DicleTıpDergisi/DicleMedicalJournal(2016)43(4):490-496DOI:10.5798/diclemedj.0921.2016.04.0718 ORIGINALARTICLE Overexpressionofp67phoxinResponsetoFluoropyrimidinesinHCT116Cells HCT116HücrelerindeFloropirimidinlereKarşıp67phox’unFazlaEkspresyonu 2 UfukOzer1,2,KarenWoodBarbour DepartmentofMolecularBiologyandGenetics,FacultyofScience,DicleUniversity,Diyarbakir,Turkey 2DepartmentofBiologicalSciences,UniversityofSouthCarolina,Columbia,Usa Correspondingauthor:UfukOzer,Ph.D.,DepartmentofMolecularBiologyandGenetics,FacultyofScience,DicleUniversity,Diyarbakir,21280,Turkey,email:ufuk.ozer@dicle.edu.tr 1 Abstract Objectives:Cancercellsrequirereactiveoxygenspecies(ROS)inordertokeepupwithgrowthrate.TheaccumulationofROS inducedbyanticancerdrugscanpromotecelldeaththroughoxidativedamage.ApotentialsourceofROSisthefamilyofNADPH oxidase(NOX)enzymethatproducesROSastheirsolefunction.Inthisstudy,weaimedtoinvestigateexpressionofNOX1and NOX2subunitsinresponsetofluoropyrimidinesinhumancoloncancercellline,HCT116. Methods:Weusedfluoropyrimidines,5-fluorouracil(FUra)and5’-fluoro-2’-deoxyuridine(FdUrd)asanticancerdrugs,and measuredmRNAlevelsofNOX1andNOX2withsemi-quantitativepolymerasechainreaction(PCR),quantitativePCR(qPCR) andmicroarrayassaysinorder. Results:WefoundthatexpressionofnoneofenzymesubunitswasalteredinresponsetoFUraorFdUrd,exceptexpressionof p67phox.Expressionofp67phoxwasinducedbydrugsapproximately25-foldrelativetobasallevel. Conclusion:p67phoxsubunitmaybeakeysubunitinNOX-mediatedROSproductionfollowingexposuretodrugs. Keywords:NADPHOxidase,p67phox,ROS,coloncancer,FUra Özet Giriş:Kanserhücreleribüyümehızıilebaşaçıkmakiçinreaktifoksijentürlerine(ROS)ihtiyaçduyarlar.Antikanserilaçları tarafındanindüklenenROS’unakümülasyonuoksidatifhasarlahücreölümünükolaylaştırabilir.PotansiyelbirROSkaynağıtek fonksiyonuROSüretmekolanNADPHoksidaz(NOX)enzimidir.BuçalışmadainsankolonkanserihücrehattıolanHCT116da floropirimidinlerekarşıNOX1veNOX2’ninekspresyonunuaraştırmayıamaçladık. Yöntemler:Antikanserilaçlarolarakfloropirimidinleri;5-florourasil(FUra)ve5’-floro-2’-deoksiuridin(FdUrd)kullandıkve sırasıylasemi-kantitatifpolimerazzincirreaksiyonu(PCR),kantitatifPCR(qPCR)vemikroarraymetodlarıileNOX1veNOX2’nin mRNAseviyeleriniölçtük. Bulgular:p67phoxhariçenziminhiçbiraltünitesininekspresyonununFUraveFdUrd’yekarşıdeğişmediğinibulduk.p67phox ekspresyonuilaçlarlabazalseviyelerenazaranyaklaşık25katindüklendi. Sonuç:p67phoxaltünitesiilaçlarlamuamelesonrasındaNOXileüretilenROS’daönemlibiraltüniteolabilir. Anahtarkelimeler:NADPHOksidaz,p67phox,ROS,kolonkanseri,FUra Received:30Jan2016;Revised:28Sept2016Accepted:30Sept2016 490 Özer and Barbour INTRODUCTION The generation and accumulation of reactive oxygenspecies(ROS)canphysiologicallyoccur as a by-product of functioning or damaged mitochondria, by enzyme systems such as peroxisomaloxidasesandlipoxygenases,andin response to ROS-producing environmental exposures or inflammatory conditions [1,2]. In contrast, the family of NADPH oxidases (NOX) produceROSastheirprimaryandsolefunction [3,4]. This enzyme family occurs as multiprotein complexes consisting of a membranespanning catalytic NOX subunit and regulatory subunits that are localized in the cytosol and the membrane [3-5]. Among them, NOX1 and NOX2 subunits are the best characterized. Catalytic NOX1 and NOX2 subunits bind to a common protein, p22phox in the membrane, forming a membrane complex termed flavocytochrome b558. The flavocytochrome b558complexofNOX1bindstoNOXactivator1 (NOXA1) and NOX organizer 1 (NOXO1), while the complex of NOX2 binds the respective subunits p67phox and p47phox and p40phox. Rac, a small GTPase, binds to NOXA1 and p67phox upon activation of enzymes [5-7]. Assembly of all subunits brings about the activation of NOX catalytic function, involving the transportation of electrons from cytoplasmic NADPH to FAD, first and second heme groups, respectively and finally to extracellularorphagosomaloxygentoproduce superoxide(O2.-)[3,4,6]. Thefateofcancercellsisthusboundupbythe levelofROSinducedbyanticancerdrugs[8].It has been suggested that human tumor cells generate their characteristically elevated ROS levels by NOX, indicating the contribution of thisenzymetocarcinogenesisforvarioustypes ofcancer[4,9-13].Expressionandregulationof NOX isoforms vary in tissues and are differentially localized in subcellular compartments [5,14]. NOX1 and NOX2 are potentially important targets of fluoropyrimidines,5-fluorouracil(FUra)andits Original Article nucleoside analog, 5’-fluoro-2’-deoxyuridine (FdUrd),thatinduceROSformation,sincethey are highly expressed in colon tissue [15,16]. For decades, fluoropyrimidines have been widely used in chemotherapy of colorectal cancer because of their strong cytotoxic impacts. It is known that the activity of ROS generating enzymes like NADPH oxidases is increased to kill cancer cells [4,9]. Greater efficacy in causing apoptotic programmed cell death may be achieved by activating ROSproducingsystems.Therefore,theNOXenzyme family by virtue of its ability to produce the excessive ROS in colon cancer cells may be an attractivetargetoffluoropyrimidines. Here, in 3 different methods, we demonstrate expression of NOX1 and NOX2 subunits in human colon cancer cell, HCT116. Among all NOX regulatory subunits, p67phox is the only one whose expression is increased by drugs, therebyindicatingthatitmaybeakeysubunit inactivationofNOX2inHCT116cellsfollowing exposuretodrugs. METHODS Cellculture Human colon cancer cell line, HCT116 was obtained from Dr. Michael G. Brattain. Cells were grown in RPMI-1640 medium (Cellgro, Corning, Manassas, VA, USA) supplemented with 10% heat-activated fetal bovine serum (FBS, Atlanta Biologicals) at 37 °C in a humidified 5% CO2 atmosphere. Cells were treated with fluoropyrimidines; FUra and FdUrd (Sigma-Aldrich Co., St. Louis, MO, USA) atconcentrationof10µMfor24hours. Semi-quantitativePCR In order to isolate total RNA, RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen, Maryland, USA) was used and RNase Free DNase Set (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) as applied to eliminate contaminating genomic DNA.Eachsamples’RNAlevelsofsampleswere spectrophotometrically measured at 260 and 280 nm absorbance (NanoDrop ND-1000 Spectrophotometer, Thermo Fisher Scientific, 43(4)2016www.diclemedj.org 491 Özer and Barbour USA). According to manufacturer instructions, 1 µg RNA was reversely transcribed by iscript cDNAsynthesiskit(Biorad,Hercules,CA,USA) foreachreactioninaMycyclerThermalCycler (Biorad, Hercules, CA). The samples were incubated for 5 min in 25 °C, 30 min in 42 °C, heated for 5 min in 85 °C and hold at 4 °C. Indicated PCR cycles were used to determine therelativeexpressionofeachgene.Inorderto eliminate contamination, negative controls includingnoreversetranscriptaseenzymeand notemplateRNAwereusedforeachgene.The differentPCRtubeswithineachserieswereset up due to increasing numbers of amplification cycles for each gene. Each reaction was run with1μlofcDNAand250ngprimers(Table1, IntegratedDNATechnologiesInc.,Coralville,IA, USA) in a total volume of 25 μl, using GoTaq HotStartGreenMasterMix(Promega,Madison, WI,USA). Table1:Primersusedforsemi-quantitativePCR mRNA p22 gp91 Primer(F:5’-3’,R:5’-3’) F:ATGGAGCGCTGGGGACAGAAGTACATG Product Size(bp) 252 R:GATGGTGCCTCCGATCTGCGGCCG F:TGGTACACACATCATCTCTTTGTG 558 R:AAAGGGCCCATCAAGCGCTATCTTAGGTAG NOX1 F:TGAAGGACCTCTCCAGAATC 434 R:CAGGTGTGCAATGATGTG p47phox F:ACCCAGCCAGCACTATGTGT 767 R:AGTAGCCTGTGACGTCGTCT p67phox F:CGAGGGAACCAGCTGATAGA 747 R:CATGGGAACACTGAGCTTCA NOXO1 F:GGCAGCCCTGGTGCAGATCAAGAGGC 281 R:CAGTCGCCAGCAGCCTCCGAGAATAGG NOXA1 F:CCATCGACTACACGCAGCT 467 R:GTAGGCAGTCGACGTGCAGC Rac1 F:GGTGAATCTGGGCTTATGGG 280 R:CTAGACCCTGCGGATAGGTG GAPDH F:ACCACCATGGAGAAGGCTGG 528 R:CTCAGTGTAGCCCAGGATGC All PCR reactions consisted of an initial denaturation step for 2 min at 95 °C and followed bydenaturation(30sat95°C),annealingstep(30s Original Article at various temperature), extension (30 s at 72 °C) andfinalextensionstep(5minat72°C).Annealing step was 30 s at 50 °C for GAPDH, Rac1, NOXA1, gp91andp67phox;at49.5°Cforp47phox;at60°C for NOXO1 and at 52 °C for NOX1. Amplification cyclesforGAPDHandRac1werefrom18to33and 32 to 44 for other genes. 1.5% (w/v) agarose gel electrophoresis was used to resolve the amplified cDNA products which were visualized by staining with ethidium bromide (Sigma-Aldrich Co., St. Louis,MO,USA). QuantitativePCR Power SYBR Green PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) was used for amplifying cDNA (1 μl) according to the manufacturer’sprocedures.PCRreactionswereset upforonecycleat95°Cfor10min,and40cyclesof 95 °C for 15 s, 50 °C for 15 s and 72 °C for 40 s utilizing an Applied Biosystems 7300 Real Time PCRSystem.BydetectingSYBRgreenincorporation during quantitative PCR (qPCR), all mRNA levels were calculated relative to GAPDH as a reference gene. Calculations and statistical analyses were done as described in the manufacturer’s protocol. Relativechangesineachgenelevelsbetweendrugtreated and control samples are expressed as fold inductionrelativetothebasallevelofexpressionin controlsamples.Table2showsprimers(Integrated DNATechnologiesInc.,Coralville,IA,USA)usedfor qPCR. MicroarrayAnalysis RNAwasisolatedfromHCT116cellstreatedin quadruplicatewith10µMofFUrafor24hours. RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen, Maryland, USA) was used for the isolation from 6 x 106 cells and RNase Free DNase Set (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) was performed to eliminate contaminating genomic DNA according to the recommendations of the manufacturer. Utilizing the RNA 6000 Nano LabChip, 2100 Bioanalyzer(AgilentBiotechnologies)wasused to measure the integrity and concentration of the total RNA. The RNA integrity was checked to make sure the quality of RNA and it ranged from 9.8 to 10.0. RNA samples were amplified and labeled using Agilent’s Low Input Quick 43(4)2016www.diclemedj.org 492 Özer and Barbour Original Article AmpLabelingKit(Cat.#5190-2306)according oflabeledcRNAsamplestoAgilentHumanGE4 tothemanufacturersuggestions. x44Kv2Microarrays(Cat.#G4845A)at65°C for 17 hours. We hybridized four control Table2:PrimersusedforqPCR sample replicates against four FUra treated Product mRNA Primer(F:5’-3’,R:5’-3’) Size(bp) sample replicates in a dye swap design. After F:ATGGAGCGCTGGGGACAGAAGTACATG washes, Agilent DNA Microarray Scanner p22 77 R:GATGGTGCCTCCGATCTGCGGCCG System (Cat. # G2565CA) was utilized to scan F:TGGTACACACATCATCTCTTTGTG arrays.ImagesfromFeatureExtractorSoftware gp91 94 R:AAAGGGCCCATCAAGCGCTATCTTAGGTAG version 10.7.3.1 (Agilent) extracted data by F:CTCCCTTGCCTCCATTCTC correcting background utilizing additive and NOX1 149 R:AGGCTATTGTCATGATCACTCC multiplicative detrending algorithms. F:AAAGTCAAGAGCGTGTCCC Additionally,dyenormalizationwasperformed p40phox 132 R:GAGGAAGATCACATCTCCAGC bylinearandLOWESSmethods.Finaldatawas F:ACACCTTCATCCGTCACATC uploadedintoGeneSpringGXversion11.5.1for p47phox 143 R:GAACTCGTAGATCTCGGTGAAG analysis. This data was log2 transformed, F:CGAGGGAACCAGCTGATAGA quantilenormalizedandbaselinetransformed p67phox 131 R:CATGGGAACACTGAGCTTCA usingthemedianofallsamples.Then,datawas F:AGATCAAGAGGCTCCAAACG filtered by flags in a way that 100% of the NOXO1 117 R:AGGTCTCCTTGAGGGTCTTC samples in at least one of the two treatment F:CAGGCTGTGGATCGTGG groups have a “detected” flag. Analysis of the NOXA1 150 R:CACGGCTTGGTCAAATGC datawasdonewithanunpairedt-teststatistics F:GGTGAATCTGGGCTTATGGG todeterminedifferentiallyexpressedgenesand Rac1 82 R:CTAGACCCTGCGGATAGGTG thiswascorrectedformultipletestingusingthe F:ACCACCATGGAGAAGGCTGG Benjamini-Hochberg algorithm. A cutoff for pGAPDH 218 R:CTCAGTGTAGCCCAGGATGC valuewas0.005.Tofilterdata,1.5wasusedas afoldchangecutoffvalue. Byusingapoly-dTprimerconsistingoftheT7 RNA polymerase promoter sequence, cDNA StatisticalAnalysis was produced by mRNA from 200 ng of total All data were analyzed as the mean ± SEM. RNA and. Then, cDNA samples were amplified Student’s t-test were performed to determine by T7 RNA polymerase and were statistical significance of the mean for each simultaneously incorporated by cyanine 3- or groups. Differences with P ≤ 0.05 were cyanine 5-labeled CTP (cRNA). As an consideredstatisticallysignificant. experimental quality control, Agilent RNA spike-in controls (Cat. # 5188-5279) were RESULTS addedtosamplesbeforecDNAsynthesis.After Indication of drug-induced p67phox amplificationandincorporationsteps,Qiagen’s expression by semi-quantitative PCR and RNeasy Mini Kit (Cat. # 74104) was used for qPCR purificationoflabeledRNAmolecules.Samples NOX isoforms are expressed in various tissues werespectrophotometricallyassessedinterms and have different localizations in subcellular of dye incorporation and cRNA yield and then compartments [5,14]. Previous studies had stored at -80 °C until hybridization. According indicated that NOX enzyme contributes to the manufacturer’s recommendations, elevation of ROS levels in various types of Agilent’s Gene Expression Hybridization Kit cancer, implicating its strong cytotoxic effects (Cat. # 5188-5242) was used for hybridization on cancer chemotherapy [4,9-13]. In order to induceROS,fluoropyrimidinestargetNOX1and 43(4)2016www.diclemedj.org 493 Özer and Barbour NOX2, which are highly expressed in colon tissue[15,16].Assuch,thesedrugsmayinduce expressionoftheirsubunits. TotestwhethermRNAexpressionsofallNOX1 and NOX2 subunits―p22phox, NOX1, NOXA1, NOXO1, NOX2, p67phox, p47phox, Rac, altered by FdUrd in HCT116 cells, we utilized semiquantitative PCR method. mRNA levels were detected semi-quantitatively in absence and presence of FdUrd and GAPDH was used as an experimental control. None of subunits, except p67phox, were altered by FdUrd treatment (Figure 1). HCT116 cells were treated with FdUrdandqPCRwasdonetoverifyexpression of p67phox mRNA levels induced by FdUrd. In this assay, mRNA expression of another NOX2 regulatory subunit―p40phox was determined aswell.Similarly,onlymRNAlevelsofp67phox was induced by FdUrd about 28-fold (p<0.01) amongallsubunits(Figure2). Figure1.mRNAlevelsofNOX1andNOX2subunitsinresponse toFdUrd.HCT116cellsweretreatedwith±10µMFdUrdfor24 h.Indicatedsubunitswereexaminedtoshowrelativelevelsof mRNAsinuntreatedandFdUrdtreatedcellsbysemiquantitativePCR.GAPDHwastestedasaloadingcontrol. IndicationofFUra-inducedp67phox expressionbymicroarrayanalysis In order to examine if mRNA expressions of variousNOX1andNOX2subunitsischangedby another fluoropyrimidine, FUra was used in HCT116 cells. FUra treated to cells and microarray analysis was done to measure expression. Four sample replicates for both controlandFUratreatmentwereaveragedand represented by black color. Any sample below average was indicated as green while sample Original Article overitwasshownasred.Withtheexceptionof p67phox, expression of all NOX1 and NOX2 subunits were unchanged by FUra (Figure 3). Thus, p67phox may be a key regulator of NOX enzymeinresponsetoFdUrd. DISCUSSION Primary and sole function of NOX family is producing O2.- by transporting electrons (e-) across the membrane to reduce oxygen (O2) [3,4]. They were expressed and localized in subcellular compartments in diverse tissues [5,14].IthasbeensuggestedthatNOXinduces ROS levels in human tumor cells and contributes to cytotoxicity [10-13] and ROS generation in colorectal cancer is increased by NOX1 and NOX2 enzymes [17,18]. Increase in ROS can contribute to cell signaling and proliferation, but the extent of ROS induction altersthefateofcells.Theexcessiveamountof ROS induced by NOX1 and NOX2 switches scales of a balance between oxidative stress anddefensecapabilityinfavorofthestress. Fluoropyrimidines have been widely used in chemotherapy of colorectal cancer for decades due to their powerful cytotoxic impacts. NOX1 and NOX2 are potentially important targets of these drugs that induce ROS formation, since they are highly expressed in colon tissue [15,16]. Activation of ROS-producing systems may provide convenience to cancer cell death. Thus, the NOX enzyme family may be a considerable target of drugs as unique ROS producers. In this study, we examined gene expression of NOX1 and NOX2 subunits in response to fluoropyrimidines, FUra and FdUrd. We found that except p67phox, expressions of all subunits are not changed in treatment of FdUrd. Induction in p67phox expression by FdUrdwasconfirmedbysemi-quantitativePCR and qPCR (Figure 1 and 2). Similarly, in microarray assay, only p67phox expression induced in treatment of FUra (Figure 3). This showsthesedrugspotentiallyinduceNOX2via p67phox, thereby indicating a possible target 43(4)2016www.diclemedj.org 494 Özer and Barbour for fluoropyrimidine-directed therapy. Despite requirement of future studies, NOX2 may be a new target for chemotherapy in colorectal cancer. WeacknowledgeDr.FranklinG.Bergerfor experimentalguidanceandthanktoDr.Diego Altomareforhelpwithmicroarrays experiment. DeclarationofConflictingInterests:The authorsdeclarethattheyhavenoconflictof interest. FinancialDisclosure:Thisworkwas supportedbytheNationalCancerInstitute [GrantCA44013]andtheNationalInstituteof GeneralMedicalSciences[GrantGM103336]. REFERENCES Figure2.Onlyp67phoxmRNAisinducedintreatmentof FdUrd.HCT116cellsweretreatedwith±10µMFdUrdfor24h. mRNAlevelsofNOX1andNOX2subunitswereassayedby qPCRusingGAPDHasaloadingcontrol.Barsrepresentan averageoffoldincrease±SEMfrom2separateexperiments (*p<0.01). Figure 3. Gene expression of NOX1 and NOX2 subunits in response to FUra. HCT116 cells were treated in quadruplicate with ± 10 µM FUra for 24 h. cDNAs are synthesized from isolated mRNA samples. T7 RNA polymerase was added to cDNA samples to amplify original mRNA molecules and was added to cDNA samples and to simultaneously incorporate cyanine 3- or cyanine 5-labeled CTP (cRNA) into the amplification product. 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