Influence of parathyroid hormone-related peptide gene in colon cancer cell line growth

OBJECTIVE: Parathyroid hormone-related peptide (PTHrP) has been found to be express in different human tumors including colon. We used a human colon cell line (Lovo) as a model to study the mechanism for the proliferation effects of PTHrP.

METHODS: This study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology at University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States of America and Department of Biochemistry at College of Science King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from June 2001 until September 2003. The PTHrP constructs expressing in sense or antisense orientation were constructed by cloning human PTHrP cDNA and transfected into Lovo cells. Single clone of stably transfected cells was isolated and grown for 2, 4 and 7 days.

RESULTS: The proliferation rate of Lovo clones with sense overexpressing PTHrP was less rapid than that of antisense or empty vector transfected cells; however, at day 7 the cell number of the antisense PTHrP overexpressing clones was more than 2-folds compared with the empty vector transfected clones.

CONCLUSION: The sense PTHrP gene blocks translation decrease the cell growth, which might be significant implications for the role of PTHrP in colon cancer.