Lipocalin 2 performs contrasting, location-dependent roles in APCmin tumor initiation and progression

• Published in: Oncogene Vol. 32; no. 10; pp. 1233 - 1239
• Main Authors: Reilly, P T, Teo, W L, Low, M J, Amoyo-Brion, A A, Dominguez-Brauer, C, Elia, A J, Berger, T, Greicius, G, Pettersson, S, Mak, T W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 07.03.2013; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/67/1504; 692/420/755; Acute-Phase Proteins - biosynthesis; Acute-Phase Proteins - deficiency; Acute-Phase Proteins - genetics; Animal models; Animals; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - physiology; Carcinogenesis; Cell Biology; Colitis; Colorectal cancer; Development and progression; Disease Progression; Duodenum; Female; Gastrointestinal tumors; Genes, APC; Health aspects; Human Genetics; Inflammation; Internal Medicine; Intestinal Neoplasms - genetics; Intestinal Neoplasms - metabolism; Intestinal Neoplasms - pathology; Iron; Iron in the body; Lipocalin; Lipocalin-2; Lipocalins - biosynthesis; Lipocalins - genetics; Male; Matrix metalloproteinase; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Oncogene Proteins - biosynthesis; Oncogene Proteins - deficiency; Oncogene Proteins - genetics; Oncogenes; Oncology; Original; original-article; Proteins; Small intestine; Tumorigenesis; Tumors; Canada; Singapore; NGAL; iron; 24p3; intestinal cancer
• ISSN: 0950-9232; 1476-5594; 1476-5594
• DOI: 10.1038/onc.2012.159

Evidence that lipocalin 2 (LCN2) is oncogenic has grown in recent years and comes from both animal models and expression analysis from a variety of human cancers. In the intestine, LCN2 is overexpressed in colitis patients and its overexpression is a negative prognostic indicator in colorectal cancer. Functionally, LCN2 has a number of different activities that may contribute to its oncogenic potential, including increasing matrix metalloproteinase activity, control of iron availability and stimulating inflammation. In this report, we examined APCmin intestinal tumorigenesis in an LCN2-deficient background. We found that the loss of LCN2 increased tumor multiplicity specifically in the duodenum, suggesting a potential tumor-suppressive activity. Concurrently, however, LCN2 increased the average small intestinal tumor size particularly in the distal small intestine. We found that this increase was correlated to tumor iron(II) content, suggesting that an iron-scavenging role is important for LCN2 oncogenic activity in the intestine.