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Cardiac injury is a major complication for oxidative stress-generating anticancer agents exemplified by Adriamycin (ADR). Recently, several histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACIs) including phenylbutyrate (PBA) have shown promise in the treatment of cancer with little known toxicity to normal tissues. PBA has been shown to protect against oxidative stress in normal tissues. Here, we examined whether PBA might protect heart against ADR toxicity in a mouse model. The mice were i.p. injected with ADR (20 mg/kg). PBA (400 mg/kg/day) was i.p. injected one day before and daily after the ADR injection for two days. We found that PBA significantly decreased the ADR-associated elevation of serum lactase dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) activities, and diminished ADR-induced ultrastructual damages of cardiac tissue by more than 70%. Importantly, PBA completely rescued ADR-caused reduction of cardiac functions exemplified by ejection fraction and fraction shortening, and increased cardiac MnSOD protein and activity. Our results reveal a previously unrecognized role of HDACIs in protecting against ADR-induced cardiac injury, and suggest that PBA may exert its cardioprotective effect, in part, by the increase of MnSOD. Thus, combining HDACIs with ADR could add a new mechanism to fight cancer while simultaneously decrease ADR-induced cardiotoxicity.

Expression of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), a nuclear-encoded mitochondrial primary antioxidant enzyme, is protective against various paradigms of oxidative stress-induced brain injury. We have shown previously that the presence of an intronic nuclear factor site, kappaB (NF-kappaB), in the MnSOD gene is essential for the induction of MnSOD by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha). However, whether activation of NF-kappaB is protective against oxidative stress-induced neuronal injury is unclear. In the present study, we demonstrate that TNF-alpha activates NF-kappaB activity in neuronal, SH-SY5Y, cells and preferentially enhances the binding of p50 and p65 to the promoter/enhancer regions of the MnSOD gene. Binding of NF-kappaB members to the MnSOD gene leads to the induction of MnSOD mRNA and protein levels. Consequently, induction of MnSOD by TNF-alpha primes neuronal cells to develop resistance against subsequent exposure to beta-amyloid and FeSO(4). Taken together, these results suggest that NF-kappaB might exert its protective function by induction of MnSOD leading to subsequent protection against oxidative stress-induced neuronal injury.