Regulation of colon cancer cell proliferation and migration by MD-2 activity

Evidence suggests that signalling through lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has a significant role in the development of gastrointestinal malignancies. We previously demonstrated the critical role of myeloid differentiation (MD)-2, the essential co-receptor of LPS, for induction of cyclooxygenase (Cox)-2 in intestinal epithelial cells. Cyclooxigenase-2 was suggested to play a key role in colorectal cancer through the effects of prostaglandin (PG) E-2 generated. We, therefore, addressed the role of MD-2 in several parameters related to malignancy, namely cell proliferation and migration, using colon cancer cells (HT-29). We found that overexpression of MD-2 confers a significantly greater proliferation and migration capacity to these cells. MD-2-dependent proliferation and migration appeared independent of Cox-2 activity but was reduced by endothelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) neutralizing antibodies as well as by pharmacological inhibition of EGFR tyrosine phosphorylation. We propose that MD-2 overexpression contributes to tumour aggressiveness via a Cox-2-independent excessive EGFR signalling. Moreover, MD-2 expression levels were higher in tissue from patients with colorectal cancer as compared with paired control colorectal mucosa. Our data attest to a role of MD-2 activity in colon cancer epithelial cell proliferation and migration, which may be important in the general correlation between innate immune response, chronic inflammation, and cancer.