S100A4-induced cell motility and metastasis is restricted by the Wnt/β-catenin pathway inhibitor calcimycin in colon cancer cells

• DOI: 10.1091/mbc.e10-09-0739
• Publication Date: 2011-07-28T03:45:20Z
• Authors: Ulrike Sack; Wolfgang Walther; Dominic Scudiero; Mike Selby; Jutta Aumann; Clara Lemos; Iduna Fichtner; Peter M. Schlag; Robert H. Shoemaker; Ulrike Stein
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Cancer Research; Cell Survival; Gene Expression; Antineoplastic Agents; Mice, SCID; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Cell Movement; Genes, Reporter; Mice, Inbred NOD; Animals; Humans; Neoplasm Invasiveness; S100 Calcium-Binding Protein A4; Luciferases; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Calcimycin; Cell Proliferation; Liver Neoplasms; S100 Proteins; Articles; HCT116 Cells; 3. Good health; Colonic Neoplasms

The calcium-binding protein S100A4 is a central mediator of metastasis formation in colon cancer. S100A4 is a target gene of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which is constitutively active in the majority of colon cancers. In this study a high-throughput screen was performed to identify small-molecule compounds targeting the S100A4-promoter activity. In this screen calcimycin was identified as a transcriptional inhibitor of S100A4. In colon cancer cells calcimycin treatment reduced S100A4 mRNA and protein expression in a dose- and time-dependent manner. S100A4-induced cellular processes associated with metastasis formation, such as cell migration and invasion, were inhibited by calcimycin in an S100A4-specific manner. Calcimycin reduced β-catenin mRNA and protein levels despite the expression of Δ45-mutated β-catenin. Consequently, calcimycin inhibited Wnt/β-catenin pathway activity and the expression of prominent β-catenin target genes such as S100A4, cyclin D1, c-myc, and dickkopf-1. Finally, calcimycin treatment of human colon cancer cells inhibited metastasis formation in xenografted immunodeficient mice. Our results demonstrate that targeting the expression of S100A4 with calcimycin provides a functional strategy to restrict cell motility in colon cancer cells. Therefore calcimycin may be useful for studying S100A4 biology, and these studies may serve as a lead for the development of treatments for colon cancer metastasis.