Molecular Mechanisms of the mTOR Inhibitor Temsirolimus (CCI-779) Antiproliferative Effects in Mantle Cell Lymphoma: Induction of Cell Cycle Arrest, Autophagy, and Synergy with Vorinostat (SAHA).

Aberrant activation of the PI3-Kinase/Akt/mTOR survival pathway has been implicated in promoting the growth and survival of a variety of cancers, including lymphoma, and is currently being explored for cancer therapy. Importantly, the small molecule mTOR inhibitor temsirolimus (CCI-779) recently demonstrated significant clinical activity in patients with relapsed mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). However, the mechanism of action of temsirolimus in MCL cells is unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that temsirolimus induced cell growth inhibition in three MCL cell lines in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner. The activity of temsirolimus was determined in 3 mantle cell lymphoma cell lines (Jeko-1, Mino, SP53). Temsirolimus upregulated p27 without altering cyclin D1 levels, resulting in cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase. The Akt/mTOR pathway has been implicated in regulating cellular autophagy in yeasts and in mammalian cells. Thus, we examined whether temsirolimus may also induce autophagy in MCL cells, which is identified by the sequestering of cytoplasmic proteins into the lytic autophagosomes and autolysosome, and the formation of acidic vesicular organelles (AVOs). Temsirolimus induced AVOs formation indicative of autophagy in all MCL cell lines at doses ranging between 1 and 1000 nM in a time-dependent manner, with the highest activity observed between 72 and 96 hours of incubation. LC3 is essential for amino acid starvation-induced autophagy in yeasts. LC3-I is the cytoplasmic form, which is processed into the LC3-II form that is associated with the autophagosome membrane. Incubation of the SP53 cells with temsirolimus (1,000 nM) for 96 hours, resulted in processing LC3-I into LC3-II, indicative of autophagy induction. To further confirm induction of autophagy, SP53 cells expressing LC3-fused green fluorescent protein (GFP-LC3) were treated with temsirolimus and the pattern of LC3 distribution was compared with untreated cells using fluorescence microscopy. Untreated control cells showed a diffuse cytoplasmic distribution of LC3, whereas temsirolimus -treated cells showed a punctate pattern of green fluorescence, indicative of its association with autophagosomes. Furthermore, temsirolimus increased acidic vesicular organelles and microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) processing as determined by Western blot, which are characteristic of autophagy. In contrast, temsirolimus had minimal induction of apoptosis. Moreover, temsirolimus inhibited ribosomal S6 phosphorylation, an mTOR downstream target. The histone deacetylase inhibitor vorinostat (suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid, SAHA) demonstrated antiproliferative activity in a dose and time dependent manner in all three MCL cell lines. SAHA enhanced the activity of temsirolimus, which was associated with ERK dephosphorylation and caspase 3 activation. In contrast, temsirolimus did not potentiate the antitumor effects of bortezomib, doxorubicin, or gemcitabine. Our results demonstrate that in short-term culture, temsirolimus is primarily a cytostatic drug, and suggest that SAHA may potentiate the clinical efficacy of temsirolimus patients with MCL.