title: Apoptosis mechanisms related to the increased sensitivity of Jurkat T-cells vs A431 epidermoid cells to photodynamic therapy with the phthalocyanine Pc 4.
abstract: To examine the clinical applicability of Pc 4, a promising second-generation photosensitizer, for the photodynamic treatment of lymphocyte-mediated skin diseases, we studied the A431 and Jurkat cell lines, commonly used as surrogates for human keratinocyte-derived carcinomas and lymphocytes, respectively. As revealed by ethyl acetate extraction and absorption spectrophotometry, uptake of Pc 4 into the two cell lines was linear with Pc 4 concentration and similar on a per cell basis but greater in Jurkat cells on a per mass basis. Flow cytometry showed that uptake was linear at low doses; variations in the dose-response for uptake measured by fluorescence supported differential aggregation of Pc 4 in the two cell types. As detected by confocal microscopy, Pc 4 localized to mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum in both cell lines. Jurkat cells were much more sensitive to the lethal effects of phthalocyanine photodynamic therapy (Pc 4-PDT) than were A431 cells, as measured by a tetrazolium dye reduction assay, and more readily underwent morphological apoptosis. In a search for molecular factors to explain the greater photosensitivity of Jurkat cells, the fate of important Bcl-2 family members was monitored. Jurkat cells were more sensitive to the induction of immediate photodamage to Bcl-2, but the difference was insufficient to account fully for their greater sensitivity. The antiapoptotic protein Mcl-1 was extensively cleaved in a dose- and caspase-dependent manner in Jurkat, but not in A431, cells exposed to Pc 4-PDT. Thus, the greater killing by Pc 4-PDT in Jurkat compared with A431 cells correlated with greater Bcl-2 photodamage and more strongly to the more extensive Mcl-1 degradation. Pc 4-PDT may offer therapeutic advantages in targeting inflammatory cells over normal keratinocytes in the treatment of T-cell-mediated skin diseases, such as cutaneous lymphomas, dermatitis, lichenoid tissue reactions and psoriasis, and it will be instructive to evaluate the role of Bcl-2 family proteins, especially Mcl-1, in the therapeutic response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Malcolm S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.forename: Liang-yan
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Denise K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Feyes
authors.forename: Kashif
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Azizuddin
authors.forename: Elma D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Baron
authors.forename: Thomas S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: McCormick
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mukhtar
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Panneerselvam
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Schluchter
authors.forename: Kevin D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Nancy L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Oleinick
authors.forename: Seth R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Stevens
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006801:Humans; D007211:Indoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D010778:Photochemotherapy
chemical_list: D007211:Indoles; C107448:phthalocyanine Pc 4