Linear relationship between Wnt activity levels and apoptosis in colorectal carcinoma cells exposed to butyrate

We have reported that butyrate, a fatty acid produced by dietary fiber that induces cell cycle arrest, differentiation and/or apoptosis in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) cells in vitro, modulates Wnt activity in 2 CRC cell lines (Bordonaro et al., Int. J. Cancer, 2002; 97:42-51). Our study determines how changes in the levels of Wnt activity induced by butyrate relate to the effects of butyrate on apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and differentiation of CRC cells. In 10 human CRC cell lines a direct relationship was shown between apoptosis and butyrate-induced increase in Wnt activity, as well as between suppressed clonal growth and increased Wnt activity. No correlation existed between butyrate-induced increase in Wnt activity and differentiation. The direct relationship between apoptosis and Wnt activity was supported by analyses of DLD-1 and HCT-116 cells expressing a dominant negative form of Tcf4, and therefore, with repressed Wnt activity, as well as by measuring the ratio of apoptotic to live cells in flow cytometry-sorted cell fractions with high and low Wnt activity. Novel flow cytometric methodology was utilized to show that butyrate differentially increases the number of cells with Wnt activity in different CRC cell lines. Thus, CRC cell lines in which butyrate upregulated Wnt activity to relatively high levels were most susceptible to the apoptotic effects of butyrate, whereas cell lines in which butyrate modestly modulated Wnt activity were less affected.