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Biomedical subjects

M Heenan

Publications and source records attributed to M Heenan.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Measuring the impact of intimate partner violence on the health of women in Victoria, Australia.

OBJECTIVE: Using burden of disease methodology, estimate the health risks of intimate partner violence (IPV) among women in Victoria, Australia. METHODS: We calculated population attributable fractions (from survey data on the prevalence of IPV and the relative risks of associated health problems in Australia) and determined health outcomes by applying them to disability-adjusted life year estimates for the relevant disease and injury categories for Victoria, Australia for 2001. FINDINGS: For women of all ages IPV accounted for 2.9% (95% uncertainty interval 2.4-3.4%) of the total disease and injury burden. Among women 18-44 years of age, IPV was associated with 7.9% (95% uncertainty interval 6.4-9.5%) of the overall disease burden and was a larger risk to health than risk factors traditionally included in burden of disease studies, such as raised blood pressure, tobacco use and increased body weight. Poor mental health contributed 73% and substance abuse 22% to the disease burden attributed to IPV. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that IPV constitutes a significant risk to women's health. Mental health policy-makers and health workers treating common mental health problems need to be aware that IPV is an important risk factor. Future research should concentrate on evaluating effective interventions to prevent women being exposed to violence, and identifying the most appropriate mental health care for victims to reduce short- and long-term disability.

Adolescent↗

A new superinvasive in vitro phenotype induced by selection of human breast carcinoma cells with the chemotherapeutic drugs paclitaxel and doxorubicin.

Doxorubicin- and paclitaxel-selected variants of an in vitro invasive clonal population of the human breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-435S, were established by pulse selection, and exhibited a novel 'superinvasive' phenotype. This phenotype is characterised by an ability to relocate to another surface following invasion through matrigel and membrane pores, by decreased adhesion to extracellular matrix proteins and by increased motility. This may represent an in vitro model of a step in the metastatic process occurring subsequent to invasion. The paclitaxel-resistant variants, MDA-MB-435S-F/Taxol-10p and MDA-MB-435S-F/Taxol-10p4p were resistant to paclitaxel, vincristine and docetaxel, but not to doxorubicin, carboplatin, etoposide or 5-fluorouracil. The doxorubicin-selected variants MDA-MB-435S-F/Adr-10p and MDA-MB-435S-F/Adr-10p10p, in contrast, exhibited only small increases in resistance to doxorubicin, although they were slightly resistant to VP-16 and docetaxel, and exhibited increased sensitivity to paclitaxel, carboplatin and 5-fluorouracil.

Adult↗

Altered cell cycle response of drug-resistant lung carcinoma cells to doxorubicin.

The effect of doxorubicin treatment on cell cycle parameters in asynchronous populations of multidrug-resistant human lung carcinoma cell lines was investigated. A sensitive (DLKP-SQ) and three resistant (DLKP-SQ A250 10p#7, DLKP-A2B and DLKP-A5F) variants of a human lung carcinoma cell line DLKP were exposed to equitoxic concentrations of doxorubicin. The latter three were 8-fold, 30-fold and 300-fold resistant to doxorubicin, respectively. Irreversible G2/M arrest in sensitive (DLKP-SQ) cells was observed 24 h after initiation of doxorubicin treatment. In resistant variants, G2/M arrest occurred at 12-16 h with a subsequent bypass of the G2/M arrest to re-emerge and accumulate in G1. This transient G2/M arrest and subsequent progression into G1 indicated an inefficient checkpoint for monitoring DNA damage induced by doxorubicin treatment. Caffeine treatment could bypass the G2/M block in DLKP-SQ cells. Doxorubicin treatment did not alter cyclin B or cdc2 protein levels, the ability of cdc2 to form complexes with cyclin B or the levels of cyclin B bound to cdc2. The G2/M arrest seen in sensitive cells was associated with an increase in inhibitory phosphorylation of Tyr15 on cdc2. In contrast, tyrosine 15 phosphorylation did not change in resistant variants after drug treatment and a general increase in cdc2 kinase activity was seen. Cdc25C levels were not altered following drug treatment.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗

Altered expression of mRNAs for apoptosis-modulating proteins in a low level multidrug resistant variant of a human lung carcinoma cell line that also expresses mdr1 mRNA.

An in vitro model that might be relevant to cancer cell chemoresistance in vivo was generated by exposing the human lung carcinoma clonal cell line DLKP-SQ to 10 sequential pulses of pharmacologically attainable doses of doxorubicin. The resistant variant, DLKP-SQ/10p, was found to be cross-resistant to doxorubicin (10x), vincristine (43x), etoposide (3x), sodium arsenate (3x), paclitaxel (38x) [which could imply overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and possibly increased multidrug resistance-associated protein activity] and 5-fluorouracil (4x), but slightly sensitized to carboplatin. Analysis of mRNA levels in the resistant variant revealed overexpression of mdr1 mRNA without significant alteration in mrp, Topo. IIalpha, GSTpi, dhfr or thymidylate synthase mRNA levels. Overexpression of the anti-apoptotic bcl-xL transcript and the pro-apoptotic bax mRNA was also detected but no alterations in bcl-2 or bag-1 mRNA levels were observed. Resistance to a P-gp-associated drug, doxorubicin, could be reversed with P-gp circumventing agents such as cyclosporin A and verapamil, but these substances had no effect on resistance to 5-fluorouracil. Overexpression of the pro-apoptotic bcl-xS gene in the DLKP-SQ/10p line partially reversed resistance not only to P-gp-associated drugs but also to 5-fluorouracil, indicating that the ratio of bcl family members may be important in determining sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drug-induced apoptosis.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗

Isolation from a human MDR lung cell line of multiple clonal subpopulations which exhibit significantly different drug resistance.

The heterogeneous nature of an adriamycin-selected human MDR squamous lung cell line, DLKP-A, was investigated by isolating and characterising 9 of its clonal subpopulations. The DLKP-A cell line exhibits resistance to the classical MDR drugs, overexpresses P-glycoprotein and displays reduced topoisomerase II amounts. The clonal cell lines exhibit a wide range of resistance extents, with the most resistant clone displaying 9 times the extent of adriamycin resistance observed in the least resistant clone. A number of clones exhibit sensitivity to the concentration of adriamycin in which the parental cell line was selected, possibly indicating cooperation between the more and less resistant cells. Detailed analysis of 4 of the clonal subpopulations revealed broadly similar drug resistance mechanisms. Alterations in expression of the MDR-associated genes MDR1 and Topo IIalpha were observed, with no detectable changes in the expression of MDR3, MRP, GSTpi, Topo IIbeta, Topo I and CYP1A1 noted. However, each clonal cell line displayed a distinct extent of expression of MDR1 and Topo IIalpha and further characterisation of the clones indicated that other modes of drug resistance may exist in at least one of the cell lines. In particular, 2 of the clones (DLKPA6B and DLKPA11B) which have almost identical drug resistance profiles appear to have quite different mechanisms of resistance. The clonal subpopulations possess individual growth rates, amounts of adriamycin accumulation and susceptibility to toxicity-enhancement by MDR-modulating agents. It was possible to generate a cell line with a drug toxicity profile similar to DLKP-A by mixing some of the clonal subpopulations. Our results provide evidence of heterogeneity within an MDR human cell population with respect to resistance and expression of MDR-associated genes.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗

Absence of correlation between chemo- and radioresistance in a range of human tumour cell lines.

The correlation between cellular resistance to radiation and to chemotherapeutic drugs has been investigated in a number of solid tumour cell lines, and preliminary results indicate no direct relationship. The acquisition of a multidrug resistance (MDR) profile by adriamycin-selected variants of a human squamous lung carcinoma, an ovarian carcinoma, a cervical carcinoma and by a colchicine-selected variant of a Chinese hamster ovarian carcinoma resulted in alterations to their radiosensitivity. However, the degree of change in the radiosensitivity of the MDR cell lines could not be predicted from their level of resistance to adriamycin. Clonal populations derived from DLKP-A, an adriamycin-selected MDR variant of the human lung carcinoma cell line DLKP, exhibited individual radiosensitivity profiles, which did not correlate with their chemoresistance. Exposure of DLKP to consecutive increasing doses of radiation did not confer cross-resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs.

Animals↗

Human cell lines as models for multidrug resistance in solid tumours.

In spite of our expanding knowledge on the molecular biology of cancer, relatively little progress has been made in improving therapy for the solid tumours which are major killers, e.g., lung, colon, breast. Significant advances over the past 10-15 years in chemotherapy of some tumours such as testicular cancer and some leukaemias indicates that, in spite of the undesirable side-effects, chemotherapy has the potential to effect cure in the majority of patients with certain types of cancer. Multidrug resistance, inherent or acquired, is one important limiting factor in extending this success to most solid tumours. In vitro studies described in this review are now uncovering a diversity of possible mechanisms of cross-resistance to different types of drug. Sensitive methods such as immunocytochemistry, RT-PCR or in situ RNA hybridisation may be necessary to identify corresponding changes in clinical material. Only by classifying individual tumours according to their specific resistance mechanisms will it be possible to define the multidrug resistance problem properly. Such rigorous definition is a prerequisite to design (and choice on an individual basis) of specific therapies suited to individual patients. Since a much larger proportion of cancer biopsies should be susceptible to accurate analysis by the immunochemical and molecular biological techniques described above than to direct assessment of drug response, it seems reasonable to hope that this approach will succeed in improving results for cancer chemotherapy of solid tumours where other approaches such as individualised in vitro chemosensitivity testing have essentially failed. Results from clinical trials using cyclosporin A or verapamil are encouraging, but these agents are far from ideal, and reverse resistance in only a subset of resistant tumours. Proper definition of the other mechanisms of MDR, and how to antagonize them, is an urgent research priority.

ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Mem↗