A high-throughput method to identify novel senescence-inducing compounds.
Cellular senescence is a persistently growth-arrested phenotype in normal and transformed cells induced by noncytotoxic stress. Cytostasis as a method of cancer treatment has recently generated significant interest. Research into the induction of cellular senescence as cancer therapy has been hindered by a lack of compounds that efficiently induce this response. The authors describe a semiautomated high-throughput method to identify library compounds that induce senescence using prostate cancer cells cultured in 96-well plates. Primary hits are identified by low cell numbers after 3 days in culture, measured by Hoechst 33342 fluorescence. A secondary visual assessment of senescence-associated beta-galactosidase staining and cellular morphology in the same wells distinguishes senescence from quiescence, apoptosis, and other false positives. This method was used to screen a 4160-compound library of known bioactive compounds and natural products at a 10-microM dose. Candidate compounds were further selected based on persistent growth arrest after drug removal and increased expression of previously described senescence marker genes. Four lead compounds not previously associated with senescence were identified for further investigation. This is the first successful assay to identify novel agents from compound libraries based on senescence induction in cancer cells.
Ewald
Jonathan A
JA
Department of Urology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53792, USA.
Peters
Noel
N
Desotelle
Joshua A
JA
Hoffmann
F Michael
FM
Jarrard
David F
DF
D001562:Benzimidazoles / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000187:drug effects*; D005453:Fluorescence; D057166:High-Throughput Screening Assays / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D054852:Small Molecule Libraries / Q000032:analysis* / Q000494:pharmacology*
D001562:Benzimidazoles; D054852:Small Molecule Libraries; C017807:bisbenzimide ethoxide trihydrochloride