Radiation and SN38 treatments modulate the expression of microRNAs, cytokines and chemokines in colon cancer cells in a p53-directed manner

// Surajit Pathak 1 , Wen-Jian Meng 1, 2 , Suman Kumar Nandy 3 , Jie Ping 1 , Atil Bisgin 1 , Linda Helmfors 4 , Patrik Waldmann 5 , Xiao-Feng Sun 1 1 Department of Oncology and Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden 2 Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China 3 Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, West Bengal, India 4 Department of Molecular Biotechnology/IFM, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden 5 Department of Computer and Information Science, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden Correspondence to: Xiao-Feng Sun, e-mail: xiao-feng.sun@liu.se Keywords: colon cancer cells, p53, miRNAs, cytokines, chemokines Received: April 19, 2015 Accepted: October 26, 2015 Published: November 05, 2015 ABSTRACT Aberrant expression of miRNAs, cytokines and chemokines are involved in pathogenesis of colon cancer. However, the expression of p53 mediated miRNAs, cyto- and chemokines after radiation and SN38 treatment in colon cancer remains elusive. Here, human colon cancer cells, HCT116 with wild-type, heterozygous and a functionally null p53, were treated by radiation and SN38. The expression of 384 miRNAs was determined by using the TaqMan® miRNA array, and the expression of cyto- and chemokines was analyzed by Meso-Scale-Discovery instrument. Up- or down-regulations of miRNAs after radiation and SN38 treatments were largely dependent on p53 status of the cells. Cytokines, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, Il-4, IL-10, VEGF, and chemokines, IL-8, MIP-1α were increased, and IFN-γ expression was decreased after radiation, whereas, IL-6, IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1β, Il-4, IL-10, IL-8 were decreased, and VEGF and MIP-1α were increased after SN38 treatment. Bioinformatic analysis pointed out that the highly up-regulated miRNAs, let-7f-5p, miR-455-3p, miR-98, miR-155-5p and the down-regulated miRNAs, miR-1, miR-127-5p, miR-142-5p, miR-202-5p were associated with colon cancer pathways and correlated with cyto- or chemokine expression. These miRNAs have the potential for use in colon cancer therapy as they are related to p53, pro- or anti-inflammatory cyto- or chemokines after the radiation and SN38 treatment.