Inactivation of tumor suppressor genes is a major contributing alteration in the initiation or progression of cancer. The human tumor suppressor gene DLC1 (deleted in liver cancer 1) is frequently downregulated or silenced in multiple cancers, predominantly by epigenetic mechanisms. With the current considerable interest and progress in epigenetic therapy, a number of promising antineoplastic agents, particularly histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors, have been developed and used successfully in clinical trials. Both DLC1 and HDAC inhibitors exert antineoplastic functions, and their combined action could be exploited for a more effective cancer therapy. To evaluate the potential benefits of this approach, we examined the antineoplastic effects of adenoviral (Ad)-DLC1-mediated transduction and exposure to suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), a powerful HDAC inhibitor, in two human cancer cell lines that lack intrinsic DLC1 expression, 22Rv1 prostate cancer cells and 7703K human hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Consistent with the oncosuppressive function of DLC1 in several cancers, including prostate and liver cancer, transduction of 22Rv1 and 7703K cells with an Ad-DLC1 expression vector resulted in alterations of cell morphology, induction of apoptosis, and inhibition of cell proliferation, migration, and anchorage-independent growth. A low concentration of SAHA (5 µM) efficiently restored the expression of DLC1 in 22Rv1 cells that lack DLC1 expression due to histone deacetylation but had a minimal effect in 7703K cells in which silencing of the DLC1 gene is due mainly to promoter hypermethylation. Regardless of the epigenetic mechanism of DLC1 inactivation, SAHA treatment of DLC1-transduced cells had a synergistic inhibitory effect on tumor cell proliferation and tumorigenesis in both cell lines. In 22Rv1 cells, this combination regimen nearly abolished the formation of colonies in semisolid media as a measure of tumorigenicity in vitro. Current in vitro results validate this protocol as a potentially new therapeutic option in certain cancers.

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