Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteines-like 1 suppresses aggressiveness and predicts better survival in colorectal cancers.

Abstract

PURPOSE:

Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteines-like 1 (SPARCL1) is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein with malignancy-suppressing potential. The hypothesis that SPARCL1 reduces cancer invasiveness and predicts better survival in colorectal cancers (CRC) was investigated.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN:

Stable SPARCL1 transfectants, RKO-SPARCL1, and corresponding vector control were constructed and implanted into nude mice to generate a mouse xenograft model of liver metastasis. Also, a retrospective outcome study was conducted on the COH set (222 CRCs) and ZJU set (412 CRCs). The protein expression level of SPARCL1 was determined by immunohistochemistry. The Kaplan-Meier and Cox analyses were used for survival analysis. The association of SPARCL1 with mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) was examined by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and Western blot analysis.

RESULTS:

The ectopic expression of SPARCL1 significantly reduced the potential for anchorage-independent growth, migration, invasion and induced cell differentiation in RKO and SW620 cells. In mouse xenograft model, the expression of SPARCL1 significantly reduced the liver metastasis (P < 0.01). The patient-based studies revealed that the expression of SPARCL1 was related to better differentiation (P < 0.01), less lymph node involvement [OR, 0.67; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.45-1.00], and less distant metastasis (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.18-0.79). The Kaplan-Meier and Cox analysis showed that the expression of SPARCL1 was associated with better overall survival (log-rank: P < 0.01; HR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.39-0.84). Transfection of SPARCL1 induced MET of colon cancer cells.

CONCLUSION:

SPARCL1 functions as a tumor suppressor promoting differentiation possibly via MET, which inhibits the aggressiveness of CRCs.

• Authors: Hanguang Hu, Hang Zhang, Weiting Ge, Xiyong Liu, Sofia Loera, Peiguo Chu, Huarong Chen, Jiaping Peng, Lun Zhou, Shujing Yu, Ying Yuan, Suzhan Zhang, Lily Lai, Yun Yen, Shu Zheng
• Journal: Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (Clin Cancer Res) Vol. 18 Issue 19 Pg. 5438-48 (Oct 01 2012) ISSN: 1557-3265 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 22891198 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Calcium-Binding Proteins
• Extracellular Matrix Proteins
• SPARCL1 protein, human

Topics

• Animals
• Calcium-Binding Proteins (genetics, metabolism)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Cell Movement (genetics)
• Colorectal Neoplasms (genetics, metabolism, pathology)
• Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition
• Extracellular Matrix Proteins (genetics, metabolism)
• Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
• Humans
• Kaplan-Meier Estimate
• Liver Neoplasms (metabolism, pathology, secondary)
• Mice
• Mice, Nude
• Neoplasm Invasiveness (pathology)
• Proportional Hazards Models
• Transplantation, Heterologous