Proteasome inhibitor Bortezomib induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in cell lines derived from Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors and synergizes with TRAIL

Bortezomib (VELCADE(R)), formerly known as PS-341, is a novel dipeptide boronic acid proteasome inhibitor with in vitro and in vivo anti-tumor activity. Bortezomib has been approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. In this report, we examined the sensitivity of cell lines derived from Ewing's sarcoma-family of tumors (ESFT) to Bortezomib. Five ESFT-derived cell lines, TC-71, TC-32, SK-N-MC, A4573 and GRIMES, were highly sensitive to Bortezomib (IC(50) = 20 to 50 nM), and underwent cell cycle arrest and apoptosis following drug treatment. Bortezomib-induced apoptosis was associated with activation of caspase 3, cleavage of PARP and induction of p27 and p21 expression. Moreover, Bortezomib exhibited synergistic activity against the TC-71 and TC-32 cell lines when combined with TRAIL. Our results suggest that Bortezomib might be a useful agent for treatment of ESFT, when used alone or in combination with TRAIL.