Abstract 2106: Gamma-tocotrienol upregulates the ceramide transporter, Arv-1, in pancreatic cancer cells.
Authors: Chakraborty Kanishka , Ramsauer Victoria P. , Lightner Janet W. , Stone William L. , Krishnan Koyamangalath 
Published: August 2014

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Treatment options are limited and novel therapeutic agents that can inhibit signaling pathways implicated in the proliferation and survival of pancreatic cancer cells are of interest. Tocotrienols are members of the vitamin E family but, unlike tocopherols, possess an unsaturated isoprenoid side-chain that confers superior and mechanistically different anti-cancer properties on pancreatic cancer cells. The ability of tocotrienols to selectively inhibit the HMG CoA reductase pathway through post-translational degradation of HMG CoA reductase, inhibit the PI3/Akt, ERK pathways through downregulation of Her2/ErbB2 receptors as well as suppression of the activity of transcription factor NF kappa B, could be the basis for some of these properties.

Recent studies have shown increase in cellular ceramide levels in cancer cells treated with tocopherols, leading to arrest in tumor proliferation and apoptosis. The actual mechanism of increase in ceramide levels is not clearly understood and is thought to be due to increased synthesis. We explored the hypothesis that the increase in ceramide on the cellular membrane could be due to increased transport from the ER to the membrane. The ARV1 (ACAT-related enzyme-2 required for viability) gene encodes an ER- localized protein involved in lipid homeostasis and ceramide transport in yeast and mammals. Deletion of the ARV-1 gene in yeast causes accumulation of ceramide in cytoplasm. Our previous work indicated that gamma-tocotrienol (GT3) has potent anti-proliferative activity in k-ras mutated pancreatic cancer cell (MIA-Paca-2) through the inhibitory effect on Akt, Ras/Raf/Erk and ErBb2 receptor as well as induction of apoptotic pathways through Fox-03 and GSK-3b. Our current data shows GT3 may decrease expression of caveolin, a cell survival marker, and cause up-regulation of ARV-1 that encodes a ceramide transport protein. We further show via HPLC (Babraham Bioscience Technologies Ltd, Cambridge, U.K) that total ceramide levels remain unchanged in the cell. There may be a change in ceramide (monoclonal anti-ceramide IgM, Sigma Chemicals) cellular distribution as indicated by immunofluorescence data.

Upregulation of ARV-1 may be involved in increase in cellular ceramide transport or redistribution of ceramide to the cell membrane. Transport of ceramide to membrane lipid rafts or mitochondrial membrane channels may cause loss of survival signaling and induce apoptosis. Thus it is likely that GT3 apoptotic effect on k-ras mutated MIA-Paca2 cells is related not to changes in the total ceramide levels, but rather to its increased transport and redistribution. Further work is necessary in order to better understand the role of GT3 in ceramide redistribution in pancreatic cancer cells.

Citation Format: Kanishka Chakraborty, Victoria P. Ramsauer, Janet W. Lightner, William L. Stone, Koyamangalath Krishnan. Gamma-tocotrienol upregulates the ceramide transporter, Arv-1, in pancreatic cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2106. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2106