Deficient HER3 expression in poorly-differentiated colorectal cancer cells enhances gefitinib sensitivity

Nakata,Susumu; Tanaka,Harunari; Ito,Yuichi; Hara,Masayasu; Fujita,Mitsugu; Kondo,Eisaku; Kanemitsu,Yukihide; Yatabe,Yasushi; Nakanishi,Hayao

doi:10.3892/ijo.2014.2538

Deficient HER3 expression in poorly-differentiated colorectal cancer cells enhances gefitinib sensitivity

Authors:
- Susumu Nakata
- Harunari Tanaka
- Yuichi Ito
- Masayasu Hara
- Mitsugu Fujita
- Eisaku Kondo
- Yukihide Kanemitsu
- Yasushi Yatabe
- Hayao Nakanishi
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Affiliations: Division of Oncological Pathology, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya 464-8681, Japan, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Aichi Cancer Center Central Hospital, Nagoya 464-8681, Japan, Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Nagoya City University, Nagoya 464-8681, Japan, Department of Microbiology, Kinki University, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Osaka 589-8511, Japan, Colorectal Surgery Division, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan, Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Aichi Cancer Center Central Hospital, Nagoya 464-8681, Japan, Laboratory of Pathology and Clinical Research, Aichi Cancer Center Aichi Hospital, Okazaki 444-0011, Japan
Published online on: July 8, 2014 https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2014.2538
Pages: 1583-1593

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Abstract

Poorly-differentiated colorectal cancers (PD-CRC) show high metastatic potential and poor prognosis. However, molecular characteristics of PD-CRC remain unknown to date, particularly in molecular targeting therapy for patients with PD-CRC. In this study, we examined the expression of EGFR, HER2 and HER3 in PD-CRC by immunohistochemical analysis of archived clinical specimens of primary tumors and investigated the sensitivity of PD-CRC cell lines to gefitinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor for EGFR in vitro. We found that HER3 expression of PD-CRC among members of the HER family was significantly lower than that of well to moderately differentiated CRC (WMD-CRC) and 37% of the PD cases showed a EGFR+/HER2+/HER3- expression pattern. COLM-5 cells, a PD-CRC-derived cell line, which exhibits EGFR+/HER2+/HER3- expression pattern and recapitulates the typical histology of PD-CRC in xenografted tumors, showed high gefitinib sensitivity both in vitro and in vivo, compared with WMD-CRC cell line (COLM-2). Treatment with gefitinib resulted in the upregulation of p27Kip1 expression and induction of G1 cell cycle arrest, concomitantly associated with inactivation of PI3K/Akt signaling in COLM-5 cells and marked inhibition of xenografted tumors in nude mice, but not evident in COLM-2 cells. Treatment with sodium butyrate, an HDAC inhibitor that induces differentiation, upregulated the expression of HER3 associated with enhancement of the PI3K/Akt signaling, attenuated gefitinib-mediated p27Kip1 upregulation and reduced gefitinib sensitivity in COLM-5 cells in vitro. Furthermore, enforced expression of HER3 in COLM-5 cells resulted in significant resistance to gefitinib treatment both in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that deficient HER3 expression plays an important role in gefitinib sensitivity and that a malignant subset of PD with EGFR+/HER2+/HER3- phenotype is a potential candidate for a target of anti-EGFR molecular therapy such as gefitinib.

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