The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor SCH 727965 (dinacliclib) induces the apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells.

Although rare, osteosarcoma is an aggressive cancer that often metastasizes to the lungs. Toward the goal of developing new treatment options for osteosarcoma, we show that the cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor SCH 727965 (SCH) induces the apoptosis of several osteosarcoma cell lines including those resistant to doxorubicin and dasatinib. Cell lines prepared in our laboratory from patients who had received adjuvant chemotherapy and explants derived from a human osteosarcoma xenograft in mice were also responsive to SCH. Apoptosis occurred at low nanomolar concentrations of SCH, as did CDK inhibition, and was p53-independent. SCH activated the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis as evidenced by caspase-9 cleavage and accumulation of cytoplasmic cytochrome c. Amounts of the apoptotic proteins Bax and Bim increased in mitochondria, whereas amounts of the antiapoptotic proteins Mcl-1 and Bcl-x(L) declined. Osteosarcoma cells apoptosed when codepleted of CDK1 and CDK2 but not when depleted of other CDK combinations. We suggest that SCH triggers the apoptosis of osteosarcoma cells by inactivating CDK1 and CDK2 and that SCH may be useful for treatment of drug-resistant osteosarcomas. SCH also induced the apoptosis of other sarcoma types but not of normal quiescent osteoblasts or fibroblasts.