Participants
From January to July 2016, consecutive patients undergoing elective, curatively intended laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer, stage I-III according to Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), at Zealand University Hospital were enrolled in this study. Patients receiving neoadjuvant radio- or chemotherapy, with known immune defects, or previous cancer history, were excluded. All eligible patients received information regarding purpose and methods of the study and were included after giving oral and written consent. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by The Danish National Committee on Health Research Ethics, Region Zealand (file no: 2008-58-0020) and approved by the Danish Data Protection agency (protocol: SJ567).
Setting
During the perioperative period, patients followed the standard of care for colon cancer in a setting of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS), which has been described in detail for the department elsewhere [
30]. There were no restrictions on pain management, and all patients were encouraged to take their regular medication after surgery. The choice of anesthetics was determined at a pre-anesthesia interview, and patients received universal anesthesia with either Total Intravenous Anesthesia or volatile inhalational. For induction of anesthesia, propofol 2–3 mg/kg and remifentanil or sufentanil were administered. Hereafter, all patients received a single intravenous dose of 240 mg gentamycin and 1 g metronidazole. Patients assigned to Total Intravenous Anesthesia received a continuous infusion of propofol supplemented remifentanil 0.5 μg/kg/min. Patients assigned to volatile inhalation received sevoflurane to a minimum alveolar concentration of 0.7–1.2 and remifentanil or repeated boli of sufentanil. Prior to extubation, ondansetrone 4 mg, sufentanil 0.4–0.6 μg/kg, and 1 g of paracetamol was given. Ropivacaine, 20 mL, was administered locally in the wounds.
Data collection and processing
Demographic data was collected through the electronic patient charts including age, gender, smoking status, body mass index (BMI), American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) scores, and Charlson Comorbidity Index. The UICC stage was based on pre-operative CT scans and histology results. Blood samples were taken the day prior to surgery, and approximately 24 h after surgery. Samples were collected in serum separation gel-tubes and left undisturbed at room temperature for 30 min to allow clotting. Hereafter, samples were centrifuged at 2330 g at 4o C for 10 min to remove the clot. The resulting supernatant was immediately transferred into Eppendorf tubes and kept at -80 °C until analysis.
Cell culture
The wild type human colon cancer cell lines Caco-2, DLD-1, SW480, LoVo, LS174T and a CDX2 inducible LS174T cell line were used in this study. The CDX2 inducible LS174T cell line is genetically modified and are CDX2 knockout but contain inducible elements that enable activation of CDX2 expression by addition of doxycycline to the growth media [
31]. LS174T cell lines were obtained from Assoc. Prof. Eric Paul Bennett. All cell lines were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM) with Ultraglutamine with 4.5 g/L Glucose (Lonza, Basel, Switzerland) supplemented with 10% Fetal Bovine Serum (HyClone by Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) and Penicillin (100 units/mL) Streptomycin (100 μg/mL) (Gibco by Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA) The cell cultures were incubated at 37 °C in 5% CO2 and passaged every 3–4 days. The LS174T cells with inducible CDX2 were cultured in media with or without 4 ng/ml doxycycline to induce CDX2 expression.
Adhesion measurement
Real-Time Cell-Analysis (RTCA) iCELLigence (ACEA Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA) was used to measure cell adhesion. The RTCA iCELLigence instrument uses electrical impedance as a readout to monitor changes in the cellular phenotype. The cell culture plates used in the instrument have electrodes placed at the bottom of each well, and cells attaching to the electrodes will lead to an increase in electrical impedance. The relative change in the electrical impedance is recorded as a dimensionless value termed Cell Index. The RTCA iCELLigence was set up using E-Plate L8 PET (ACEA Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA) and cells in DMEM containing either 7% pre- or postoperative serum were added to each well in quadruplicates. For the LS174T cell line, 2*104 cells were seeded in each well. For the Caco-2 cell line, 5*103 cells were seeded in each well, while for the DLD-1, SW480, and LoVo, 1*104 cells were seeded in each well. For LS174T cell with inducible CDX2, 2*104 cells with or without 4 ng/ml doxycycline induced CDX2 expression were seeded in replicates in the E-plate L8 PET. The impedance was measured every 5 min and the difference in Cell Index at 60 min between cells seeded in preoperative and postoperative serum was calculated.
Western blot
Cells for protein extraction were seeded in 6-well plates at 5*105 cells/well. After 24 h media was changed and LS174T cells with inducible CDX2 were added media with or without doxycycline. Cells were lysed after 72 h of doxycycline treatment by rising with cold PBS and incubated 5 min with 150 μl/well 1x RIPA lysis buffer (1x PBS, 300 mM NaCl, 1% Tergitol NP-40, 0.1% SDS, 0.5% 7-Deoxycholic acid sodium salt, 0.5 μM EDTA pH 8.0) with freshly added 1 mM DTT and 2 μl/ml protease inhibitor mix p8340 (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA). Lysate was centrifuged for 15 min at 12.000 g and 4 °C. Supernatant was stored at − 20 °C. Protein concentration was determined by Bradford analysis (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA).
For the analysis, 10 μg protein was mixed 1:4 (v/v) with Bolt loading buffer and 1:10 (v/v) with Bolt sample reducing agent (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). Samples were incubated at 95 °C for 5 min and loaded on a Bolt 4–12% Bis-Tris Plus gel (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) PageRuler prestained protein ladder was used as marker (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). SDS-PAGE was performed in 1X Bolt MOPS running buffer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) for 30 min at 25 V, then 60 min at 120 V. The gel was transferred by wet-electrotransfer to PVDF membrane for 60 min at 25 V in 1X NuPage transfer buffer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). The membrane was blocked with dry skim milk diluted to 5% in Wash buffer (1X TBS with 0.1% Tween-20) for 1 h at room temperature. The membrane was washed with Wash buffer 5 times for 3 min and incubated overnight at 4 °C with primary antibody diluted in 2.5% skim milk in Wash buffer. The membrane was then washed 5 times for 3 min and incubated with diluted secondary antibody for 1 h at room temperature. Before visualization, the membrane was washed 5 times for 3 min and then visualized by incubating with the ECL solution SuperSignal West Dura Extended Duration Substrate for 5 min (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). Antibodies used: CDX2 1:1000 (BioGenex, Freemont, CA, USA, MU392A-UC); Vinculin 1:5000 (Abcam, Cambridge, UK, ab129002); Goat anti-rabbit HRP 1:10,000 (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA, 32260); Goat anti-mouse HRP 1:10,000 (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA, 32230).