scholarly journals Fusobacterium nucleatum Accelerates the Progression of Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer by Promoting EMT

Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2728
Author(s):  
Mi Ra Yu ◽  
Hye Jung Kim ◽  
Hae Ryoun Park

Recently, it has been reported that Fusobacterium nucleatum, a major pathogen involved in chronic periodontitis, may play an important role in colorectal cancer (CRC) progression. In addition, inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease represent major predisposing conditions for the development of CRC, and this subtype of cancer is called colitis-associated cancer (CAC). Although the importance of F. nucleatum in CRC has attracted attention, its exact role and related mechanism in CAC progression remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of F. nucleatum in experimental colitis induced with dextran sodium sulfate (DSS), which is a well-known colitis-inducing chemical, on the aggressiveness of CAC and its related mechanism in both in vitro and in vivo models. F. nucleatum synergistically increased the aggressiveness and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) characteristics of CRC cells that were treated with DSS compared to those in non-treated CRC cells. The role of F. nucleatum in CAC progression was further confirmed in mouse models, as F. nucleatum was found to significantly increase the malignancy of azoxymethane (AOM)/DSS-induced colon cancer. This promoting effect of F. nucleatum was based on activation of the EGFR signaling pathways, including protein kinase B (AKT) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition significantly reduced the F. nucleatum-induced EMT alteration. In conclusion, F. nucleatum accelerates the progression of CAC by promoting EMT through the EGFR signaling pathway.

2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piao Li ◽  
Lingling Li ◽  
Zhou Li ◽  
Shennan Wang ◽  
Ruichao Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Bladder cancer (BLCA) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. One of the main reasons for the unsatisfactory management of BLCA is the complex molecular biological mechanism. Annexin A1 (ANXA1), a Ca2+-regulated phospholipid-binding protein, has been demonstrated to be implicated in the progression and prognosis of many cancers. However, the expression pattern, biological function and mechanism of ANXA1 in BLCA remain unclear. Methods The clinical relevance of ANXA1 in BLCA was investigated by bioinformatics analysis based on TCGA and GEO datasets. Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis was performed to detect the expression of ANXA1 in BLCA tissues, and the relationships between ANXA1 and clinical parameters were analyzed. In vitro and in vivo experiments were conducted to study the biological functions of ANXA1 in BLCA. Finally, the potential mechanism of ANXA1 in BLCA was explored by bioinformatics analysis and verified by in vitro and in vivo experiments. Results Bioinformatics and IHC analyses indicated that a high expression level of ANXA1 was strongly associated with the progression and poor prognosis of patients with BLCA. Functional studies demonstrated that ANXA1 silencing inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion and epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) of BLCA cells in vitro, and suppressed the growth of xenografted bladder tumors in vivo. Mechanistically, loss of ANXA1 decreased the expression and phosphorylation level of EGFR and the activation of downstream signaling pathways. In addition, knockdown of ANXA1 accelerated ubiquitination and degradation of P-EGFR to downregulate the activation of EGFR signaling. Conclusions These findings indicate that ANXA1 is a reliable clinical predictor for the prognosis of BLCA and promotes proliferation and migration by activating EGFR signaling in BLCA. Therefore, ANXA1 may be a promising biomarker for the prognosis of patients with BLCA, thus shedding light on precise and personalized therapy for BLCA in the future.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianli Shen ◽  
Chenyang Yue ◽  
Xingjie Wang ◽  
Zijun Wang ◽  
Yunhua Wu ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundMetastatic recurrence remains a major cause of colorectal cancer (CRC) mortality. In this study, we focused on the role and the potential underlying mechanisms of nuclear factor of activated T cells 1 (NFATc1) in CRC metastasis. MethodsWe examined the expression of NFATc1 in 140 cases of CRC tissues and 35 corresponding adjacent tissues, as well as analyzed the correlation between NFATc1 expression levels and clinical stages. The role of NFATc1 in CRC metastasis and the molecular mechanisms were investigated in both in vitro and in vivo models. ResultsThe results showed that NFATc1 expression was increased in metastatic CRC tissues and positively associated with clinical stages (Stage I vs. Stage II, III or IV) of CRC. Overexpression of NFATc1 promoted CRC cell migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Moreover, SNAI1 was verified as the direct transcriptional target of NFATc1 and interacted with Slug to promote EMT. Remarkably, our lung and liver double metastasis mouse model demonstrated that NFATc1 overexpression accelerated CRC metastasis, and treatment with FK506, a calcineurin-NFAT pathway inhibitor, could suppress CRC metastasis in vivo. ConclusionsTaken together, our findings suggest that NFATc1 could transcriptionally activate SNAI1, which in turn could interact with Slug to mediate EMT and to promote CRC metastasis, making NFATc1 a promising target in CRC treatment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 480-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangsheng Wan ◽  
Manli Xie ◽  
Hongjie Yu ◽  
Hongyu Chen

In this study we investigated the association between intestinal dysbacteriosis with colorectal cancer progress and the underlying molecular mechanisms. Tumor progression was evaluated using xenograft mice model. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers were quantified by both real-time PCR and immunoblotting. The serum content of IL-6 and TNF-α were measured with ELISA kits. Cell proliferation was determined by the Cell Counting Kit-8. Intestinal dysbacteriosis was successfully simulated by the administration of a large dose of antibiotics and was demonstrated to promote xenograft tumor growth and induce EMT. Accordingly, the serum concentrations of cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α were significantly increased. Furthermore, the production and secretion of IL-6 and TNF-α were remarkably elevated in macrophages isolated from intestinal dysbiotic mice in comparison with the normal counterparts, and conditioned medium from these was shown to significantly stimulate EMT process in HT29 cells in vitro. Macrophage depletion completely abrogated the pro-tumor effect of intestinal dysbacteriosis. Our results suggest that intestinal dysbacteriosis stimulates macrophage activation and subsequently induces EMT process via secreted pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Songwen Ju ◽  
Feng Wang ◽  
Yirong Wang ◽  
Songguang Ju

AbstractHypoxic stress plays a pivotal role in cancer progression; however, how hypoxia drives tumors to become more aggressive or metastatic and adaptive to adverse environmental stress is still poorly understood. In this study, we revealed that CSN8 might be a key regulatory switch controlling hypoxia-induced malignant tumor progression. We demonstrated that the expression of CSN8 increased significantly in colorectal cancerous tissues, which was correlated with lymph node metastasis and predicted poor patient survival. CSN8 overexpression induces the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in colorectal cancer cells, increasing migration and invasion. CSN8 overexpression arrested cell proliferation, upregulated key dormancy marker (NR2F1, DEC2, p27) and hypoxia response genes (HIF-1α, GLUT1), and dramatically enhanced survival under hypoxia, serum deprivation, or chemo-drug 5-fluorouracil treatment conditions. In particular, silenced CSN8 blocks the EMT and dormancy processes induced by the hypoxia of 1% O2 in vitro and undermines the adaptive capacity of colorectal cancer cells in vivo. The further study showed that CSN8 regulated EMT and dormancy partly by activating the HIF-1α signaling pathway, which increased HIF-1α mRNA expression by activating NF-κB and stabilized the HIF-1α protein via HIF-1α de-ubiquitination. Taken together, CSN8 endows primary colorectal cancer cells with highly aggressive/metastatic and adaptive capacities through regulating both EMT and dormancy induced by hypoxia. CSN8 could serve as a novel prognostic biomarker for colorectal cancer and would be an ideal target of disseminated dormant cell elimination and tumor metastasis, recurrence, and chemoresistance prevention.


Cancers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kwang Seock Kim ◽  
Dongjun Jeong ◽  
Ita Novita Sari ◽  
Yoseph Toni Wijaya ◽  
Nayoung Jun ◽  
...  

Our current understanding of the role of microRNA 551b (miR551b) in the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) remains limited. Here, studies using both ectopic expression of miR551b and miR551b mimics revealed that miR551b exerts a tumor suppressive effect in CRC cells. Specifically, miR551b was significantly downregulated in both patient-derived CRC tissues and CRC cell lines compared to normal tissues and non-cancer cell lines. Also, miR551b significantly inhibited the motility of CRC cells in vitro, including migration, invasion, and wound healing rates, but did not affect cell proliferation. Mechanistically, miR551b targets and inhibits the expression of ZEB1 (Zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1), resulting in the dysregulation of EMT (epithelial-mesenchymal transition) signatures. More importantly, miR551b overexpression was found to reduce the tumor size in a xenograft model of CRC cells in vivo. Furthermore, bioinformatic analyses showed that miR551b expression levels were markedly downregulated in the advanced-stage CRC tissues compared to normal tissues, and ZEB1 was associated with the disease progression in CRC patients. Our findings indicated that miR551b could serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker and could be utilized to improve the therapeutic outcomes of CRC patients.


Author(s):  
Xinyue Yu ◽  
Qian Wang ◽  
Baocai Liu ◽  
Ning Zhang ◽  
Guanghui Cheng

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is often resistant to conventional therapies. Previous studies have reported the anticancer effects of vitamin D in several cancers, its role in radiotherapy (RT) remains unknown. We found that 1α, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (VD3), the biologically active form of vitamin D, had antitumor effect on CRC and sensitized CRC cells to ionizing radiation (IR). VD3 demonstrated synergistic effect in combination with IR, which were detected by colony formation and cell proliferation assay. Radiosensitivity restoration induced by VD3 was associated with a series of phenotypes, including apoptosis, autophagy, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Using proteomics, “regulation of cell migration” and “cadherin” were found to be obviously enriched GO terms. Moreover, cystatin D and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), the differentially expressed proteins, were associated with EMT. Next, we confirmed the contributions of these two genes in enhancing IR sensitivity of CRC cells upon inhibition of EMT. As determined by proteomics, the mechanism underlying such sensitivity involved partially block of JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway. Furthermore, VD3 also elicited sensitization to RT in xenograft CRC models without additional toxicity. Our study revealed that VD3 was able to act in synergy with IR both in vitro and in vivo and could also confer radiosensitivity by regulating EMT, thereby providing a novel insight for elevating the efficacy of therapeutic regimens.


2019 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 578-589
Author(s):  
Liang Wu ◽  
Zili Zhou ◽  
Shengbo Han ◽  
Jinhuang Chen ◽  
Zhengyi Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background We previously demonstrated that the pleomorphic adenoma gene like-2 (PLAGL2) is involved in the pathogenesis of Hirschsprung disease. Enhanced PLAGL2 expression was observed in several malignant tumours. However, the exact function of PLAGL2 and its underlying mechanism in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain largely unknown. Methods Immunohistochemical analysis of PLAGL2 was performed. A series of in vitro and in vivo experiments were conducted to reveal the role of PLAGL2 in the progression of CRC. Results Enhanced PLAGL2 expression was significantly associated with EMT-related proteins in CRC. The data revealed that PLAGL2 promotes CRC cell proliferation, migration, invasion and EMT both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, PLAGL2 promoted the expression of ZEB1. PLAGL2 enhanced the expression and nuclear translocation of β-catenin by decreasing its phosphorylation. The depletion of β-catenin neutralised the regulation of ZEB1 that was caused by enhanced PLAGL2 expression. The small-molecule inhibitor PNU-74654, also impaired the enhancement of ZEB1 that resulted from the modified PLAGL2 expression. The depletion of ZEB1 could block the biological function of PLAGL2 in CRC cells. Conclusions Collectively, our findings suggest that PLAGL2 mediates EMT to promote colorectal cancer metastasis via β-catenin-dependent regulation of ZEB1.


2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 2547-2563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Wang ◽  
Guangnan Liu ◽  
Mengwei Liu ◽  
Li Xiang ◽  
Yizhi Xiao ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: The CCDC43 gene is conserved in human, rhesus monkey, mouse and zebrafish. Bioinformatics studies have demonstrated the abnormal expression of CCDC43 gene in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the role and molecular mechanism of CCDC43 in CRC remain unknown. Methods: The functional role of CCDC43 and FOXK1 in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) was determined using immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, western blot, EdU incorporation, luciferase, chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and cell invasion assays. Results: The CCDC43 gene was overexpressed in human CRC. High expression of CCDC43 protein was associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis in patients with CRC. Moreover, the induction of EMT by CCDC43 occurred through TGF-β signaling. Furthermore, a positive correlation between the expression patterns of CCDC43 and FOXK1 was observed in CRC cells. Promoter assays demonstrated that FOXK1 directly bound and activated the human CCDC43 gene promoter. In addition, CCDC43 was necessary for FOXK1- mediated EMT and metastasis in vitro and vivo. Taken together, this work identified that CCDC43 promoted EMT and was a direct transcriptional target of FOXK1 in CRC cells. Conclusion: FOXK1-CCDC43 axis might be helpful to develop the drugs for the treatment of CRC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Huang ◽  
Ningning Gao ◽  
Donglin Bian ◽  
Qixi Zhai ◽  
Puxu Yang ◽  
...  

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays an important role in the invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer, which is mediated by FAK and EGF. However, whether FAK participates in EMT in colorectal cancer cells through the EGF/EGFR signaling pathway remains unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effector mechanisms of FAK in the process of EGF-induced EMT in colorectal cancer cells and to determine whether miR-217 is involved in this process. Caco-2 cancer cells were routinely cultured with and without treatment with 100 ng/mL EGF, and changes in cell morphology were observed using an inverted microscope. In addition, a transwell assay was used to detect cell migration under the condition of EGF treatment. The expression of FAK, pFAK, E-cadherin, vimentin, and β actin was assessed by western blotting, and the expression of miR-217 was assessed using real-time PCR. We found that EGF induced EMT in colorectal cancer cells and enhanced cell migration and invasion ability. Moreover, FAK was involved in the EGF-induced EMT of colorectal cancer cells. EGF upregulated the expression of E-cadherin in colorectal cancer cells by activating FAK, and miR-217 was found to participate in EGF-induced EMT in colorectal cancer cells. Our findings indicate that EGF induces EMT in colorectal cancer cells by activating FAK, and miR-217 is involved in the EGF/FAK/E-cadherin signaling pathway.


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