Sodium dichloroacetate (DCA) reduces apoptosis in colorectal tumor hypoxia.
We examined the effect of hypoxia on apoptosis of human colorectal cancer (CRC) cells in vitro and in vivo. All cell lines tested were susceptible to hypoxia-induced apoptosis. DCA treatment caused significant apoptosis under normoxia in SW480 and Caco-2 cells, but these cells displayed decreased apoptosis when treated with DCA combined with hypoxia, possibly through HIF-1alpha dependent pathways. DCA treatment also induced significantly increased growth of SW480 tumor xenografts, and a decrease in TUNEL positive nuclei in hypoxic but not normoxic regions of treated tumors. Thus DCA is cytoprotective to some CRC cells under hypoxic conditions, highlighting the need for further investigation before DCA can be used as a reliable apoptosis-inducing agent in cancer therapy.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Guelph, ON, Canada.
Siranoush
S
Shahrzad
Kristen
K
Lacombe
Una
U
Adamcic
Kanwal
K
Minhas
Brenda L
BL
Coomber
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D015687:Cell Hypoxia; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D019610:Cytoprotection; D003999:Dichloroacetic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D009336:Necrosis; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D013997:Time Factors; D047368:Tumor Burden / Q000187:drug effects; D023041:Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; C497442:HIF1A protein, human; D051795:Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; D003999:Dichloroacetic Acid; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; C505407:CASP3 protein, human; D053148:Caspase 3; D010100:Oxygen