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Repressing PDCD4 activates JNK/ABCG2 pathway to induce chemoresistance to fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third major cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and fluorouracil (5-FU) is widely used in the treatment of CRC. However, acquired resistance to 5-FU has become an obstacle in the effective treatment of CRC. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette...

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Autores principales: Hu, Lanlin, Liang, Yutong, Wu, Kelv, Wang, Caixia, Zhang, Tao, Peng, Rui, Zou, Fangdong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AME Publishing Company 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7867943/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33569416
http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-4292
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author Hu, Lanlin
Liang, Yutong
Wu, Kelv
Wang, Caixia
Zhang, Tao
Peng, Rui
Zou, Fangdong
author_facet Hu, Lanlin
Liang, Yutong
Wu, Kelv
Wang, Caixia
Zhang, Tao
Peng, Rui
Zou, Fangdong
author_sort Hu, Lanlin
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third major cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and fluorouracil (5-FU) is widely used in the treatment of CRC. However, acquired resistance to 5-FU has become an obstacle in the effective treatment of CRC. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2) has been found highly expressed in CRC patients with poor responsiveness to folinic acid/5-FU/irinotecan. However, the mechanisms of 5-FU resistance regulated by ABCG2 in CRC cells remain to be comprehensively understood. We aimed to explore the upstream mechanisms of ABCG2 involved in the regulation of chemoresistance in CRC cells. METHODS: We investigated the potential mechanisms of 5-FU resistance in HCT116, RKO, RKO microRNA-21 (miR-21) knockout, and acquired 5-FU-resistant HCT116 (HCT116/FUR) cells. The biochemical and biological analyses were conducted using semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western blotting, transfections, and rescue experiments, along with cell proliferation, viability, and colony formation assays. In order to investigate the efficacy of inhibiting the c-Jun NH2 terminal kinase (JNK) pathway to overcome 5-FU resistance, HCT116 and 5-FU-resistant HCT116 cells were inoculated into BALB/c-nu/nu mice to establish the cell-derived xenograft model. RESULTS: The results showed that ABCG2 expression in HCT116/FUR cells was higher compared to HCT116 cells. Overexpression of ABCG2 decreased sensitivity to 5-FU in HCT116 cells, but knockdown of ABCG2 decreased the survival rate in HCT116/FUR cells. Additionally, repressing programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) activated the JNK pathway in HCT116/FUR cells. Overexpression of PDCD4 inhibited phosphorylation of c-Jun and ABCG2 expression, and recovered sensitivity to 5-FU in HCT116/FUR cells. Moreover, treatment with the JNK pathway inhibitor SP600125 downregulated ABCG2 expression and rescued sensitivity to 5-FU in HCT116/FUR cells. We also found that miR-21 expression in HCT116/FUR cells was higher compared to HCT116 cells. Finally, 5-FU treatment in combination with SP600125 significantly decreased tumorigenicity compared to other treatments in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that 5-FU treatment upregulated miR-21, which directly repressed PDCD4, and subsequently activated the JNK pathway, leading to the upregulation of ABCG2 in CRC cells. Inhibition of the JNK pathway overcame acquired 5-FU resistance both in vivo and in vitro.
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spelling pubmed-78679432021-02-09 Repressing PDCD4 activates JNK/ABCG2 pathway to induce chemoresistance to fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells Hu, Lanlin Liang, Yutong Wu, Kelv Wang, Caixia Zhang, Tao Peng, Rui Zou, Fangdong Ann Transl Med Original Article BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third major cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and fluorouracil (5-FU) is widely used in the treatment of CRC. However, acquired resistance to 5-FU has become an obstacle in the effective treatment of CRC. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2) has been found highly expressed in CRC patients with poor responsiveness to folinic acid/5-FU/irinotecan. However, the mechanisms of 5-FU resistance regulated by ABCG2 in CRC cells remain to be comprehensively understood. We aimed to explore the upstream mechanisms of ABCG2 involved in the regulation of chemoresistance in CRC cells. METHODS: We investigated the potential mechanisms of 5-FU resistance in HCT116, RKO, RKO microRNA-21 (miR-21) knockout, and acquired 5-FU-resistant HCT116 (HCT116/FUR) cells. The biochemical and biological analyses were conducted using semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), western blotting, transfections, and rescue experiments, along with cell proliferation, viability, and colony formation assays. In order to investigate the efficacy of inhibiting the c-Jun NH2 terminal kinase (JNK) pathway to overcome 5-FU resistance, HCT116 and 5-FU-resistant HCT116 cells were inoculated into BALB/c-nu/nu mice to establish the cell-derived xenograft model. RESULTS: The results showed that ABCG2 expression in HCT116/FUR cells was higher compared to HCT116 cells. Overexpression of ABCG2 decreased sensitivity to 5-FU in HCT116 cells, but knockdown of ABCG2 decreased the survival rate in HCT116/FUR cells. Additionally, repressing programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) activated the JNK pathway in HCT116/FUR cells. Overexpression of PDCD4 inhibited phosphorylation of c-Jun and ABCG2 expression, and recovered sensitivity to 5-FU in HCT116/FUR cells. Moreover, treatment with the JNK pathway inhibitor SP600125 downregulated ABCG2 expression and rescued sensitivity to 5-FU in HCT116/FUR cells. We also found that miR-21 expression in HCT116/FUR cells was higher compared to HCT116 cells. Finally, 5-FU treatment in combination with SP600125 significantly decreased tumorigenicity compared to other treatments in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that 5-FU treatment upregulated miR-21, which directly repressed PDCD4, and subsequently activated the JNK pathway, leading to the upregulation of ABCG2 in CRC cells. Inhibition of the JNK pathway overcame acquired 5-FU resistance both in vivo and in vitro. AME Publishing Company 2021-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7867943/ /pubmed/33569416 http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-4292 Text en 2021 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Original Article
Hu, Lanlin
Liang, Yutong
Wu, Kelv
Wang, Caixia
Zhang, Tao
Peng, Rui
Zou, Fangdong
Repressing PDCD4 activates JNK/ABCG2 pathway to induce chemoresistance to fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells
title Repressing PDCD4 activates JNK/ABCG2 pathway to induce chemoresistance to fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells
title_full Repressing PDCD4 activates JNK/ABCG2 pathway to induce chemoresistance to fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells
title_fullStr Repressing PDCD4 activates JNK/ABCG2 pathway to induce chemoresistance to fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells
title_full_unstemmed Repressing PDCD4 activates JNK/ABCG2 pathway to induce chemoresistance to fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells
title_short Repressing PDCD4 activates JNK/ABCG2 pathway to induce chemoresistance to fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells
title_sort repressing pdcd4 activates jnk/abcg2 pathway to induce chemoresistance to fluorouracil in colorectal cancer cells
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7867943/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33569416
http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-4292
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