The human colon cancer cell line CaCo-2 produces secretory components during enterocytic differentiation.

A human colon cancer cell line CaCo-2 differentiates spontaneously by expressing enterocytic phenotypes after the confluence of the culture. The authors examined a production of secretory components (SC) by CaCo-2 in relation to its differentiation. The SC production showed an increase immediately after the cells came to confluence, and reached its peak production during the 6th to the 9th day after confluence of the culture. SC production decreased remarkably after the 10th day. On the other hand, the activity of alkaline phosphatase of CaCo-2 showed a gradual increase up to the 18th day after confluence. The production of SC was not affected by the presence of dimeric IgA in the culture. Interferon-gamma enhanced SC production of CaCo-2 with dose-dependent manner. These observations indicate that capability of SC production of CaCo-2 is enhanced in the early stage of differentiation but is reduced in the late stage. Moreover, CaCo-2 provides a useful model for studying the regulation of SC production in enterocytic differentiation.