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β-Catenin gene promoter hypermethylation by reactive oxygen species correlates with the migratory and invasive potentials of colon cancer cells

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A Correction to this article was published on 07 August 2018

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Abstract

Purpose

Over half of the colon cancer patients suffer from cancer-related events, mainly metastasis. Loss of β-catenin activity has previously been found to facilitate cancer cell dissociation and migration. Here, we aimed to investigate whether epigenetic silencing of β-catenin induces human colon cancer cell migration and/or invasion.

Methods

HCT-116, Caco-2, HT-29 and SW620 cell migration and invasion capacities were assessed using scratch wound healing and Matrigel invasion assays, respectively. Confocal microscopy, qRT-PCR and Western blotting were performed to determine gene expression levels, whereas methylation-specific quantitative real-time PCR was used to assess the extent of β-catenin gene (CTNNB1) promoter methylation after treatment of the cells with TPA, hydrogen peroxide, 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine and/or VAS2870.

Results

We found that treatment of HT-29 and Caco-2 cells (differentiated and low metastatic) with 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA; a tumor promoter) suppressed E-cadherin and β-catenin expression at both the mRNA and protein levels and, in addition, enhanced cell migration. Furthermore, we found that the CTNNB1 gene promoter methylation levels were higher in the more invasive HCT-116 and SW620 colon cancer cells than in HT-29 and CCD-841 (normal colon epithelial) cells. We also found that TPA or hydrogen peroxide induced CTNNB1 gene promoter methylation to a higher extent in HT-29 and CCD-841 cells than in HCT-116 and SW620 cells, and that the degree of CTNNB1 gene promoter methylation positively correlated with cell dissociation and migration. In addition, we found that co-treatment with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (decitabine, a DNA methyl transferase inhibitor) and VAS2870 (a NADPH oxidase inhibitor) almost completely blocked the invasion of TPA-treated HT-29 and TPA-untreated HCT-116 and SW620 cells, and that these inhibitions surpassed those of the cells treated with decitabine or VAS2870 alone.

Conclusions

From our data we conclude that the extent of CTNNB1 gene promoter methylation by reactive oxygen species correlates with the migratory and invasive abilities of colon cancer cells. Our results suggest that epigenetic regulation of CTNNB1 may serve as a novel avenue to block colon cancer cell migration and invasion.

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Change history

  • 07 August 2018

    In the original version of above mentioned article an error occurred in Fig. 2. Panel g and panel h are included in the figure legend, but have not been published in the figure.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT (grant no. NRF-2017R1E1A1A01073590), and by a Yeungnam University research grant (2017).

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  1. College of Pharmacy, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-Ro, Gyeongsan, 38541, Republic of Korea

    Suhrid Banskota, Sadan Dahal, Eunju Kwon, Dong Young Kim & Jung-Ae Kim

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The original version of this article was revised: In the original version of the online published article figure 2 is incomplete. Panel g and panel h, as included in the figure legend, were not published in the figure. The correct version of figure 2 can be found in the revised article and erratum.

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Banskota, S., Dahal, S., Kwon, E. et al. β-Catenin gene promoter hypermethylation by reactive oxygen species correlates with the migratory and invasive potentials of colon cancer cells. Cell Oncol. 41, 569–580 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13402-018-0391-7

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