Transcriptomic analysis associated with reversal of cisplatin sensitivity in drug resistant osteosarcoma cells after a drug holiday

BACKGROUND: Resistance to chemotherapy is one of the major hurdles in current cancer therapy. With the increasing occurrence of drug resistance, a paradigm shift in treatment strategy is required. Recently “medication vacation” has emerged as a unique, yet uncomplicated strategy in which withdrawal of drug pressure for certain duration allowed tumor cells to regain sensitivity to the drug. However, little is known about the molecular alterations associated with such an outcome. METHODS: In this study, human osteosarcoma (OS) cells resistant to the extensively used drug cisplatin, were withdrawn from drug pressure, and thereafter cytotoxic response of the cells to the drug was evaluated. We further performed next-generation RNA sequencing and compared transcriptome between parental (OS), resistant (OS-R) and the drug withdrawn (OS-DW) cells. Differentially expressed transcripts were identified, and biological association network (BAN), gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analysis of the differentially regulated transcripts were performed to identify key events associated with withdrawal of drug pressure. RESULTS: Following drug withdrawal, the sensitivity of the cells to the drug was found to be regained. Analysis of the expression profile showed that key genes like, IRAK3, IL6ST, RELA, AKT1, FKBP1A and ADIPOQ went significantly down in OS-DW cells when compared to OS-R. Also, genes involved in Wnt signaling, PI3K-Akt, Notch signaling, and ABC transporters were drastically down-regulated in OS-DW cells compared to OS-R. Although, a very small subset of genes maintained similar expression pattern between OS, OS-R and OS-DW, nonetheless majority of the transcriptomic pattern of OS-DW was distinctively different and unique in comparison to either the drug sensitive OS or drug resistant OS-R cells. CONCLUSION: Our data suggests that though drug withdrawal causes reversal of sensitivity, the transcriptomic pattern does not necessarily show significant match with resistant or parental control cells. We strongly believe that exploration of the molecular basis of drug holiday might facilitate additional potential alternative treatment options for aggressive and resistant cancers.