Abstract
Bile acids (BAs) have been implicated in the development of oesophagitis, Barrett's oesophagus and oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). However, whether BAs promote cancer invasiveness has not been elucidated. We evaluated the role of BAs, in particular deoxycholic acid (DCA), in OAC invasion. Migration and invasiveness in untreated and BA-treated oesophageal SKGT-4 cancer cells were evaluated. Activity and expression of different matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) were determined by zymography, ELISA, PCR and Western blot. Finally, human OAC tissues were stained for MMP-10 by immunohistochemistry. It was found that SKGT-4 cells incubated with low concentrations of DCA had a significant increase in invasion. In addition, MMP-10 mRNA and protein expression were also increased in the presence of DCA. MMP-10 was found to be highly expressed both in-vitro and in-vivo in neoplastic OAC cells relative to non-neoplastic squamous epithelial cells. Our results show that DCA promotes OAC invasion and MMP-10 overexpression. This study will advance our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in human OAC and shows promise for the development of new therapeutic strategies.