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Visit our Expo - Redox and Inflammation signaling 2012

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Session X : Cell death in cancer Poster X, 26<br />

Involvement of PI-3 Kinase <strong>signaling</strong> in polyunsaturated fatty acid-induced promotion<br />

of apoptosis in CaCo-2 cells.<br />

Joe-Lin du Toit, Louise Louw <strong>and</strong> Anna-Mart Engelbrecht<br />

Department of Physiological Sciences, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, 7600,<br />

South Africa. E-mail: jl@sun.ac.za<br />

The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) <strong>signaling</strong> pathway plays a pivotal role in the<br />

regulation of cell growth. A downstream component of the PI3-kinase pathway, PKB/Akt,<br />

phosphorylates <strong>and</strong> regulates the function of various substrates involved in metabolism,<br />

proliferation <strong>and</strong> apoptosis. Evidence has shown that PKB/Akt <strong>signaling</strong> also contributes to<br />

tum<strong>our</strong>igenesis <strong>and</strong> cancer progression <strong>and</strong> that PI3-kinase <strong>signaling</strong> is up regulated in colon<br />

cancer cells. This study aims to elucidate the mechanisms by which various fatty acids<br />

influence the PI3-kinase pathway in order to promote apoptosis of colon adenocarcinoma<br />

cells <strong>and</strong> slow down cancer progression.<br />

NCM 460 <strong>and</strong> CaCo-2 cells were cultured <strong>and</strong> treated with arachidonic acid (AA), oleic acid<br />

(OA), palmitic acid (PMA) <strong>and</strong> docosahexanoic acid (DHA) respectively, <strong>and</strong> incubated for<br />

48 h<strong>our</strong>s. Samples were analysed by Western blotting with antibodies directed against total<br />

PBK/Akt, phospho-PKB/Akt (Ser473 <strong>and</strong> Thr308), PI3-kinase <strong>and</strong> various substrates of<br />

PKB/Akt as well as their phosphorylated counterparts. Wortmannin (100 nM) was used to<br />

inhibit PI3-kinase. Cell viability was assessed with MTT assays.<br />

DHA was most effective to significantly increase NCM 460 cell viability whilst decreasing<br />

CaCo2 cell viability, followed by AA. With fatty acid treatment, PI3-kinase <strong>signaling</strong> was up<br />

regulated in NCM460 cells <strong>and</strong> down regulated in CaCo-2 cells, <strong>and</strong> for both cell lines this<br />

was most profound in cells treated with DHA. Phosphorylation of the substrates of PKB/Akt<br />

involved in apoptosis (Bad, FKHR) as well as other substrates such as GSK-3# <strong>and</strong> mTOR<br />

were altered in CaCo-2 cells treated with DHA. We propose a potential role for DHA as a<br />

therapeutic agent in the treatment of colon cancer.<br />

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