Effect of the exposure time to an inflammatory medium on the colorectal cancer cells phenotype

Identifier:  TFG:2167

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG2167

Authors:  Garcia Serra, Noemí

Abstract:
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide and the second cause of cancer-related death. Nowadays, the only therapeutic treatment with curative intention is surgical excision, provided that there is no evidence of tumor dissemination. Surgery may lead to postoperative complications, particularly the anastomotic leakage. Subsequent intra-abdominal infection is related with higher rates of tumor recurrence. My research group has proposed that the inflammatory response caused by the infection could induce phenotypic changes of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) on residual cancer cells, and this mechanism is related to metastasis. In this project, we studied how different exposure times to an inflammatory medium affect the phenotype of SW620 colon cancer cells. As well as whether the phenotypic changes stimulated by the inflamatory medium revert or remain in time when treatment is removed. The in vitro study of invasive/migratory capacity and expression of EMT genes has shown that maintenance of mesenchymal phenotype requires continuous inflammatory stimulation. The invasive capacity achieved during the first few days of treatment does not increase when the exposure to inflammatory medium lasts several weeks. Together these results suggest that phenotypic changes induced by an inflammatory medium do not involve an epigenetic mechanism but are dependent on the stimulus.