Human hepatocellular carcinoma cells resist to TRAIL-induced apoptosis, and the resistance is abolished by cisplatin

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), a member of the TNF family, selectively induce apoptosis in various transformed cell lines but not in almost-normal tissues. It is regulated by 2 death receptors, TRAIL receptor 1 (TRAIL-R1) and TRAIL-R2 and 2 decoy receptors, TRAIL-R3 and TRAIL-R4. However, the determining factors of the sensitivity to TRAIL-induced apoptosis are not clearly understood. Herein, we investigated the expression of TRAIL-R, c-FLIP, FADD-like interleukin-1beta-converting enzyme inhibitory protein, and TRAIL-induced apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines. Seven of ten HCC cell lines showed resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis and five of seven TRAIL-resistant cell lines became sensitive to TRAIL by co-treatment with cycloheximide. In HCC cell lines, their TRAIL resistance did not correlate with the basal expression level of TRAIL receptors or c-FLIP, however, in human tissues, TRAIL-R1 and TRAIL-R2 expressions were notably decreased compared to normal counterpart. Cisplatin showed synergistic effect on TRAIL-induced apoptosis in most HCC cell lines regardless of their p53 status and TRAIL-R1 was induced by cisplatin treatment in certain cell lines. Inhibition of nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) by SN50, a peptide inhibitor of NF-kappaB activity, had no effect on TRAIL-induced apoptosis in HCC cells. These results suggest that (a) the majority of human HCC cell lines are resistant to TRAIL-induced apoptosis and cycloheximide-sensitive short-lived antiapoptotic molecule(s) is responsible for this resistance, (b) the expression of TRAIL-RI and TRAIL-R2 is reduced in HCC tissues, and the increased expression of TRAIL-R1 may be a mechanism of cisplatin-induced sensitization to TRAIL-induced apoptosis in some HCC cells, and (c) the activation of NF-kappaB may not be involved in the TRAIL resistance of HCC cells.