Background
It is widely known that cancer is a multifactorial disease able to affect multiple aspects of cellular metabolism. Abnormalities in lipid and glucose metabolism are frequently shared by tumors, even if different in types and origin [
1], and often represent target for developing anti-cancer therapies. Our recent study focuses on the anti-cancer effects of
Citrus-limon derived nanovesicles on colon cancer cells [
2] and, after a proteomic analysis, we found a decrease of lipid metabolism in treated cells. Interestingly, the anti-cancer effects observed after nanovesicle treatment correlate to the downregulation of the phospholipase DDHD1 [
3].
The phospholipase A1 (PLA1) family is implicated in different intracellular mechanisms and is classified as intracellular and extracellular proteins. The intracellular DDHD1 was identified as a phosphatidic acid (PA)-preferring PLA1 (PA-PLA1) [
4] involved in the synthesis of lysophospholipid mediators. More precisely, Yamashita et al. demonstrated that DDHD1 activity is augmented by phospholipase D, which is responsible for the increase of PA levels [
5]. In turn, PA is able to induce DDHD1 activity, which catalyzes the generation of lysophosphatidylinositols (LPIs) by hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol (PI) at acyl group on ester positions sn-1 [
5]. Studies have proven that LPI, produced from DDHD1 hydrolysis of PI, is involved in different processes, and significant data has been collected on its role in tumorigenesis. Based on the first evidence of their implication in cancer, obtained in 1994 from Falasca’s research team [
6], several in vitro and in vivo studies, as well as clinical evidence, demonstrated the central role of LPIs in neoplastic transformation of different types of cancer such as ovarian, peritoneal and prostate cancer. Specifically, LPI activity has shown to be mediated by the interaction with the G protein-coupled receptor 55 (GPR-55), a cannabinoid receptor also described as correlated to tumor growth and aggressiveness [
7‐
10].
Although a possible involvement of DDHD1 in the LPI-GRR55 axis has been previously postulated [
11], information about the involvement of the phospholipase in cancer is missing.
In this study we provide the first evidence of the involvement DDHD1 in cancer, elucidating its role in supporting tumor cell proliferation and survival. We demonstrated that silencing of DDHD1 by small interference RNA reduces in vitro colon cancer cell viability and increases apoptotic cell death through the inhibition of MAPK/ERK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. Additionally, DDHD1 overexpression supports in vitro and in vivo cancer cell growth. Finally, a proteomic analysis of silenced cells opens up to the opportunity to investigate and possibly define the molecular effects of DDHD1 silencing.
In conclusion, for the first time our results show that DDHD1 is responsible for colon cancer cell growth, even though future studies will be needed in order to better understand and clarify the mechanism by which it acts on neoplastic transformation.
Methods
Cell culture and reagents
The human colorectal adenocarcinoma cell lines, SW480 and HCT-116, and the human bone marrow-derived stromal cell line, HS5, were obtained from ATCC (Manassas, VA, USA). SW480 and HCT-116 cell lines were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium (Euroclone, UK), HS5 cell line was cultured in DMEM (Euroclone, UK), supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Euroclone, UK), 2 mM L-glutamine, 100 U/ml penicillin and 100 mg/ml streptomycin (Euroclone, UK). Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) were obtained from Lonza and grown in Endothelial Growth Medium (EGM, Clonetics, Verviers, Belgium) according to supplier’s information.
SiRNA cell transfection
SW480, HCT116, HS5 and HUVEC cells were transiently transfected with 10 nM of scrambled siRNA (negative control) or DDHD1 siRNA (Dharmacon RNA Technologies, Lafayette, CO). Lipofectamine RNAiMAX Transfection Reagent was used for siRNA transfection according to manufacturer’s indications (Thermo Fisher Scientific).
Bio-plex Pro Magnetic Cell Signaling Assay
Levels of ERK 1/2, phospho-ERK 1/2, Akt and phospho-Akt were determined in the cell lysate of SW480 cells transfected with scrambled or DDHD1 siRNA using the Bio-Plex Pro Cell Signaling Assay (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Measurement are provided as the median fluorescence intensity (MFI) for a given bead population. Assay was developed using the Bio-plex 200 system and the data acquisition was done using Bioplex Manager Software.
Flow cytometry
Phosphorylation levels of Akt in SW480 cells transfected with scrambled or DDHD1 siRNA were determined by flow cytometry. Cells were fixed and permeabilized with Leucoperm kit (AbDSerotec). Akt- and phospho-Akt unconjugated primary antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA) was added; cells were washed and a FITC secondary antibody was added. Stained cells were analyzed on a FACS Calibur (Becton Dickinson) using Cellquest software.
Proteomic analyses: sample preparation, SWATH-MS and data analysis
SW480 cells transiently transfected with scrambled or
DDHD1 siRNA, were dissolved in 100 μL of 50% tetrafluoroethylene (Sigma-Aldrich) in PBS and subjected to tryptic digestion. Three biological replicates of each sample were prepared and subjected to DDA and SWATH analysis. A deep description of the tryptic digestion and DDA/SWATH procedures are reported in Additional file
1: Supplementary Material and Methods. DDA raw files were combined and searched against the human database to generate the reference spectral library, which was used for SWATH data processing and quantification. The protein list with FDR lower than 5% generated by analyzing SWATH data with PeakView 2.2, was exported to MarkerView 1.2.1 for statistical data analysis using a pairwise t-test. Fold Change (FC) Ctrl-SW480 vs shDDHD1-SW480 thresholds at 1.5 with
p-value ≤ 0.05 were used to consider a protein up- or down-regulated. GraphPad Prism 7.00 for Windows to make a volcano plot scaling in which the FC was transformed using the log2 function, so that the data is centered on zero, while the
p-values was −log10 transformed.
The Gene Ontology and KEGG pathway analysis of proteins down-regulated by
DDHD1 silencing was performed using the online tool DAVID (
http://david.abcc.ncifcrf.gov/) [
12] and the ClueGO v2.3.3 + CluePedia v1.3.3, a Cytoscape v3.4.0 plug-in was used to visualize GO terms and pathways in functionally organized networks reflecting the relations between the biological terms based on the similarity of their linked gene/proteins [
13,
14]. Details of the bioinformatics analysis are described in Additional file
1: Supplementary Material and Methods.
For the enrichment of biological terms and groups, we used the two-sided (Enrichment/Depletion) tests based on the hyper-geometric distribution. We set the statistical significance to 0.05 (p ≤ 0.05), and we used the Benjamini-Hochberg adjustment to correct the p-value for the terms and the groups created by ClueGO. The parameters used were: kappa score threshold set to 0.4; GO tree interval: 3–8; Leading Group: Highest Significance.
Plasmid transfection protocol
PCMV6 plasmid, over-expressing DDHD1 sequence, was purchased from TrueORF Gold, OriGene and used to transform DH5alpha cells (Escherichia coli). Plasmids were isolated using EuroGold Plasmid MiniPrep Kit (Euroclone, UK). SW480 cells were seeded in 6-well plates; after 24 h, cell transfection was performed with 2,5 μg of mock (negative control) or DDHD1 plasmid DNA according to Lipofectamine 3000 protocol (Life Technologies, California, US). Transfection efficiency was evaluated by transfection with pINCO plasmid expressing Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). About 90% of transfection efficiency was obtained. The cells were expanded and then selected with 750 μg/ml of neomycin for 2 weeks.
Human colon cancer mouse xenograft
Five weeks old female Athymic Nude-Foxn1nu mice (n = 10) were purchased from Harlan (Harlan Laboratories, San Pietro al Natisone, Italy) and acclimated for a week prior to experimentation. Each mouse was inoculated subcutaneously in the right flank with SW480 transfected with mock or DDHD1 plasmid DNA (3 × 106) suspended 1:1 in a solution containing PBS and Matrigel (BD Biosciences) in a final volume of 0.2 ml. Xenograft tumors were measured and mice were weighed twice a week, for 2 weeks. Tumor volume was determined by caliper by using the following formula: L X W2/2 = mm3 where L and W are the longest and shortest perpendicular measurements in millimeters, respectively. The animals were euthanized at day 15 and the tumor resected.
Statistical analysis
Data are expressed as means ± SD of three independent experiments. Statistical analysis was done with a paired sample t-test. Differences were considered significant when p ≤ 0.05.
Regarding the analysis of volume tumor data, after having evaluated the normal distribution (Shapiro-Wilk test) and homogeneity of variance (Levene test), volumetric data were analyzed with a generalized linear model (GLM) for repeated measures by considering the between-subject factor constituting the design of the adopted experimental model: ‘treatment’ - two levels (mock, over DDHD1); and the within-subject factor ‘experimental time’ – four levels (starting point, 8, 12 and 15 days). The best model was obtained, verifying both the main effects of between and within-subject factors, and their interactions. Pairwise comparison tests were carried out by using adjusted Sidak test.
Discussion
The intracellular DDHD1 is a phosphatidic acid (PA)-preferring PLA1 (PA-PLA1) [
4] involved in the synthesis of lysophospholipid mediators such as LPI, which has been extensively studied for its implication in cancer development. Interestingly, in our previous study we found that the anti-cancer effects of
Citrus-limon nanovesicles on colon cancer cells [
2] was related to the downregulation of proteins involved in lipid metabolism, including DDHD1 [
3].
In this study we were able to prove for the first time that DDHD1 supports colon cancer cell proliferation and survival. We found that the overexpression of DDHD1 in human colon cancer cells enhances in vitro and in vivo tumor growth, while its downregulation reduces in vitro colon cancer cell viability and increases apoptosis rate. In addition, we demonstrate that DDHD1 acts on tumor cells by modulating PI3K/Akt and ERK signaling pathways. These results are in line with previous observations that support the pro-tumor effects of DDHD1 lysophospholipid mediators, such as LPI. In neoplastic cells LPI acts by interacting with the GPR-55 and induces ERK and Akt signaling [
8].
Overall, the results of our study, together with the observation that DDHD1 silencing doesn’t affect normal cells, allow us to suggest DDHD1 as a possible target for the development of anti-tumor therapies.
In order to better define the biological role of DDHD1 in tumor cells, we performed a quantitative proteomic analysis on DDHD1 silenced cells. Interestingly, the pathway/GO term analysis revealed that most of the functional categories negatively modulated by DDHD1 silencing were specifically related to a cancer phenotype. Among these categories, which in our study are associated to DDHD1 activity for the first time, it is noteworthy to mention the ones related to the ubiquitin/proteasome system, the amino acid biosynthetic process, the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi network and the pathways related to the splicing mechanisms.
Our proteomic data showed that
DDHD1 silencing induced the simultaneous downregulation of pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase 2 (PYCR2), aldehyde dehydrogenase 18 family member A1 (ALDH18A1), and phosphoserine aminotransferase 1 (PSAT1), three enzymes involved in the arginine-proline metabolism, which is one of nonessential amino acid metabolism pathways. In recent years, numerous studies demonstrated the relationship between cancer and nonessential amino acid metabolism pathways, underlining the potential role of the related metabolic enzymes to be effective and relevant cancer therapy targets [
16,
17].
Another functional category downregulated following
DDHD1 silencing, is the one related to endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi system, known for its implication in regulating cancer cell behavior; the correct balance between forward and backward transport is essential to post-translationally modify the immature proteins [
18]. It is known that, compared to normal cells, the ER-Golgi trafficking is increased in cancer cells [
18] where it was correlated with increased proliferation and migration ability [
19]. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the inhibition of intracellular protein trafficking induces anti-cancer effects [
20], thus proteins involved in ER to Golgi vesicle-mediated transport are indicated as promising targets for developing new therapeutic strategies. Our proteomic analysis confirmed that DDHD1 downregulation elicited the inhibition of several proteins involved in ER-Golgi activity, such as VAPA, TMED2, COPB1, ARCN1, TMED10 and NSF. This could be one of the mechanisms responsible for cell proliferation and survival inhibition that was observed in
DDHD1 silenced cells. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that even if DDHD1 is specifically described as a cytosolic protein, other two members of the intracellular phospholipase A1 family, p125/Sec23ip and KIAA0725p/DDHD2, all having a DDHD domain, are described as more stably associated with the Golgi/endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) and ER exit sites, respectively [
21]. In addition, in a previous study by Kunduri, the authors demonstrated that proteins belonging to the PA-PLA1 family are necessary to enable the transit of N-linked glycosylated proteins from the ER to the Golgi complex [
22]. For the first time our data also indicates a possible role of DDHD1in ER-Golgi targeting.
Although it was stimulating for us to find a connection of DDHD1 activity to cellular pathways that were not previously described, it was equally important to have evidence of the effects induced by
DDHD1 silencing on the systems already known to be DDHD1-related, such as mitochondria. As previously discussed, DDHD1 is a phosphatidic acid (PA)-preferring phospholipase that was also described as a regulator of mitochondrial dynamics. Specifically, Baba et al. noted that PA-PLA1/DDHD1 is able to promote mitochondrial fission, a biological process recently recognized as pathogenic in various cancer models and correlated to different stages of tumor progression [
23]. Among the 79 proteins downregulated in
DDHD1 silenced cells, we found 17 mitochondrial proteins (both with structural and enzymatic function), including Dynamin related protein 1 (DNM1L) and Dynamin-like 120 kDa protein (OPA1), both involved in regulation of the balance between mitochondrial fusion and mitochondrial fission [
23,
24]. Studies on lung and hepatocellular carcinoma provided evidence showing that the induction of mitochondrial injury, due to the inhibition of Drp1, correlates with a decrease of the proliferation rate and an increase of apoptosis [
25,
26].