title: Adenosine stimulation of the proliferation of colorectal carcinoma cell lines. Roles of cell density and adenosine metabolism.
abstract: Adenosine is a purine nucleoside which is present at micromolar concentrations in the extracellular fluid of solid cancers as a result of tissue hypoxia. Adenosine acts to promote tumor survival by inhibiting the cell-mediated anti-tumor immune response. However, its role in modulating proliferation of the tumor cell population is unclear. Differing results have been obtained using adenosine analogues or by interfering with adenosine metabolism. We examined the effect of adenosine itself on DNA synthesis and cell growth in six different human and mouse colorectal carcinoma cell lines, from different sites and at different stages of differentiation. Adenosine given as a single dose consistently stimulated DNA synthesis and cell proliferation in all cell lines tested, with an EC(50) of 3.8-30 microM and a maximum stimulation being reached at 10-100 microM. AMP and ATP also stimulated cell proliferation at similar doses. The stimulation by adenosine varied depending upon the culture cell density, with the greatest mitogenic effect at subconfluent densities. Adenosine was metabolized by cellular adenosine deaminase and adenosine kinase. The half-life (t(1/2)) for the decline in adenosine concentration in the medium following a single addition was between 40 min and 3 hr depending on the cell line and culture conditions. The rate of production of endogenous adenosine was low under normoxic culture conditions. Continuous dosing of cultures with adenosine to provide a steady-state concentration showed that proliferation could be stimulated by low micromolar concentrations of adenosine. We conclude that adenosine is stimulatory to the growth of human colorectal carcinoma cells at concentrations present within the tumor extracellular environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4H7.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mujoomdar
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hoskin
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blay
mesh_terms: D000241:Adenosine / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000243:Adenosine Deaminase / Q000378:metabolism; D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D000249:Adenosine Monophosphate; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D004247:DNA; D000243:Adenosine Deaminase; D000241:Adenosine