title: Selective apoptosis of natural killer-cell tumours by l-asparaginase.
abstract: We examined the effectiveness of various anti-tumour agents to natural killer (NK)-cell tumour cell lines and samples, which are generally resistant to chemotherapy, using flow cytometric terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end-labelling (TUNEL) assay. Although NK-YS and NK-92 were highly resistant to various anti-tumour agents, l-asparaginase induced apoptosis in these two NK-cell lines. NK-cell leukaemia/lymphoma and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) samples were selectively sensitive to l-asparaginase and to doxorubicin (DXR) respectively. Samples of chronic NK lymphocytosis, an NK-cell disorder with an indolent clinical course, were resistant to both drugs. Our study clearly separated two major categories of NK-cell disorders and ALL according to the sensitivity to DXR and l-asparaginase. We examined asparagine synthetase levels by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) and immunostaining in these samples. At least in nasal-type NK-cell lymphoma, there was a good correlation among asparagine synthetase expression, in vitro sensitivity and clinical response to l-asparaginase. In aggressive NK-cell leukaemia, although asparagine synthetase expression was high at both mRNA and protein levels, l-asparaginase induced considerable apoptosis. Furthermore, samples of each disease entity occupied a distinct area in two-dimensional plotting with asparagine synthetase mRNA level (RQ-PCR) and in vitrol-asparaginase sensitivity (TUNEL assay). We confirmed rather specific anti-tumour activity of l-asparaginase against NK-cell tumours in vitro, which provides an experimental background to the clinical use of l-asparaginase for NK-cell tumours.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitoh
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Kouichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mukai
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Motoki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Egashira
authors.forename: Sheldon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oshimi
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D001215:Asparaginase / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001217:Aspartate-Ammonia Ligase / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D004317:Doxorubicin / Q000494:pharmacology; D019008:Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; D006801:Humans; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural; D015458:Leukemia, T-Cell / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D008218:Lymphocytosis / Q000473:pathology; D016399:Lymphoma, T-Cell / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012334:RNA, Neoplasm; D004317:Doxorubicin; D001215:Asparaginase; D001217:Aspartate-Ammonia Ligase