Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand inhibits the growth and aggressiveness of colon carcinoma via the exogenous apoptosis signaling pathway

Colon cancer is one of the most common types of gastrointestinal tumor. Previous studies have demonstrated that tumor necrosis factor-(TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) reduces the aggressiveness of colon cancer tumors and promotes the apoptosis of colon carcinoma cells. In the present study, the inhibitory effects of TRAIL were investigated and the potential mechanism of TRAIL-mediated apoptosis was explored in colon cancer cells. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, western blotting, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, TUNEL and flow cytometry assays were used to analyze the effects of TRAIL on the growth, migration, invasion and apoptosis of colon tumor cells. In vivo experiments were performed in mice to analyze the therapeutic effects of TRAIL. The results demonstrated that TRAIL significantly suppressed the growth of colorectal tumor cells in a dose-dependent manner (0.5–2.5 mg/ml) and also promoted colon tumor cell death. The migration and invasion of colon tumor cells were inhibited by the downregulation of fibronectin, Vimentin and E-cadherin. The apoptotic rate revealed that TRAIL (2.0 mg/ml) significantly promoted the apoptosis of colon tumor cells by regulating apoptosis-related gene expression. TRAIL administration promoted the apoptosis of colon tumor cells via the exogenous apoptosis signaling pathway due to the upregulation of caspase-3, caspase-8 and nuclear factor-κB protein expression. In vivo assays revealed that TRAIL administration significantly inhibited tumor growth and promoted apoptotic body and lymphocyte infiltration, which led to increased survival in tumor-bearing mice compared with the control group. Immunohistochemistry revealed that P53 and B-cell lymphoma-2 were downregulated in TRAIL-treated tumors. In conclusion, TRAIL treatment significantly inhibited the growth and aggressiveness of colon tumors by inducing apoptosis via the exogenous apoptosis pathway, which suggests that TRAIL may be a potential anticancer agent for colon carcinoma therapy.