Histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A and autophagy inhibitor chloroquine synergistically exert anti-tumor activity in H-ras transformed breast epithelial cells

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) cause oncogene-transformed mammalian cell death. Our previous study indicated that HDACIs activate forkhead box O1 (FOXO1) and induce autophagy in liver and colon cancer cells. However, whether FOXO1 is involved in HDACI-mediated oncogene-transformed mammalian cell death remains unclear. In the present study, H-ras transformed MCF10A cells were used to investigate the role of FOXO1 in this pathway. Results showed that trichostatin A (TSA), a HDACI, activated apoptosis in MCF10A-ras cells, but not in MCF10A cells. Furthermore, TSA activated FOXO1 via P21 upregulation, whereas the knockdown of FOXO1 reduced TSA-induced cell death. In addition, TSA induced autophagy in MCF10A and MCF10A-ras cells by blocking the mammailian target of rapamycin signaling pathway. Furthermore, autophagy inhibition lead to higher MCF10A-ras cell death by TSA, thus indicating that autophagy is essential in cell survival. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that TSA causes oncogene-transformed cell apoptosis via activation of FOXO1 and HDACI-mediated autophagy induction, which served as important cell survival mechanisms. Notably, the present findings imply that a combination of HDACIs and autophagy inhibitors produce a synergistic anticancer effect.