Identification of DNA-PKcs as a primary resistance factor of salinomycin in osteosarcoma cells

Malignant osteosarcoma (OS) is still a deadly disease for many affected patients. The search for the novel anti-OS agent is extremely urgent and important. Our previous study has proposed that salinomycin is a novel anti-OS agent. Here we characterized DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) as a primary salinomycin resistance factor in OS cells. DNA-PKcs inhibitors (NU7026, NU7441 and LY294002) or DNA-PKcs shRNA knockdown dramatically potentiated salinomycin-induced death and apoptosis of OS cells (U2OS and MG-63 lines). Further, forced-expression of microRNA-101 (“miR-101”) downregulated DNA-PKcs and augmented salinomycin's cytotoxicity against OS cells. Reversely, over-expression of DNA-PKcs in OS cells inhibited salinomycin's lethality. For the mechanism study, we show that DNA-PKcs is required for salinomycin-induced pro-survival autophagy activation. DNA-PKcs inhibition (by NU7441), shRNA knockdown or miR-101 expression inhibited salinomycin-induced Beclin-1 expression and autophagy induction. Meanwhile, knockdown of Beclin-1 by shRNA significantly sensitized salinomycin-induced OS cell lethality. In vivo, salinomycin administration suppressed U2OS xenograft tumor growth in severe combined immuno-deficient (SCID) mice, and its anti-tumor activity was dramatically potentiated with co-administration of the DNA-PKcs inhibitor NU7026. Together, these results suggest that DNA-PKcs could be a primary resistance factor of salinomycin in OS cells. DNA-PKcs inhibition or silence may thus significantly increase salinomycin's sensitivity in OS cells.