Differing roles of protein kinase C on the antiproliferative effects of tumor necrosis factor alpha and beta on LoVo cells

In this study we examined whether the antiproliferative effects of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and beta were associated with the activation of protein kinase C (PKC), using the LoVo human colon cancer cell line which is resistant to both TNFs. In combination with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), a potent activator of PKC, TNF-alpha caused marked growth inhibition of LoVo cells, but TNF-beta had little antiproliferative effect. There was no difference in the effect when TPA was added 1 h before or 4 h after TNF-alpha administration. A PKC inhibitor, H-7, not only decreased the sensitivity of LoVo cells to TNF-alpha but also caused a slight promotion of cell proliferation and dose-dependently blocked the growth inhibition induced by TNF-alpha and TPA. These results suggested a possible regulatory function of PKC within the TNF-alpha-mediated intracellular signalling pathway. PKC may act at a later stage in the transduction pathway.