Autophagy suppression potentiates the anti-glioblastoma effect of asparaginase in vitro and in vivo

Abstract

Asparaginase has been reported to be effective in the treatment of various leukemia and several malignant solid cancers. However, the anti-tumor effect of asparaginase is always restricted due to complicated mechanisms. Herein, we investigated the mechanisms of how glioblastoma resisted asparaginase treatment and reported a novel approach to enhance the anti-glioblastoma effect of asparaginase. We found that asparaginase could induce growth inhibition and caspase-dependent apoptosis in U87MG/U251MG glioblastoma cells. Meanwhile, autophagy was activated as indicated by autophagosomes formation and upregulated expression of LC3-II. Importantly, abolishing autophagy using chloroquine (CQ) and LY294002 enhanced the cytotoxicity and apoptosis induced by asparaginase in U87MG/U251MG cells. Further study proved that Akt/mTOR and Erk signaling pathways participated in autophagy induction, while reactive oxygen species (ROS) served as an intracellular regulator for both cytotoxicity and autophagy in asparaginase-treated U87MG/U251MG cells. Moreover, combination treatment with autophagy inhibitor CQ significantly enhanced anti-glioblastoma efficacy of asparaginase in U87MG cell xenograft model. Taken together, our results demonstrated that inhibition of autophagy potentiated the anti-tumor effect of asparagine depletion on glioblastoma, indicating that targeting autophagy and asparagine could be a potential approach for glioblastoma treatment.