Selenium has cancer preventive activity that is mediated, in part, through selenoproteins. The role of the 15 kDa selenoprotein (Sep15) in colon cancer was assessed by preparing and using mouse colon CT26 cells stably transfected with shRNA constructs targeting Sep15. Metabolic 75Se-labeling and Northern and Western blot analyses revealed that more than 90% of Sep15 was knocked down. Growth of the resulting Sep15-deficient CT26 cells was reduced (p<0.01) and cells formed significantly (p<0.001) fewer colonies in soft agar compared to control CT26 cells. Whereas most (14/15) BALB/c mice injected with control cells developed tumors, few (3/30) mice injected with Sep15 knockdown cells developed tumors (p<0.0001). The ability to form pulmonary metastases had similar results. Mice injected with the plasmid-transfected control cells had >250 lung metastases/mouse; however, mice injected with the Sep15 knockdown cells only had 7.8 +/- 5.4 metastases. To investigate molecular targets affected by Sep15 status, gene expression patterns between control and knockdown CT26 cells were compared. Ingenuity Pathways Analysis was used to analyze the 1045 genes that were significantly (p<0.001) affected by Sep15 deficiency. The highest scored biological functions were cancer and cellular growth and proliferation. Consistent with these observations, subsequent analyses revealed a G2/M cell cycle arrest in Sep15 CT26 knockdown cells. In contrast, to CT26 cells Sep15 knockdown in Lewis Lung Carcinoma (LLC1) cells did not affect anchorage-dependent or independent cell growth. These data suggest tissue specificity in the cancer protective effects of Sep15 knockdown, which are mediated, at least in part, by influencing the cell cycle.
Deficiency in the 15-kDa selenoprotein inhibits tumorigenicity and metastasis of colon cancer cells.
Specimen part, Cell line
View SamplesComparative analysis of gene expression in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) from trsp knockout mice (Trspfl/fl-LysM-Cre+/-) and Control (Trspfl/fl-LysM-Cre-/-) mice.
Selenoproteins regulate macrophage invasiveness and extracellular matrix-related gene expression.
Sex, Treatment
View SamplesAlterations of chromatin modifiers are frequent in cancer but their functional consequences remain often unclear. Focusing on the Polycomb protein EZH2 that deposits H3K27me3 mark, we showed that its high expression in solid tumors is a consequence, and not a cause, of tumorigenesis. In mouse and human models, EZH2 is dispensable for prostate cancer development and restrains breast tumorigenesis. High EZH2 expression in tumors results from a tight coupling to proliferation to ensure H3K27me3 homeostasis. However, this process is malfunctioning in breast cancer. Low EZH2 expression relative to proliferation and mutations in Polycomb genes are actually of poor prognosis and occur in metastases. We show that while altered EZH2 activity consistently modulates a subset of its target genes, it promotes a wider transcriptional instability. Importantly, transcriptional changes consequent to EZH2 loss are predominantly irreversible. Our study provides an unexpected understanding of EZH2's contribution to solid tumors with important therapeutic implications.
Impaired PRC2 activity promotes transcriptional instability and favors breast tumorigenesis.
Specimen part
View SamplesPolycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) plays a key role in controlling transcriptional repression. It is thought to act at the level of the chromatin, where its enzymatic subunits Ezh1 and Ezh2 catalyse the di/tri-methylation of histone H3 on its lysine 27 (H3K27me3).
Impaired PRC2 activity promotes transcriptional instability and favors breast tumorigenesis.
Specimen part
View Samples