Adenylate Cyclase-Associated Protein 1 Overexpressed in Pancreatic Cancers Is Involved in Cancer Cell Motility
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Laboratory Investigation (2009) 89, 425–432 & 2009 USCAP, Inc All rights reserved 0023-6837/09 $32.00 Adenylate cyclase-associated protein 1 overexpressed in pancreatic cancers is involved in cancer cell motility Ken Yamazaki1, Masaaki Takamura2, Yohei Masugi1, Taisuke Mori1, Wenlin Du1, Taizo Hibi3, Nobuyoshi Hiraoka4, Tsutomu Ohta4, Misao Ohki4, Setsuo Hirohashi5 and Michiie Sakamoto1 Pancreatic cancer has the worst prognosis among cancers due to the difficulty of early diagnosis and its aggressive behavior. To characterize the aggressiveness of pancreatic cancers on gene expression, pancreatic cancer xenografts transplanted into severe combined immunodeficient mice served as a panel for gene-expression profiling. As a result of profiling, the adenylate cyclase-associated protein 1 (CAP1) gene was shown to be overexpressed in all of the xenografts. The expression of CAP1 protein in all 73 cases of pancreatic cancer was recognized by immunohistochemical analyses. The ratio of CAP1-positive tumor cells in clinical specimens was correlated with the presence of lymph node metastasis and neural invasion, and also with the poor prognosis of patients. Immunocytochemical analyses in pancreatic cancer cells demonstrated that CAP1 colocalized to the leading edge of lamellipodia with actin. Knockdown of CAP1 by RNA interference resulted in the reduction of lamellipodium formation, motility, and invasion of pancreatic cancer cells. This is the first report demonstrating the overexpression of CAP1 in pancreatic cancers and suggesting the involvement of CAP1 in the aggressive behavior of pancreatic cancer cells. Laboratory Investigation (2009) 89, 425–432; doi:10.1038/labinvest.2009.5; published online 2 February 2009 KEYWORDS: CAP1; metastasis; microarray; pancreatic cancer; prognosis Pancreatic cancer is a leading cause of cancer death world- expression level of genes by epigenetic or transcriptional wide.1,2 Only about 20% of pancreatic cancer can be surgi- manner may be a cue to elucidate the mechanism of cancer cally resected with curative intent at the time of diagnosis.3 metastasis. Mainly due to the difficulty in early detection and frequent Recent developments in the technology of human genome metastatic dissemination, the 5-year survival rate for pan- research enabled us to obtain genome-wide gene-expression creatic cancer patients remains below 5%.3,4 Considering that profiles, and vast numbers of marker molecule candidates for vascular involvement, lymph node metastasis, and neural pancreatic cancer have been proposed.13–18 In this study, invasion have been proposed as prognostic factors,5–7 it xenografts of clinical specimens orthotopically transplanted seems that metastasis is responsible for the aggressive beha- into severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice19 were vior of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer appears to ac- utilized as a panel for gene-expression profiling of pancreatic quire genetic aberrations with successive alteration of genes cancer. Among commonly overexpressed genes in pancreatic involved in the regulation of cell proliferation. The alterations cancer xenografts, we further evaluated the adenylate cyclase- include activating mutations of the KRAS gene8,9 that occur associated protein 1 (CAP1) gene, which encodes an actin early in the stage of pancreatic carcinogenesis, and inactiva- monomer-binding protein (reviewed in reference20). The tions by the deletion and mutation of the CDKN2A,10 reorganization of actin filament is essential for cell migration TP53,11 and SMAD4 genes.12 In addition to cell proliferation, and is regulated by actin-binding proteins in some signaling cell motility is one of the factors associated with cancer pathways.21,22 Therefore, we examined the role of over- metastasis; however, no alteration of such genes has been expression of CAP1 in cell motility and the pathology of revealed in pancreatic cancer. Therefore, alteration of the pancreatic cancer. 1Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan; 2Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, Japan; 3Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan; 4Cancer Genomics Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan and 5Pathology Division, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan Correspondence: Professor M Sakamoto, MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-8582, Japan. E-mail: [email protected] Received 19 September 2008; revised 5 December 2008; accepted 9 December 2008 www.laboratoryinvestigation.org | Laboratory Investigation | Volume 89 April 2009 425 Overexpression of CAP1 in pancreatic cancers K Yamazaki et al MATERIALS AND METHODS Burlingame, CA, USA) with diaminobenzidine. The sections Tissue Samples were counterstained with hematoxylin and then mounted. Pancreatic cancer and non-neoplastic pancreas tissues were Histologic diagnoses were made according to the Japanese obtained from patients who underwent surgical resection at Pancreas Society classification.25 Keio University Hospital and the National Cancer Center Hospital, Japan. All experiments using human samples were Statistical Analyses approved by the ethics committees of the National Cancer The w2-test was used when appropriate to determine the Center and of Keio University, School of Medicine. Cancer correlations between clinicopathological variables and CAP1 tissue fragments from 12 patients were orthotopically im- immunolabeling. Survival rates were calculated by the planted into SCID mice as described previously.19 Kaplan–Meier method, and the log-rank test was applied. In the 73 consecutive patients, 4 patients who suffered Microarray Analyses in-hospital death and 15 patients without follow-up data Total RNA of each xenograft was extracted with Trizol (In- were excluded for survival analysis. Taken together, follow-up vitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and then RNeasy (QIAGEN, data of 54 patients were utilized for survival analysis. All Valencia, CA, USA). Biotinylated cRNA was prepared from statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software 5 mg of total RNA and then hybridized to GeneChip HG- (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). U133A (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Each profile was normalized as the Immunocytochemical Analyses mean signal of all probe sets at 1000. Microarray data are Human pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC-1, CFPAC-1, and accessible from our in-house database, Genome Medicine Hs 766T were obtained from the American Type Culture Database of Japan (GeMDBJ; https://gemdbj.nibio.go.jp/ Collection (Manassas, VA, USA). Cells cultured on culture dgdb/). slides (BD Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA) were fixed with 3.7% formaldehyde in PBS, permeabilized with 0.1% Triton Antibodies X-100 in PBS, and probed with anti-CAP1 antibody over- We used two antisera against human CAP1 protein. Both a night at 41C. The slides were rinsed with PBS, covered with rat polyclonal antibody (a kind gift from Dr Kenji Moriyama, FITC-labeled secondary antibody with rhodamine-phalloidin The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, (Invitrogen), and visualized using an Axiovert 200 Japan)23 and a rabbit polyclonal antibody recognize the C- microscope, an AxioCam CCD camera, and the AxioVision terminal domain of human CAP1. Each antibody raises si- software (Carl Zeiss MicroImaging Inc., Tokyo, Japan). In- milar results in Western blot and immunohistochemical filtrating lymphocytes served as a positive control for CAP1 analyses, and the specificity was further confirmed by antigen staining. absorption tests as in a previous report24 for the rabbit polyclonal antibody (data not shown). RNA Interference For knockdown of CAP1, two siRNA molecules (siCAP1A Western Blot Analyses and siCAP1B) were synthesized by QIAGEN. Their target Lysates of pancreatic cancers, non-neoplastic pancreas tis- sequences were AAACCGAGTCCTCAAAGAGTA and AAAC sues, and pancreatic cancer cells were loaded onto 10% AGATGGCTGCCATGCTT, respectively. As a control, nega- polyacrylamide-SDS gels, separated by electrophoresis, and tive control siRNA (nonsilencing siRNA) was purchased from blotted onto PVDF membranes by the semidry transfer QIAGEN. CFPAC-1 and PANC-1 cells were dispersed into method. Anti-CAP1 and anti-actin (Sigma, St Louis, MO, collagen I-coated six-well plates at 5 Â 104 cells/well and USA) antibodies were hybridized to the membranes over- cultured overnight under normal conditions. The following night at 41C. Horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary day, cells were transfected with siRNA in serum-free medium antibodies were probed to the membranes and visualized by using Oligofectamine (Invitrogen) for 4 h at 371C with 5% exposure to X-ray films with the ECL system (GE Healthcare CO2. After 4-h transfection, an equal volume of medium, UK Ltd., Buckinghamshire, UK). supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum (FBS), was added and the transfectants were cultured until further analyses. To Immunohistochemical Analyses observe lamellipodium formation, the transfectants (48 h We reviewed the medical records of all consecutive patients after transfection) were serum starved for 24 h, and then who underwent resection with curative intent for pancreatic stimulated with serum (by changing serum-free medium for cancer from 1995 to 2004 at Keio University Hospital, Japan. medium supplemented