Metabolic fate of liposomal phosphatidylinositol in murine tumor cells: implications for the mechanism of tumor cell cytotoxicity.

The mechanism of the previously reported cytotoxicity of liposomes containing plant phosphatidylinositol (PI) against numerous tumor cell lines was examined in detail by using liposomes containing synthetic PI specifically labeled either with radioactive myo-inositol, or in the sn-2 position with radioactive linoleic acid, oleic acid, or arachidonic acid. The uptake of liposomal PI by N4TG1 neuroblastoma cells increased with time and was dependent on the nature of the fatty acids. Uptake was highest with liposomal PI containing linoleic acid followed by arachidonic acid and then by oleic acid. The cellular fate of liposomal PI was determined by analysis of radioactive metabolites present in extracts of tumor cell lipids. Appearance of liposomal PI metabolic products in the tumor cells was correlated with thymidine uptake as a measure of viability. After 3 h incubation of cells with PI liposomes it was found that the release of both radioactive liposomal fatty acids (and probably also lyso-Pl) and radioactive diglycerides was correlated inversely with the cellular uptake of [methyl-3H]thymidine and uptake of [3H]myoinositol. An experiment in which liposomes were prepared both from animal Pl which contained predominantly saturated fatty acids in the sn-2 position and an increasing mole fraction of a synthetic Pl containing radioactive linoleic acid in the sn-2 position established that the amount of Pl containing linoleic acid in the sn-2 position could be correlated with a decrease in the amount of thymidine uptake by tumor cells. The above results clearly established that phospholipases A2 and C in the tumor cells were responsible for the formation of metabolites of liposomal Pl, and these metabolic products might have been responsible for cytotoxicity and cell death.