title: Stromal production of prostacyclin confers an antiapoptotic effect to colonic epithelial cells.
abstract: The mechanism whereby cyclooxygenase-2 and its prostaglandin (PG) products are involved in colonic carcinogenesis is not fully understood. Prostacyclin (PGI(2)) is a major PG with antiapoptotic activity and is produced in the gastrointestinal tract. We reported previously that a human colorectal cancer (CRC) cell line, HCA-7, produces significant levels of PGE(2), PGD(2), thromboxane, and PGF(2alpha), but not PGI(2). We now report that human colonic fibroblast cell lines produce significant amounts of PGI(2) and that fibroblast lines derived from normal-appearing colonic mucosa of hereditary nonpolyposis CRC individuals produce 50-fold more PGI(2) than normal fibroblast lines derived from individuals with nonhereditary CRC. Coculture of HCA-7 cells with hereditary nonpolyposis CRC fibroblasts, but not normal fibroblasts, markedly reduced butyrate-induced apoptosis of HCA-7 cells. This antiapoptotic effect was inhibited by the cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor rofecoxib and was restored by the stable PGI(2) analogue carbaprostacyclin. PGI(2) binds either G protein-coupled cell surface PGI(2) receptor or the nuclear peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) delta. PPAR delta likely mediates this antiapoptotic effect because HCA-7 cells express this receptor, and another PPAR delta agonist, docosahexaenoic acid, mimics the effect. We propose a novel mechanism by which stromal production of PGI(2) promotes survival of colonocytes through PPAR delta activation. This mechanism may have relevance to maintenance of cells in the normal crypt and to clonal expansion of mutant colonocytes during tumorigenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-2279, USA.
authors.forename: N Shane
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Cutler
authors.forename: Ramona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Graves-Deal
authors.forename: Bonnie J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: LaFleur
authors.forename: Zhenqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Bruce M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Boman
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Whitehead
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Terry
authors.forename: Jason D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Morrow
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Coffey
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D003106:Colon / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D003123:Colorectal Neoplasms, Hereditary Nonpolyposis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; D052246:Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors; D016861:Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D011464:Epoprostenol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D007783:Lactones / Q000494:pharmacology; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases / Q000378:metabolism; D017154:Stromal Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D013450:Sulfones; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D052246:Cyclooxygenase 2 Inhibitors; D016861:Cyclooxygenase Inhibitors; D007527:Isoenzymes; D007783:Lactones; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D013450:Sulfones; C116926:rofecoxib; D011464:Epoprostenol; D051546:Cyclooxygenase 2; C496540:PTGS2 protein, human; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases