Impact of genotypic and phenotypic differences in sarcoma models on the outcome of photochemical internalization (PCI) of bleomycin

Abstract The low curative response to current treatment regimens for most soft tissue sarcomas indicates a strong need for alternative treatment strategies and predictive markers for treatment outcome. PCI (photochemical internalization) is a novel treatment strategy to translocate drugs into cytosol that otherwise would have been degraded in lysosomes. Two highly geno-and phenotypically different uterine and vulvar leiomyosarcoma cell lines, MES-SA and SK-LMS-1, were treated with bleomycin (BLM) activated by PCI (PCI BLM ). The MES-SA cells were much more sensitive to PCI BLM than the SK-LMS-1 cells and the treatment induced a 7–8 fold higher increase in DNA double-strand breaks at the same dose of light as measure by γH2AX staining. A 3-fold higher induction of apoptosis and stronger activation of Bax and p21 was also measured in the P53WT MES-SA cells, compared to the P53mut SK-LMS-1 cells. The basal formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was 3-fold higher in SK-LMS-1 cells than in the MES-SA cells and SK-LMS-1 cells expressed glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPx1) and more superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) than the MES-SA cells. Glutathione depletion with the glutathione synthetase inhibitor buthionine sulfoximine increased the cytotoxic effect of the photochemical treatment (PDT) most strongly in the SK-LMS-1 cells, and reduced PCI BLM -induced H2AX activation in the MES-SA cells, but not in the SK-LMS-1 cells. The results indicate PCI BLM as a potential novel treatment strategy for soft tissue sarcomas, with antioxidant enzymes, in particular GPx1, and the P53 status as potential predictive markers for response to PCI BLM .