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Novel high-affinity PPARγ agonist alone and in combination with paclitaxel inhibits human anaplastic thyroid carcinoma tumor growth via p21WAF1/CIP1

Abstract

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonists demonstrate antitumor activity likely through transactivating genes that regulate cell proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. The PAX8/PPARγ fusion oncogene, which is common in human follicular thyroid carcinomas appears to act via dominant negative suppression of wild-type PPARγ, suggesting that it may be a tumor suppressor gene in thyroid cells. We have identified a novel high-affinity PPARγ agonist (RS5444) that is dependent upon PPARγ for its biological activity. This is the first report of this molecule and its antitumor activity. In vitro, the IC50 for growth inhibition is 0.8 nM while anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) tumor growth was inhibited three- to fourfold in nude mice. siRNA against PPARγ and a pharmacological antagonist demonstrated that functional PPARγ was required for growth inhibitory activity of RS5444. RS5444 upregulated the cell cycle kinase inhibitor, p21WAF1/CIP1. Silencing p21WAF1/CIP1 rendered cells insensitive to RS5444. RS5444 plus paclitaxel demonstrated additive antiproliferative activity in cell culture and minimal ATC tumor growth in vivo. RS5444 did not induce apoptosis but combined with paclitaxel, doubled the apoptotic index compared to that of paclitaxel. Our data indicate that functional PPARγ is a molecular target for therapy in ATC. We demonstrated that RS5444, a thiazolidinedione (Tzd) derivative, alone or in combination with paclitaxel, may provide therapeutic benefit to patients diagnosed with ATC.

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Abbreviations

PPARγ:

Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor gamma

ATC:

anaplastic thyroid carcinoma

Tzd:

thiazolidinedione

ICC:

immunocytochemistry

IHC:

immunohistochemistry

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Acknowledgements

We thank Drs Aubrey Thompson and Norman Eberhardt for carefully reading and helpful editing of this manuscript. This work was funded in part by a Grant from Sankyo Company, Ltd to JAC, NIH Grant P30CA15083 (Cancer Center Support Grant) to RCS and NIH Grant CA100560 to BRH.

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Correspondence to J A Copland.

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Copland, J., Marlow, L., Kurakata, S. et al. Novel high-affinity PPARγ agonist alone and in combination with paclitaxel inhibits human anaplastic thyroid carcinoma tumor growth via p21WAF1/CIP1. Oncogene 25, 2304–2317 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1209267

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