Galanin Receptor Subtype 2 Suppresses Cell Proliferation and Induces Apoptosis in p53 Mutant Head and Neck Cancer Cells

Purpose: Galanin and its three receptors (GALR1-3) are expressed in many normal tissues, but silenced in some tumors. Contradictory roles for galanin and its receptors in various tumors have been reported. To understand their function, investigations of individual galanin receptors are necessary. In head and neck squamous carcinoma cells (HNSCC) with silenced GALR1 and GALR2, we showed that reexpressed GALR1 suppresses tumor cell proliferation via Erk1/2-mediated effects on cdk inhibitors and cyclin D1. Others showed that GALR2 could induce apoptosis in neuroblastoma cells with wild-type p53 , whereas GALR2 stimulated proliferation in small cell lung cancer. In this study, we investigated the role of GALR2 in HNSCC cells that have mutant p53 and do not express GALR1. Experimental Design: UM-SCC-1, a human oral carcinoma cell line with a splice site mutation causing a 46-bp p53 off-frame deletion, was stably transfected to express GALR2 (UM-SCC-1-GALR2). Results: Galanin treatment of UM-SCC-1-GALR2 caused morphologic changes and a marked decrease in cell number that were not observed in UM-SCC-1-mock cells. Galanin and GALR2 resulted in decreased bromodeoxyuridine incorporation, p27 Kip1 and p57 Kip2 up-regulation, and decreased cyclin D1 expression. These effects were similar to GALR1 signaling in HNSCC, but GALR2 also induced caspase-3–dependent apoptosis, which was confirmed by Annexin-V staining and DNA fragmentation analysis. These were not observed with GALR1. Conclusion: This study shows that GALR2 reexpression can inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in HNSCC cells with mutant p53 . GALR2 may be a feasible target for HNSCC therapy.