Molecular mechanisms associated with ALA-PDT of brain tumor cells

Previous studies have shown that low-dose PDT using 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-induced photoporphyrin IX (PpIX) can induce apoptosis in tumor cells without causing necrosis. In this study we investigated the molecular mechanisms associated with apoptosis after ALA-PDT treatment in two brain glioma cell lines: human U87, and rat CNS-1cells. We used high energy light at a short time (acute PDT) and low energy light at a long time of exposure (metronomic PDT) to treat both cell lines. The cells were treated with 0.25 mM ALA at 5 joules for energy. We found that CNS-1 cells were more resistant to ALA-PDT than U87 cells when treated by both acute and metronomic PDT. To screen possible apoptosis mechanisms associated with acute and metronomic PDT, microarray analysis of gene expression was performed on RNA from glioblastoma cells treated with either acute or metronomic ALA-PDT. Within the set of genes that were negatively or positively regulated by both treatments are tumor necrosis factor receptors. The expression of TNF receptors was investigated further by RT-PCR and western blotting. The apoptosis mechanism of the cell death occurred through different pathways including BCL-2 and TNF receptors, and in part caused by cleaving caspase 3. Interestingly, metronomic ALA-PDT inhibited the expression of LTβR and the transcription factor NFκB. This inhibition was ALA concentration dependent at low concentrations.