Sprouty negatively regulates receptor tyrosine kinase signals by inhibiting Ras/ERK pathways. Sprouty is down-regulated in breast, prostate and liver cancers and appears to function as a tumor suppressor. The role of Sprouty in colonic neoplasia, however, has not been investigated. Sprouty-2 protein and mRNA transcripts were significantly up-regulated in human colonic adenocarcinomas. Strikingly, the c-Met receptor was also upregulated in tumors with increased sprouty-2. To delineate a potential causal relationship between sprouty-2 and c-Met, K-ras mutant HCT-116 colon cancer cells were transduced with purified TAT-sprouty-2 protein or stably transfected with full-length human sprouty-2 gene. Sprouty-2 up-regulation significantly increased cell proliferation by accelerating cell cycle transition. Sprouty-2 transfectants demonstrated strong up-regulation of c-Met protein and mRNA transcripts and hepatocyte growth factor stimulated ERK and Akt phosphorylation and enhanced cell migration and invasion. In contrast, knockdown of c-Met by siRNA significantly decreased cell proliferation, migration and invasion in sprouty-2 transfectants. Further, knockdown of sprouty-2 by siRNA in parental HT-29 and LS-174T colon cancer cells also decreased cell invasion. Sprouty-2 transfectants formed significantly larger tumor xenografts and demonstrated increased proliferation and angiogenesis and suppressed apoptosis. Sprouty-2 tumors metastasized to liver from cecal orthotopic implants suggesting sprouty-2 might also enhance metastatic signals. Thus in colon cancer sprouty functions as an oncogene and its effects are mediated in part by c-Met up-regulation.

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Colonic carcinogenesis involves the progressive dysregulation of homeostatic mechanisms that control growth. The epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR) regulates colonocyte growth and differentiation and is overexpressed in many human colon cancers. A requirement for EGFR in colonic premalignancy, however, has not been shown. In the current study, we used a specific EGFR antagonist, gefitinib, to investigate this role of the receptor in azoxymethane colonic premalignancy. The azoxymethane model shares many clinical, histologic, and molecular features of human colon cancer. Mice received azoxymethane i.p. (5 mg/kg/wk) or saline for 6 weeks. Animals were also gavaged with gefitinib (10 mg/kg body weight) or vehicle (DMSO) thrice weekly for 18 weeks, a dose schedule that inhibited normal receptor activation by exogenous EGF. Compared with control colonocytes [bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd), 2.2 F 1.2%], azoxymethane significantly increased proliferation (BrdUrd, 12.6 F 2.8%), whereas gefitinib inhibited this hyperproliferation (BrdUrd, 6.2 F 4.0%; <0.005). Azoxymethane significantly induced pro-transforming growth factor-A (6.4 F 1.3-fold) and increased phospho-(active) EGFR (5.9 F 1.1-fold), phospho-(active) ErbB2 (2.3 F 0.2-fold), and phospho-(active) extracellular signal-regulated kinase (3.3 F 0.4-fold) in premalignant colonocytes. Gefitinib inhibited activations of these kinases by >75% (P < 0.05). Gefitinib also significantly reduced the number of large aberrant crypt foci and decreased the incidence of colonic microadenomas from 75% to 33% (P < 0.05). Gefitinib concomitantly decreased cell cycle-regulating cyclin D1 and prostanoid biosynthetic enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 in microadenomas, suggesting that these regulators are key targets of EGFR in colonic carcinogenesis. These results show for the first time that EGFR signaling is required for early stages of colonic carcinogenesis. Our findings suggest, moreover, that inhibitors of EGFR might be useful in chemopreventive strategies in individuals at increased risk for colonic malignancies. [Cancer Res 2007;67(2):827-35]

PKC-d is a serine/threonine kinase that mediates diverse signal transduction pathways. We previously demonstrated that overexpression of PKC-d slowed the G1 progression of Caco-2 colon cancer cells, accelerated apoptosis, and induced cellular differentiation. In this study, we further characterized the PKC-d dependent signaling pathways involved in these tumor suppressor actions in Caco-2 cells overexpressing PKC-d using a Zn 2 þ inducible expression vector. Consistent with a G1 arrest, increased expression of PKC-d caused rapid and significant downregulation of cyclin D1 and cyclin E proteins (50% decreases, Po0.05), while mRNA levels remained unchanged. The PKC agonist, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA, 100 nM, 4 h), induced two-fold higher protein and mRNA levels of p21 Waf1, a cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) inhibitor in PKC-d transfectants compared with empty vector (EV) transfected cells, whereas the PKC-d specific inhibitor rottlerin (3 lM) or knockdown of this isoenzyme with specific siRNA oligonucleotides blocked p21Waf1 expression. Concomitantly, compared to EV control cells, PKC-d upregulation decreased cyclin D1 and cyclin E proteins co-immunoprecipitating with cdk6 and cdk2, respectively. In addition, overexpression of PKC-d increased binding of cdk inhibitor p27Kip1 to cdk4. These alterations in cyclin-cdks and their inhibitors are predicted to decrease G1 cyclin kinase activity. As an independent confirmation of the direct role PKC-d plays in cell growth and cell cycle regulation, we knocked down PKC-d using specific siRNA oligonucleotides. PKC-d specific siRNA oligonucleotides, but not irrelevant control oligonucleotides, inhibited PKCd protein by more than 80% in Caco-2 cells. Moreover, PKC-d knockdown enhanced cell proliferation (B1.4-2-fold, Po0.05) and concomitantly increased cyclin D1 and cyclin E expression (B1.7-fold, Po0.05). This was a specific effect, as nontargeted PKC-f was not changed by PKC-d siRNA oligonucleotides. Consistent with accelerated apoptosis in PKC-d transfectants, compared to EV cells, PKC-d upregulation increased proapoptotic regulator Bax two-fold at mRNA and protein levels, while antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein was decreased by 50% at a post-transcriptional level. PKC-d specific siRNA oligonucleotides inhibited Bax protein expression by more than 50%, indicating that PKC-d regulates apoptosis through Bax. Taken together, these results elucidate two critical mechanisms regulated by PKC-d that inhibit cell cycle progression and enhance apoptosis in colon cancer cells. We postulate these antiproliferative pathways mediate an important tumor suppressor function for PKC-d in colonic carcinogenesis.