title: Tumour necrosis factor-induced cytotoxicity is accompanied by intracellular mitogenic signals in ME-180 human cervical carcinoma cells.
abstract: Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) induced a cytotoxic response in ME-180 human cervical carcinoma cells in vitro. This cytotoxic response was accompanied by a temporal series of intracellular signals that are commonly triggered by a mitogenic stimulus: increased c-fos (20-30 min) and c-myc (40-60 min) expression, increased activity of ornithine decarboxylase (3 h), increased intracellular polyamine content (7 h) and increased thymidine incorporation into DNA (14 h). A cytotoxic response independent of these mitogenic signals could not be explained by an induction of interleukin-6, which is an autocrine cytotoxic agent in some cell types; nor by a biphasic, dose-dependent response in which low concentrations of TNF are mitogenic and higher concentrations are cytotoxic. Conversely, a dependent role of these mitogenic signals was suggested by the absence of a TNF-promoted increase in thymidine incorporation into DNA in an ME-180 clone that is resistant to TNF-induced cytotoxicity. A decrease in the proliferation rate of TNF-sensitive cells induced by either alpha-difluoromethylornithine treatment (resulting in polyamine depletion) or serum starvation rendered the cells insensitive to TNF-induced cytotoxicity, further suggesting a role for mitogenic signals and cell division in TNF-mediated cytotoxicity. However, inhibiting proliferation with cycloheximide resulted in increased sensitivity to TNF, implying that mitogenesis itself was not essential for a cytotoxic response. TNF induced DNA fragmentation in sensitive cells, suggesting that cytotoxicity occurred via apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Peptide Hormone Action, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10021.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Manchester
authors.forename: W D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Heston
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Donner
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D001769:Blood; D016923:Cell Death; D002455:Cell Division; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000518:Eflornithine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D016762:Genes, fos; D016259:Genes, myc; D006801:Humans; D008938:Mitosis; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase / Q000378:metabolism; D011073:Polyamines / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D011073:Polyamines; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D004247:DNA; D009955:Ornithine Decarboxylase; D000518:Eflornithine