Expression of FLIP in human colon carcinomas: A new mechanism of immune evasion

Abstract

Objective: It has been proposed that Fas ligand (FasL) may play an important role in immune escape of tumors and FLIP is an important mediator of FasfFasL pathway. In this study, the expression of FLIP was determined in human colon carcinoma cell lines and tissue to investigate the new mechanism of immune evasion of human colon carcinomas. Methods:RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were performed to investigate the expression of FLIP in human colon carcinoma cell lines SW480, LS174 and twenty human primary colon carcinoma specimens. Results: It was shown that SW480 cells, LS174 cells and primary colon carcinoma specimen constitutively expressed FLIP at the mRNA and protein level. The expression of FLIP was not found in the epithelial cells of normal colon mucosa. Conclusion: FLIP was expressed in human primary colon carcinoma specimens but not in the normal counterpart. It suggested that the expression of FLIP may occur during the malignant transformation from normal colon epithelial cells to colon carcinoma cells. Tumor cells might obtain the ability to resist the Fas-mediated apoptosis by expressing FLIP. The expression of FLIP might contribute to the formation of colon carcinomas.