Hsp90 inhibitor NVP-AUY922 enhances radiation sensitivity of tumor cell lines under hypoxia

NVP-AUY922, a novel inhibitor of Hsp90, was shown to enhance the effect of ionizing radiation (IR) on tumor cells under normoxic conditions. Since low oxygen tension is a common feature of solid tumors, we explore in the present study the impact of hypoxia on the combined treatment of lung carcinoma A549 and glioblastoma SNB19 cell lines with NVP-AUY922 and IR. Cellular analysis included the colony-forming ability, expression of CAIX, Hsp90, Hsp70, Raf-1, Akt, cell cycle progression and associated proteins, as well as DNA damage measured by histone gamma H2AX. The clonogenic assay revealed that in both cell lines NVP-AUY922 enhanced the radiotoxicity under hypoxic exposure to a level similar to that observed under oxic conditions. Irrespective of oxygen supply during drug treatment, NVP-AUY922 also reduced the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins Raf-1 and Akt. As judged by the levels of histone gamma H2AX, drug-treated hypoxic cells exhibited a lower repair rate of DNA double-strand breaks than normoxic cells. The drug-IR mediated changes in the cell cycle, i.e., S-phase depletion and G(2)/M arrest, developed not directly during hypoxic exposure but first upon 24 h reoxygenation. Under both oxygen tensions, Hsp90 inhibition downregulated the cell cycle-associated proteins, Cdk1, Cdk4 and pRb. The finding that NVP-AUY922 can enhance the in vitro radiosensitivity of hypoxic tumor cells may have implications for the combined modality treatment of solid tumors.