Extracellular matrix-dependent pathways in colorectal cancer cell lines reveal potential targets for anticancer therapies

Abstract

Background: Cancer cells grown in a 3D culture are more resistant to anticancer therapy treatment compared to those in a monolayer 2D culture. Emerging evidence has suggested that the key reasons for increased cell survival could be gene expression changes in cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interaction-dependent manner. Materials and Methods: Global gene-expression changes were obtained in human colorectal carcinoma HT29 and DLD1 cell lines between 2D and laminin-rich (lr) ECM 3D growth conditions by gene-expression microarray analysis. The most significantly altered functional categories were revealed by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. Results: The microarray data revealed that 841 and 1190 genes were differentially expressed in colorectal carcinoma DLD1 and HT29 cells. KEGG analysis indicated that the most significantly altered categories were cell adhesion, mitogen-activated protein kinase and immune response. Conclusion: Our results indicate altered pathways related to cancer development and progression and suggest potential ECM-regulated targets for the development of anticancer therapies.