The sphingolipid ceramide is a potent tumor suppressor that contributes to the promotion of apoptosis and autophagy. Management of these responses in cancer cells is dependent on the dynamic balance between ceramide which is pro-apoptotic and its metabolites, which can promote cell survival. Upregulated glycosylation of ceramide, a major pathway contributing to ceramide detoxification, limits the valuable tumor suppressor effects of ceramide. This proposal will focus on reducing ceramide glycosylation with the goal of devising novel ceramide therapies for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common type of leukemia in adults. Upregulated ceramide catabolism is associated with multidrug resistance in leukemia. In our study we will use ceramide exogenously in the form of short-chain, cell-permeable C6-ceramide (C6-cer) nanoliposomes, a system that offers advantages over other delivery systems or the use of natural ceramide, which due to solubility and transport limitations, cannot be administered exogenously. Our objective is to develop innovative approaches for treating AML, and this will be achieved by delivering C6-cer in conjunction with adjuvants that will attenuate metabolism and thereby amplify ceramide-driven cell death. To attenuate C6-cer metabolism, we will employ P-glycoprotein (P-gp) antagonists as adjuvants. We hypothesize that intracellular P-gp, because of its role in glycolipid trafficking, will be a highly effective target for attenuating C6-cer metabolism.. We also hypothesize that P-gp antagonists will increase the intracellular levels of both C6-cer and long-chain ceramides and magnify end-point responses (apoptosis, autophagy, cell cycle arrest). Because of the major role that P-gp plays in regulating the metabolism of short-chain ceramides, this project hallmarks a shift in clinical strategy by introducing the use of P-gp antagonists as modulators of ceramide metabolism and enhancers of ceramide cytotoxicity, an activity divorced from the much investigated chemotherapy effluxing/multidrug resistance protein we all know. To make nanoliposomal C6-cer more effective as a therapeutic in AML, the following aims will be pursued: 1) Determine the influence of P-gp expression on C6-cer cytotoxicity and metabolism in AML cell models. Understanding the relationship of P- gp and cellular response to C6-cer is critical for optimizing ceramide-based therapeutics. 2) Determine the effect of inhibiting C6-cer catabolism on cytotoxic response to C6-cer in defined AML cell lines and patient cells. We hypothesize that blocking C6-cer catabolism, including conversion to sphingomyelin, will synergistically amplify cytotoxicity. 3) Elucidate the mechanism of cell death and the signaling events associated with cytotoxicity of combination C6-cer/P-gp antagonists in AML cells. 4) Determine the effect of adjuvant inhibitors on response to C6-cer therapy in in vivo AML mouse models. Dysfunctional ceramide metabolism promotes resistance to apoptosis. We expect to discover that partnering nanoliposomal C6-cer with P-gp antagonists (that block ceramide catabolism) will be a novel, innovative, non-toxic treatment for AML.

Public Health Relevance

Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), the most common type of leukemia in adults, is an aggressive cancer, and only about 25% of patients who experience remission with chemotherapy remain disease-free. There is thus a pressing need in public health to develop effective therapies that can extend remission and in the best case scenario, offer cure. This project will address this issue by evaluating novel combinations of agents designed to reinforce and potentiate biochemical signals that kill leukemia cells without harm to normal cells.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01CA171983-02
Application #
8757116
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZCA1)
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2014-09-01
Budget End
2015-08-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Pennsylvania State University
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Hershey
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
Shaw, Jeremy; Costa-Pinheiro, Pedro; Patterson, Logan et al. (2018) Novel Sphingolipid-Based Cancer Therapeutics in the Personalized Medicine Era. Adv Cancer Res 140:327-366
Zhang, Xuewei; Kitatani, Kazuyuki; Toyoshima, Masafumi et al. (2018) Ceramide Nanoliposomes as a MLKL-Dependent, Necroptosis-Inducing, Chemotherapeutic Reagent in Ovarian Cancer. Mol Cancer Ther 17:50-59
Tan, Su-Fern; Pearson, Jennifer M; Feith, David J et al. (2017) The emergence of acid ceramidase as a therapeutic target for acute myeloid leukemia. Expert Opin Ther Targets 21:583-590
Verma, Mohit K; Clemens, Julia; Burzenski, Lisa et al. (2017) A novel hemolytic complement-sufficient NSG mouse model supports studies of complement-mediated antitumor activity in vivo. J Immunol Methods 446:47-53
Olson, Kristine C; Kulling, Paige M; Olson, Thomas L et al. (2017) Vitamin D decreases STAT phosphorylation and inflammatory cytokine output in T-LGL leukemia. Cancer Biol Ther 18:290-303
Hengst, Jeremy A; Dick, Taryn E; Sharma, Arati et al. (2017) SKI-178: A Multitargeted Inhibitor of Sphingosine Kinase and Microtubule Dynamics Demonstrating Therapeutic Efficacy in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Models. Cancer Transl Med 3:109-121
Morad, Samy A F; Davis, Traci S; MacDougall, Matthew R et al. (2017) Role of P-glycoprotein inhibitors in ceramide-based therapeutics for treatment of cancer. Biochem Pharmacol 130:21-33
Doshi, Ushma A; Shaw, Jeremy; Fox, Todd E et al. (2017) STAT3 mediates C6-ceramide-induced cell death in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Signal Transduct Target Ther 2:17051
Linton, Samuel S; Sherwood, Samantha G; Drews, Kelly C et al. (2016) Targeting cancer cells in the tumor microenvironment: opportunities and challenges in combinatorial nanomedicine. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 8:208-22
Tan, Su-Fern; Liu, Xin; Fox, Todd E et al. (2016) Acid ceramidase is upregulated in AML and represents a novel therapeutic target. Oncotarget 7:83208-83222

Showing the most recent 10 out of 27 publications