Expression profiling of colorectal cancer cells reveals inhibition of DNA replication licensing by extracellular calcium.
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers in industrialised societies. Epidemiological studies, animal experiments, and randomized clinical trials have shown that dietary factors can influence all stages of colorectal carcinogenesis, from initiation through promotion to progression. Calcium is one of the factors with a chemoprophylactic effect in colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to understand the molecular mechanisms of the anti-tumorigenic effects of extracellular calcium ([Ca2+]o) in colon cancer cells. Gene expression microarray analysis of colon cancer cells treated for 1, 4, and 24h with 2mM [Ca2+]oidentified significant changes in expression of 1571 probe sets (ANOVA, p<10-5). The main biological processes affected by [Ca2+]owere DNA replication, cell division, and regulation of transcription. All factors involved in DNA replication-licensing were significantly downregulated by [Ca2+]o. Furthermore, we show that the calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR), a G protein-coupled receptor is a mediator involved in this process. To test whether these results were physiologically relevant, we fed mice with a standard diet containing low (0.04%), intermediate (0.1%), or high (0.9%) levels of dietary calcium. The main molecules regulating replication licensing were inhibited also in vivo, in the colon of mice fed high calcium diet. We show that among the mechanisms behind the chemopreventive effect of [Ca2+]ois inhibition of replication licensing, a process often deregulated in neoplastic transformation. Our data suggest that dietary calcium is effective in preventing replicative stress, one of the main drivers of cancer and this process is mediated by the calcium-sensing receptor.
Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
Abhishek
A
Aggarwal
Cologne Center for Genomics (CCG), Cologne, Germany.
Herbert
H
Schulz
Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.
Teresa
T
Manhardt
Department of Medical and Chemical Laboratory Diagnostics, Medical University Vienna, Austria.
Martin
M
Bilban
Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK.
Rajesh V
RV
Thakker
Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Medical University of Vienna, Austria; Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK. Electronic address: enikoe.kallay@meduniwien.ac.at.
Enikö
E
Kallay
D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D004261:DNA Replication; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D019073:HT29 Cells; D006801:Humans; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D002118:Calcium
Calcium; Calcium-sensing receptor; Colorectal cancer; DNA replication licensing; Minichromosome maintenance complex