Non-small cell lung cancer is susceptible to induction of DNA damage responses and inhibition of angiogenesis by telomere overhang oligonucleotides.
Neelu Puri, Ryan T Pitman, Richard E Mulnix, Terrianne Erickson, Audra N Iness, Connie Vitali, Yutong Zhao, Ravi Salgia
Author Information
Neelu Puri: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford, IL, United States. Electronic address: neelupur@uic.edu.
Ryan T Pitman: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford, IL, United States.
Richard E Mulnix: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford, IL, United States.
Terrianne Erickson: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford, IL, United States.
Audra N Iness: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford, IL, United States.
Connie Vitali: Department of Pathology, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford, IL, United States.
Yutong Zhao: Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States.
Ravi Salgia: Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
Exposure of the telomere overhang acts as a DNA damage signal, and exogenous administration of an 11-base oligonucleotide homologous to the 3'-telomere overhang sequence (T-oligo) mimics the effects of overhang exposure by inducing senescence and cell death in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells, but not in normal bronchial epithelial cells. T-oligo-induced decrease in cellular proliferation in NSCLC is likely directed through both p53 and its homolog, p73, with subsequent induction of senescence and expression of senescence-associated proteins, p21, p33(ING), and p27(Kip1) both in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, T-oligo decreases tumor size and inhibits angiogenesis through decreased VEGF signaling and increased TSP-1 expression.