formation. Our findings support the theory that autophagy contributes to chemoresistance in canine appendicular osteosarcoma and indicate that adding an autophagy inhibitor to the standard of care has the potential to improve outcome.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Autophagy / drug effects*
  • Benzylamines / pharmacology*
  • Bone Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Dogs
  • Doxorubicin / pharmacology*
  • Drug Interactions
  • Inhibitory Concentration 50
  • Osteosarcoma / pathology*
  • Quinazolines / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Benzylamines
  • Quinazolines
  • spautin-1
  • Doxorubicin

Grants and funding

This work was funded by a grant to GAW by the Pet Trust (https://ovc.uoguelph.ca/pettrust). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.