The pro- and antineoplastic effects of deoxycholic acid in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell models

• Published in: Molecular biology reports Vol. 50; no. 6; pp. 5273 - 5282
• Main Authors: Schwarcz, Szandra, Kovács, Patrik, Kovács, Tünde, Ujlaki, Gyula, Nyerges, Petra, Uray, Karen, Bai, Péter, Mikó, Edit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-06-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma; Adenocarcinoma - drug therapy; Adenocarcinoma - genetics; Aldehyde dehydrogenase; Animal Anatomy; Animal Biochemistry; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; Bioenergetics; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Boyden chamber; Cancer; Cell culture; Cell Line, Tumor; Deoxycholic acid; Deoxycholic Acid - pharmacology; E-cadherin; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; Glycolysis; Histology; Humans; Life Sciences; Mitochondria; Morphology; Original; Original Article; Pancreas; Pancreatic cancer; Pancreatic Neoplasms; Pancreatic Neoplasms - drug therapy; Pancreatic Neoplasms - genetics; Pancreatic Neoplasms - metabolism; Snail protein; Tumor cell lines; Western blotting; Zonula occludens-1 protein; Pancreatic adenocarcinoma; Cell metabolism; Stemness; DCA; EMT; Oxidative/nitrosative stress
• ISSN: 0301-4851; 1573-4978
• DOI: 10.1007/s11033-023-08453-x

Background
Commensal bacteria secrete metabolites that reach distant cancer cells through the circulation and influence cancer behavior. Deoxycholic acid (DCA), a hormone-like metabolite, is a secondary bile acid specifically synthesized by intestinal microbes. DCA may have both pro- and antineoplastic effects in cancers.
Methods and results
The pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines, Capan-2 and BxPC-3, were treated with 0.7 µM DCA, which corresponds to the reference concentration of DCA in human serum. DCA influenced the expression of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related genes, significantly decreased the expression level of the mesenchymal markers, transcription factor 7- like 2 (TCF7L2), snail family transcriptional repressor 2 (SLUG), CLAUDIN-1, and increased the expression of the epithelial genes, zona occludens 1 (ZO-1) and E-CADHERIN, as shown by real-time PCR and Western blotting. Consequently, DCA reduced the invasion capacity of pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells in Boyden chamber experiments. DCA induced the protein expression of oxidative/nitrosative stress markers. Moreover, DCA reduced aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1) activity in an Aldefluor assay and ALDH1 protein level, suggesting that DCA reduced stemness in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. In Seahorse experiments, DCA induced all fractions of mitochondrial respiration and glycolytic flux. The ratio of mitochondrial oxidation and glycolysis did not change after DCA treatment, suggesting that cells became hypermetabolic.
Conclusion
DCA induced antineoplastic effects in pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells by inhibiting EMT, reducing cancer stemness, and inducing oxidative/nitrosative stress and procarcinogenic effects such as hypermetabolic bioenergetics.