Glycine-extended gastrin activates two independent tyrosine-kinases in upstream of p85/p110 phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in human colonic tumour cells.

AIM

To investigate whether Src, JAK2 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathways are involved in the proliferation of human colonic tumour cells induced by glycine-extended gastrin (G-gly), the precursor of the mature amidated gastrin and to elucidate the molecular interaction between these three kinases in response to this peptide.

METHODS

Using the human colonic tumour cell line HCT116 as a model, we first measured the activation of PI3K, p60-Src and JAK2 in response to G-gly by in vitro kinase assays. Then we investigated the involvement of these kinases in G-gly-induced cell proliferation by MTT test.

RESULTS

G-gly stimulation induced p60-Src, JAK2 and PI3K activation in HCT116. The different pathways were involved in proliferation of human colon cancer cells induced by G-gly. Furthermore, we found that both Src and JAK2 were necessary to PI3K regulation by this peptide. However, we did not find any cross-talk between the two tyrosine kinases.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that the p60-Src/PI3K and JAK2/PI3K pathways act independently to mediate G-gly proliferative effect on human colonic tumour cells.