![]() |
|
|
Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center and Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72202
2 To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: simmenrosalia{at}uams.edu.
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
KEY WORDS: mammary gland Tp53 DNA damage monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 whey proteins
Breast carcinoma, the most prevalent cancer and the second leading cause of malignancy-related deaths in women in the Western hemisphere, is associated with hitherto unknown etiology (1,2). Many questions on the progression of this disease from benign dysplasia to tumors with metastasis remain unexplored; however, there is increasing acceptance, based on epidemiologic studies, that it has its origins during early development, which can be influenced by nutrition (3,4). Studies using rat and mouse models of carcinogenesis have provided support for this hypothesis (57). A unifying mechanism(s) for dietary control of mammary carcinogenesis remains undefined; nevertheless, the potential contribution of altered expression of several major oncogenes (c-myc, Her-2/neu) and tumor suppressor genes [phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted in chromosome 10 (PTEN),3 Tp53, breast cancer 1 gene (BRCA1)] to this phenomenon has been broadly proposed (810).
The tumor suppressor Tp53 is considered to be one of the most important molecular players in the pathogenesis of all types of cancers. It is mutated or deleted in
50% of human cancers (11,12), and mice null for Tp53 develop tumors with high frequency (13). Loss of Tp53 function underlies decreased genomic stability and is associated with defects in DNA damage repair, loss of cell cycle control, and deregulated activation of apoptosis (1214). In response to DNA damage signals, Tp53 is phosphorylated by a wide variety of protein kinases, leading to its activation, accumulation in the nucleus, and regulation of transcription of target genes (14,15). Direct gene targets of Tp53 include those involved in apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and DNA repair (1618). The reciprocal cooperation of Tp53 with other tumor suppressors (e.g., PTEN, BRCA1) to facilitate their cell growth and transformation activities has further strengthened its critical role as a "gatekeeper" tumor suppressor (12,19,20). Regulation of Tp53 expression and/or activity, which are controlled at the levels of transcription, post-transcription, and protein stability, (21,22) may constitute a relevant mechanism(s) for the tumor protective effects of dietary factors.
Whey proteins, by-products of the manufacture of cheese and curd, were shown to be tumor protective in animal models (7), and in limited clinical trials of cancer patients (23,24). These proteins exhibit potent antioxidant activities by inducing cellular biosynthesis of glutathione (GSH), which can boost the immune system and detoxify potential carcinogens (23,24). In an earlier work, we showed that the reduced mammary tumor incidence and increased mammary tumor latency in the lifetime of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-treated female rats exposed to WPH compared with CAS (control)-based diets were associated with increased differentiation and enhanced PTEN gene expression in mammary epithelial cells (7). Given that WPH is a collection of proteins with predictably different biological activities (23), distinct signaling pathways likely collaborate to confer its mammary tumor protective effects.
In the present study, we evaluated the hypothesis that mammary tissues from WPH-fed rats are more effectively protected from DNA damage induced by endogenous (metabolic) stressors than those fed the control diet, CAS, due in part to enhanced serum proapoptotic and immune surveillance activity with dietary WPH intake. To address this, we did the following: 1) evaluated the activation (phosphorylation) status of Tp53, a hallmark of DNA damage response, in mammary epithelial cells of young adult rats fed CAS or WPH diets for their entire lifetime; 2) examined the proapoptotic activity of sera from these rats toward mammary tumor MCF-7 and normal (nontumor) MCF-10A cells; and 3) measured the serum levels from rats of the 2 diet groups of the chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 whose expression is associated with increased immune surveillance and antimalignant activity (25,26).
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Nuclear extracts and Western blotting. Nuclear extracts were prepared from frozen mammary tissues using an extraction system (NE-Per; Pierce Biotechnology). Western blot analysis followed previously described protocols (7). The following primary antibodies were used under conditions recommended by the manufacturers: anti-Tp53 (Cell Signaling Technology); anti-Phospho-Tp53Ser15 (P-Tp53Ser15, Cell Signaling Technology); anti-p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK; Santa Cruz Biotechnology), anti-phospho-p38 MAPK (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), and lamin B1 (Abcam). Data were normalized to the signals obtained with the lamin B1 antibody.
RNA extraction and quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qPCR). Procedures for RNA isolation, cDNA synthesis, and primer design were as previously described (7). The primer sequences for the rat genes were as follows (Forward and Reverse, respectively): 1) wild-type p53-induced phosphatase 1 (wip1; 5'-TAT TAG CAG CAC CAT CTG TTA TTG AAA T-3'; 5'-CCC AGA CCA GTG GCA TTA GG-3'); 2) O(6)-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase (Mgmt) (5'-GTG AAA TTC GGA GAA ATG GTT TCT TA-3'; 5'-ACT GGA TTG CTC CTC ATC GC-3'); 3) growth arrest and DNA damage (GADD)153/C/EBP-homologous protein (CHOP) (5'- GAG TCT CTG CCT TTC GCC TTT-3'; 5'- GGT GCC CCC AAT TTC ATC T-3'); 4) Sestrin (Sesn) 1 (5'-TGC TTT GGG TCG TTT GGA TAA-3'; 5'-CCC GTC CAT CTG CAG TAG GT-3'); and 5) BRCA1 (5'-GAA GAG TAG CAT CAG TGA CTG CAA TAA-3'; 5'-TGT GAG GAG AAC AGC TGC C-3'). The primer pairs for p21, PTEN, Tp53, and Bax, and the amplification reaction protocols were described previously (7,11). The target mRNA expression was normalized to that of 18S rRNA and expressed as arbitrary units (means ± SEM).
Cell culture, treatments, and assays. Human MCF-7 mammary tumor cells were obtained from BD Biosciences and cultured in DMEM containing 10% (v:v) fetal bovine serum (FBS), and 1% antibiotic:antimycotic solution (GIBCO) in 5% CO2:95% air at 37°C. Human MCF-10A nontumor mammary cells (ATCC) were grown in DMEM-F12 containing 5% (v:v) horse serum, insulin (10µg/L), epidermal growth factor (20µg/L), cholera toxin (100µg/L), hydrocortisone (0.5 mg/L), and 1% antibiotic:antimycotic solution. For terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated deoxy-UTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL), cells were seeded at a density of 1.2 x 105 cells/well on immunofluorescence chamber slides (Fisher Scientific). After 24 h of incubation, the cells were washed with PBS and incubated in fresh DMEM containing 0.5% FBS. Sera pooled from PND 50 rats fed CAS (n = 10) or WPH (n = 10) were added at 1% final concentration. Treated cells were processed 24 h later for detection of apoptotic cells using fluorescein-labeled TdT reagent (Oncogene) (7). Labeled nuclei were counted in 3 separate fields (100X magnification) containing 200300 cells each, using an Olympus IX-71 microscope with a standard fluorescence filter. Data are presented as the percentage of labeled nuclei from the total number of cells counted.
Cell viability of MCF-7 cells was assessed using the MTT assay as described by the manufacturer (Promega). Briefly, cells were seeded at a density of 1.2 x 104 cells/well in 96-well culture plates and allowed to adhere for 24 h before incubation in low (0.5% v:v FBS) serum-containing DMEM for 16 h. Cells were treated for 24 h with sera (1% final concentration) pooled (equal volumes) from PND 50 rats fed either CAS (n = 10) or WPH (n = 10). Metabolically active cells, measured by the reduction of MTS tetrazolium compound into formazan (CellTiter 96 AQueous nonproliferation assay kit) were quantified from absorbance readings at 570 nm using a microplate reader. Results were calculated as the average absorbance readings from 2 experiments, with 6 individual wells per treatment assayed per experiment.
MCF-7 cells, seeded at a density of 1 x 105 /well and serum-starved overnight, were treated with CAS sera (1% final concentration) in the presence or absence of recombinant rat MCP-1 (BD Biosciences; 10 µg/L), WPH sera (1% final concentration), or recombinant MCP-1 (10 µg/L) in FBS (1%). Cells were processed for TUNEL as described above or harvested for isolation of RNA and gene expression analysis. The primer sequences for the human Tp53 and p21 genes are as follows (Forward and Reverse, respectively): 1) Tp53 (5'-GGC GCA CAG AGG AAG AGA AT-3'; 5'-GGA GAG GAG CTG GTG TTG TTG-3'); and 2) p21 (5'-GAC AGC AGA GGA AGA CCA GTG G-3'; 5'-GGC GTT TGG AGT GGT AGA AAT C-3'). The concentration of recombinant MCP-1 was selected on the basis of the initial dose-response studies using 1, 10, and 100 µg/L; the 10µg/L dose resulted in the greatest inhibition of Tp53 transcript levels and was used in subsequent studies (data not shown).
Cytokine antibody array and MCP-1 ELISA. Rat cytokine antibody array membranes and kits were used following the manufacturer's instructions (RayBiotech). The membranes, which contain biotin-conjugated antibodies for 18 cytokines, were incubated with sera pooled from PND 50 rats fed CAS (n = 10) or WPH (n = 10), and used at a final concentration of 10%. Signals were detected and quantified using the BioRad molecular analyst detection system (BioRad). MCP-1 levels in serum from PND 50 rats fed CAS (n = 12) and WPH (n = 14) from this and a previous study (7) were quantified using a specific rat MCP-1 ELISA kit (BioSource International). Data are reported as means (ng/L) ± SEM.
Statistical analysis.
Data from all studies are expressed as means ± SEM. Differences between diet groups were analyzed for statistical significance by Student's t test, or one-way ANOVA, followed by Dunn's test (where each treatment was compared to CAS controls), as indicated in each figure legend. Differences with P
0.05 were considered significant.
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
|
|
|
The percentage of apoptotic cells in MCF-7 cells incubated for 24 h in CAS serum (1%) + MCP-1 (10 µg/L) was significantly increased (P < 0.001) over that of cells incubated in CAS serum alone, and was comparable to that of cells treated with WPH serum (1%) or MCP-1 (in 1% FBS) (Fig. 4A). The reduction in Tp53 and p21 transcript levels of MCF-7 cells treated with WPH serum relative to cells treated with CAS serum was also mimicked by recombinant MCP-1, added alone (10 µg/L) or with CAS serum (Fig. 4B, C).
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
The observed increase in apoptotic status of MCF-7 tumor cells when treated with WPH compared with CAS sera suggests the presence of serum proapoptotic factor(s) whose synthesis is influenced by diet. We found similar proapoptotic activity of serum from rats fed diets containing soy proteins or supplemented with the isoflavone genistein toward MCF-7 cells (10). These results imply that the early elimination of damaged cells, thereby preventing their further proliferation and fixation of DNA damage as mutations, may underlie in part the protective effects of WPH diet against an additional (secondary) carcinogenic insult. The reduction in Tp53 and p21 expression levels of MCF-7 cells coincident with their increased sensitivity to apoptosis suggests that the apoptotic response of tumor cells may be mediated by attenuating Tp53 expression or activity. Although the latter may appear incongruous to the role of Tp53 as a read-out for decreased DNA damage in normal mammary glands, it is worth noting that cellular context (normal vs. tumor cells) including the contribution of the stromal compartment to the response of epithelial cells to apoptotic or tumorigenic stimulus (29) may underlie these differences. Importantly, the cellular Tp53 response of mammary tumor cells to WPH serum agrees with 2 previous reports on dietary factors with purported tumor protective activities. In one study, the induction of apoptosis of several types of cancer cells in vitro by the dietary factor curcumin, which exhibits antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticarcinogenic properties, involved the downregulation of Tp53 expression (30). In a second study, short-chain fatty acids generated from the digestion of fibers from bran and wheat were also shown to downregulate Tp53 mRNA levels during apoptosis, a process mediated by the stress-activated protein kinase, c-jun N-terminal kinase 1 (31). Thus, the identification of diet-induced systemic factors with the ability to selectively kill tumor cells in part, by downregulating Tp53 expression, may provide novel therapeutic strategies for cancer.
We identified the chemokine MCP-1 as a serum factor that may be partly responsible for the increased proapoptotic activity of WPH relative to CAS sera in MCF-7 cells. Our suggestion is based on the higher circulating levels of MCP-1 in WPH-fed than in CAS-fed rats and the ability of recombinant MCP-1 to mimic the effects of WPH serum in increasing apoptosis and in decreasing Tp53 and p21 gene expression in MCF-7 cells when added alone or in combination with CAS serum. Given the immunomodulatory role of MCP-1 via its putative effects on innate and acquired immune responses (25,26,32), our findings indicate that an active immune effector response elicited by dietary WPH may contribute to its protective effects against chemically induced tumorigenesis (7). The possibility of an association among MCP-1, mammary tumor status, and immune surveillance is supported by the reported downregulation of MCP-1 expression in human and mouse mammary tumors (33), the presence of functional MCP-1 receptor in mammary cells and tissues (34), and inhibition by estrogen, a breast cancer risk, of MCP-1 gene expression and bioactivity (34,35). Although the source of serum MCP-1 and the mechanism underlying its effect on gene expression in mammary tumor cells leading to apoptosis are presently unknown, the possibility that MCP-1 may serve as a useful marker for diet-induced immune protection warrants further investigation using animal models and in human subjects consuming whey as part of a normal diet.
In summary, we demonstrated, using activated (phosphorylated) Tp53 as a read-out, that mammary tissues from rats fed a WPH diet are more protected from DNA damage than their CAS-fed counterparts. The postulated higher genomic integrity of mammary cells with a WPH diet, as supported by the reduction in activated p38 MAPK signaling, activated Tp53 levels, and expression of DNA damage repair, proapoptotic, and growth-arrest genes, suggests that the higher stress-resistant status of mammary tissues before exogenous carcinogenic exposure can influence the outcome of mammary tumor development. We suggest that identification of the dietary WPH component(s) that mediates the desensitization of mammary cells to DNA damage and increases systemic proapoptotic and/or immune surveillance activity has potentially important benefits for the prevention and treatment of mammary and other types of cancer.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
|---|
| FOOTNOTES |
|---|
3 Abbreviations used: BRCA1, breast cancer 1 gene; CAS, casein; CHOP, C/EBP-homologous protein; DMBA, 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene; FBS, fetal bovine serum; GADD, growth arrest and DNA damage; GSH, glutathione; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; MCP-1, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1; Mgmt, O(6)-methylguanine-DNA-methyltransferase; PND, postnatal day; PTEN, phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted in chromosome 10; qPCR, quantitative RT-PCR; Sesn, Sestrin; TUNEL, terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated deoxy-UTP nick-end labeling; wip1; wild-type p53-induced phosphatase 1; WPH, whey protein hydrolysate. ![]()
Manuscript received 14 November 2005. Initial review completed 12 December 2005. Revision accepted 17 February 2006.
| LITERATURE CITED |
|---|
|
|
|---|
1. Jemal A, Murray T, Ward E, Samuels A, Tiwari RC, Ghafoor A, Feuer EJ. Thun MJ Cancer Statistics 2005. CA Cancer J Clin. 2005;55:1030.
2. Hankinson SE, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Towards an integrated model for breast cancer etiology: the lifelong interplay of genes, lifestyle, and hormones. Breast Cancer Res. 2004;6:2138.[Medline]
3. Barker DJ. Maternal nutrition, fetal nutrition, and disease in later life. Nutrition. 1997;13:80713.[Medline]
4. Wu AH, Wan P, Hankin J, Tseng CC, Yu MC, Pike MC. Adolescent and adult soy intake and risk of breast cancer in Asian-Americans. Carcinogenesis. 2002;23:14916.
5. Hawrylewicz EJ, Huang HH, Blair WH. Dietary soybean isolate and methionine supplementation affect mammary tumor progression in rats. J Nutr. 1991;121:16938.
6. Mizunuma H, Kanazawa K, Ogura S, Otsuka S, Nagai H. Anticarcinogenic effects of isoflavones may be mediated by genistein in mouse mammary tumor virus-induced breast cancer. Oncology. 2002;62:7884.[Medline]
7. Eason RR, Velarde MC, Chatman L Jr, Till SR, Geng Y, Ferguson M, Badger TM, Simmen RCM. Dietary exposure to whey proteins alters rat mammary gland proliferation, apoptosis, and gene expression during postnatal development. J Nutr. 2004;134:33707.
8. Hursting SD, Perkins SN, Phang JM, Barrett JC. Diet and cancer prevention studies in p53-deficient mice. J Nutr. 2001;131:3092S4.
9. Vissac-Sabatier C, Coxam V, Dechelotte P, Picherit C, Horcajada MN, Davicco MJ, Lbecque P, Bignon YJ, Bernard-Gallon D. Phytoestrogen-rich diets modulate expression of Brca1 and Brca2 tumor suppressor genes in mammary glands of female Wistar rats. Cancer Res. 2003;63:660712.
10. Dave B, Eason RR, Till SR, Geng Y, Velarde MC, Badger TM, Simmen RCM. The soy isoflavone genistein promotes apoptosis in mammary epithelial cells by inducing the tumor suppressor PTEN. Carcinogenesis. 2005;26:1793803.
11. Harris CC. Structure and function of the p53 tumor suppressor gene: clues for national cancer therapeutic strategies. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1996;88:144255.
12. Levine AJ. p53, the cellular gatekeeper for growth and division. Cell. 1997;88:32331.[Medline]
13. Donehower LA, Harvey M, Slagle BL, McArthur MJ, Montgomery CA, Butel JS, Bradley A. Mice deficient for p53 are developmentally normal but susceptible to spontaneous tumors. Nature. 1992;356:21521.[Medline]
14. Albrechtsen N, Dornreiter I, Grosse F, Kim E, Wiesmüller L, Deppert W. Maintenance of genomic integrity by p53: complementary roles for activated and non-activated p53. Oncogene. 1999;18:770617.[Medline]
15. Yu J, Zhang L, Hwang PM, Rago C, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B. Identification and classification of p53-regulated genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999;96:1451722.
16. Yakovlev AG, DiGiovanni S, Wang G, Liu W, Stoica B, Faden AI. Bok and NOXA are essential mediators of p53-dependent apoptosis. J Biol Chem. 2004;279:2836774.
17. el-Deiry WS. Regulation of p53 downstream genes. Semin Cancer Biol. 1998;8:34557.[Medline]
18. Fiscella M, Zhang H, Fan S, Sakaguchi K, Shen S, Mercer WE, Vande Woude GF, O'Connor PM, Appella E. Wip1, a novel human protein phosphatase that is induced in response to ionizing radiation in a p53-dependent manner. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1997;94:604853.
19. Stambolic V, MacPherson D, Sas D, Lin Y, Snow B, Jang Y, Benchimol S, Mak TW. Regulation of PTEN transcription by p53. Mol Cell. 2001;8:31725.[Medline]
20. Xu X, Qiao W, Linke SP, Cao L, Li W-M, Furth PA, Harris CC, Deng CX. Genetic interactions between tumor suppressors Brca1 and p53 in apoptosis, cell cycle and tumorigenesis. Nat Genet. 2001;28:26671.[Medline]
21. North S, Hainaut P. p53 and cell-cycle control: a finger in every pie. Pathol Biol. 2000;48:25570.[Medline]
22. Bode AM, Dong Z. Post-translational modifications of p53 in tumorigenesis. Nat Rev Cancer. 2004;4:793805.[Medline]
23. Marshall K. Therapeutic applications of whey protein. Altern Med Rev. 2004;9:13656.[Medline]
24. Kennedy RS, Konok GP, Bounous G, Baruchel S, Lee TD. The use of a whey protein concentrate in the treatment of patients with metastatic carcinoma: a phase III clinical trial study. Anticancer Res. 1995;15:26439.[Medline]
25. Rossi D, Zlotnik A. The biology of chemokines and their receptors. Annu Rev Immunol. 2000;18:21742.[Medline]
26. Monti P, Leone BE, Marchesi F, Balzano G, Zerbi A, Scaltrini F, Pasquali C, Calori G, Pessi F, et al. The CC chemokine MCP-1/CCL2 in pancreatic cancer progression: regulation of expression and potential mechanisms of antimalignant activity. Cancer Res. 2003;63:745161.
27. Reeves PG, Nielsen FH, Fahey GC Jr. AIN93 purified diets for laboratory rodents: final report of the American Institute of Nutrition ad hoc writing committee on the reformulation of the AIN-76A rodent diet. J Nutr. 1993;123:193951.
28. Kurata S. Selective activation of p38 MAPK cascade and mitotic arrest caused by low level oxidative stress. J Biol Chem. 2000;275:234136.
29. Maffini MV, Calabro JM, Soto AM, Sonnenschein C. Stromal regulation of neoplastic development: age-dependent normalization of neoplastic mammary cells by mammary stroma. Am J Pathol. 2005;167:140510.
30. Han SS, Chung ST, Robertson DA, Ranjan D, Bondada S. Curcumin causes the growth arrest and apoptosis of B cell lymphoma by downregulation of egr-1, c-myc, Bcl-XL, NF-kappa B, and p53. Clin Immunol. 1999;93:15261.[Medline]
31. Wang J, Friedman E. Downregulation of p53 by sustained JNK activation during apoptosis. Mol Carcinog. 2000;29:17988.[Medline]
32. Kagaya T, Nakamoto Y, Sakai Y, Tsuchiyama T, Yagita H, Mukaida N, Kaneko S. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 gene delivery enhances antitumor effects of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase/ganciclovir system in a model of colon cancer. Cancer Gene Ther. 2005 doi:10.1038/sj.cgt.7700908.
33. Hu Y, Sun H, Drake J, Kittrell F, Abba MC, Deng L, Gaddis S, Sahin A, Baggerly K, et al. From mice to humans; identification of commonly regulated genes in mammary cancer via comparative SAGE studies. Cancer Res. 2004;64:774855.
34. Fanti P, Nazareth M, Bucelli R, Mineo M, Gibbs K, Kumin M, Grzybek K, Hoeltke J, Raiber L, et al. Estrogen decreases chemokine levels in murine mammary tissue: implications for the regulatory role of MIP-1
and MCP-1/JE in mammary tumor formation. Endocrine. 2003;22:1618.[Medline]
35. Inadera H, Sekiya T, Yoshimura T, Matsushima K. Molecular analysis of the inhibition of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 gene expression by estrogens and xenoestrogens in MCF-7 cells. Endocrinology. 2000;141:509.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
Y. Su, R. R. Eason, Y. Geng, S. Till, T. M. Badger, and R. C.M. Simmen In utero exposure to maternal diets containing soy protein isolate, but not genistein alone, protects young adult rat offspring from NMU-induced mammary tumorigenesis Carcinogenesis, May 1, 2007; 28(5): 1046 - 1051. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||