title: Molecular predictors of human nervous system cancer responsiveness to enediyne chemotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify and mathematically model molecular predictors of response to the enediyne chemotherapeutic agent, neocarzinostatin, in nervous system cancer cell lines.
  
  
  METHODS
  Human neuroblastoma, breast cancer, glioma, and medulloblastoma cell lines were maintained in culture. Content of caspase-3 and Bcl-2, respectively, was determined relative to actin content for each cell line by Western blotting and optical densitometry. For each cell line, sensitivity to neocarzinostatin was determined. Brain tumor cell lines were stably transfected with human Bcl-2 cDNA cloned into the pcDNA3 plasmid vector.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In human tumor cell lines of different tissue origins, sensitivity to neocarzinostatin is proportional to the product of the relative contents of Bcl-2 and caspase-3 (r (2) = 0.9; P < 0.01). Neuroblastoma and brain tumor cell lines are particularly sensitive to neocarzinostatin; the sensitivity of brain tumor lines to neocarzinostatin is enhanced by transfection with an expression construct for Bcl-2 and is proportional in transfected cells to the product of the relative contents of Bcl-2 and caspase-3 (r (2) = 0.7).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These studies underscore the potential of molecular profiling in identifying effective chemotherapeutic paradigms for cancer in general and tumors of the nervous system in particular.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Pediatrics, Neurology & Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Karen D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Nylander
authors.forename: Zhiping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Mi
authors.forename: Tong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Nina F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Schor
mesh_terms: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000187:drug effects*; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005910:Glioma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008527:Medulloblastoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009423:Nervous System Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009447:Neuroblastoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009353:Zinostatin / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D009353:Zinostatin; D053148:Caspase 3