Introduction: Although named for its antitumor properties, TNF-a is implicatedin a wide spectrum of diseases including chronic inflammation, autoimmunity andcancer. It is used for the loco regional treatment of limb’s sarcoma. P53 is an antioncogenewhose mutation is associated with tumour development. Experimental datademonstrated that TNF-a cytotoxic activity and p53 status are related.Material and methods: Our objective was to study by immunohistochemistrythe p53 status in 110 sarcoma patients treated by isolated limb perfusion with TNF-a. Then, we studied by confocal microscopy in 8 freshly obtained sarcoma tumours,the localization of apoptosis. Finally, in 9 sarcoma cell lines with different p53 status,we tested the p53/TNF-a relationship by abrogating p53 with a sh-RNA and by usingsmall molecules known to restore p53 functions. To better understand the mechanismsof resistance to TNF-a, we measured by EMSA the NF-kB-binding to DNA and withRT-PCR, we explored the regulation of some apoptosis related genes.Results: We demonstrated a relationship between p53 status and thehistological response to TNF-a use in humans. TNF-a induced apoptosis was presentin endothelial cells as well as in the tumour cells. TNF-a cytotoxicity was dependent onthe p53 status since in the cell lines studied, p53 abrogation reduced it and p53restoration allowed it to increase. Moreover, a potentiation of TNF-a cytotoxic effectwas observed when it was combined to CP-31398 or Nutlin-3a. The killing magnitudewas therefore related to the decrease in the NF-kB-binding to DNA when Nutlin-3awas added. A gene expression increase for RIPK2, TP53BP2 and GADD45 and adecrease for TGF-b1 and FAIM was observed if the combined treatment wassynergistic on tumour death cells.Conclusions: These results suggest that the use of compounds able to restorep53 activity could reverse the soft tissue sarcoma’s resistance to TNF-a treatment.Clinical studies should be performed in order to utilize this approach and to use it inthe context of sarcomas that are particularly resistant to conventional treatments.
