New frontiers in the treatment of colorectal cancer: Autophagy and the unfolded protein response as promising targets

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ABSTRACT

Colorectal cancer (CRC), despite numerous therapeutic and screening attempts, still remains a major life-threatening malignancy. CRC etiology entails both genetic and environmental factors. Macroautophagy/autophagy and the unfolded protein response (UPR) are fundamental mechanisms involved in the regulation of cellular responses to environmental and genetic stresses. Both pathways are interconnected and regulate cellular responses to apoptotic stimuli. In this review, we address the epidemiology and risk factors of CRC, including genetic mutations leading to the occurrence of the disease. Next, we discuss mutations of genes related to autophagy and the UPR in CRC. Then, we discuss how autophagy and the UPR are involved in the regulation of CRC and how they associate with obesity and inflammatory responses in CRC. Finally, we provide perspectives for the modulation of autophagy and the UPR as new therapeutic options for CRC treatment.

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Most cited references 324

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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy.

C N Estevez, S Lee, Qing Zhong … (2012)

In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.

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Molecular genetics of colorectal cancer.

Eric R. Fearon (2010)

Over the past three decades, molecular genetic studies have revealed some critical mutations underlying the pathogenesis of the sporadic and inherited forms of colorectal cancer (CRC). A relatively limited number of oncogenes and tumor-suppressor genes-most prominently the APC, KRAS, and p53 genes-are mutated in a sizeable fraction of CRCs, and a larger collection of genes that are mutated in subsets of CRC have begun to be defined. Together with DNA-methylation and chromatin-structure changes, the mutations act to dysregulate conserved signaling networks that exert context-dependent effects on critical cell phenotypes, including the regulation of cellular metabolism, proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Much work remains to be done to fully understand the nature and significance of the individual and collective genetic and epigenetic defects in CRC. Some key concepts for the field have emerged, two of which are emphasized in this review. Specifically, the gene defects in CRC often target proteins and pathways that exert pleiotropic effects on the cancer cell phenotype, and particular genetic and epigenetic alterations are linked to biologically and clinically distinct subsets of CRC.

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Preoperative versus postoperative chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer: results of the German CAO/ARO/AIO-94 randomized phase III trial after a median follow-up of 11 years.

Heinz Becker, Susanne Merkel, Torsten Liersch … (2012)

Preoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) has been established as standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer after first results of the CAO/ARO/AIO-94 [Working Group of Surgical Oncology/Working Group of Radiation Oncology/Working Group of Medical Oncology of the Germany Cancer Society] trial, published in 2004, showed an improved local control rate. However, after a median follow-up of 46 months, no survival benefit could be shown. Here, we report long-term results with a median follow-up of 134 months. A total of 823 patients with stage II to III rectal cancer were randomly assigned to preoperative CRT with fluorouracil (FU), total mesorectal excision surgery, and adjuvant FU chemotherapy, or the same schedule of CRT used postoperatively. The study was designed to have 80% power to detect a difference of 10% in 5-year overall survival as the primary end point. Secondary end points included the cumulative incidence of local and distant relapses and disease-free survival. Of 799 eligible patients, 404 were randomly assigned to preoperative and 395 to postoperative CRT. According to intention-to-treat analysis, overall survival at 10 years was 59.6% in the preoperative arm and 59.9% in the postoperative arm (P = .85). The 10-year cumulative incidence of local relapse was 7.1% and 10.1% in the pre- and postoperative arms, respectively (P = .048). No significant differences were detected for 10-year cumulative incidence of distant metastases (29.8% and 29.6%; P = .9) and disease-free survival. There is a persisting significant improvement of pre- versus postoperative CRT on local control; however, there was no effect on overall survival. Integrating more effective systemic treatment into the multimodal therapy has been adopted in the CAO/ARO/AIO-04 trial to possibly reduce distant metastases and improve survival.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Autophagy

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Autophagy

Journal ID (publisher-id): KAUP

Journal ID (publisher-id): kaup20

Title: Autophagy

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

ISSN (Print): 1554-8627

ISSN (Electronic): 1554-8635

Publication date Collection: 2017

Publication date (Electronic): 23 February 2017

Publication date PMC-release: 23 February 2017

Volume: 13

Issue: 5

Pages: 781-819

Affiliations

[a ]Colorectal Research Center and Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences , Shiraz, Iran

[b ]Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, University of Manitoba , Winnipeg, MB, Canada

[c ]Zabol University of Medical Sciences , Zabol, Iran

[d ]University of Toronto Alumni , Toronto, ON, Canada

[e ]Department of Molecular Medicine, Institute of Medical Biotechnology, National Institute for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology , Tehran, Iran

[f ]Institute of Nonferrous Metals , Gliwice, Poland

[g ]Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences , Zahedan, Iran

[h ]Department of Immunology, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Manitoba , Winnipeg, MB, Canada

[i ]Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Shiraz Medical University , Shiraz, Iran

[j ]Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University , Krakow, Poland; LinkoCare Life Sciences AB , Sweden

[k ]Health Policy Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences , Shiraz, Iran

Author notes

CONTACT Marek J. Łos bioappl@ 123456gmail.com LinkoCare Life Sciences AB , Mjärdevi Science Park, Teknikringen 10, Floor 3, 583 30 Linköping, Sweden

CONTACT Saeid Ghavami saied.ghavami@ 123456umanitoba.ca Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Manitoba , Canada

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/kaup.

[#]

These authors share senior co-authorship.

Article

Publisher ID: 1290751

DOI: 10.1080/15548627.2017.1290751

PMC ID: 5446063

PubMed ID: 28358273

License:

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.

New frontiers in the treatment of colorectal cancer: Autophagy and the unfolded protein response as promising targets

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ABSTRACT

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Higher order chromatin architecture

Most cited references 324

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy.

Molecular genetics of colorectal cancer.

Preoperative versus postoperative chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer: results of the German CAO/ARO/AIO-94 randomized phase III trial after a median follow-up of 11 years.

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