Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 21, 2021; 27(39): 6615-6630
Published online Oct 21, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i39.6615
Cold exposure and capsaicin promote 1,2-dimethylhyrazine-induced colon carcinogenesis in rats correlates with extracellular matrix remodeling
Jing-Chun Qin, Wei-Tao Yu, Hui-Xuan Li, Yu-Qi Liang, Fei-Fei Nong, Bin Wen
Jing-Chun Qin, Yu-Qi Liang, Fei-Fei Nong, Bin Wen, Institute of Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangdong 530001, Guangdong Province, China
Jing-Chun Qin, Liuzhou People’s Hospital, Guangxi, 545006, Guangxi Province China
Wei-Tao Yu, Traditional Chinese Medicine Department, The Second People’s Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang 222000, Jiangsu Province, China
Hui-Xuan Li, National Center for Respiratory Medicine, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease and National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangdong 510000, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Qin JC wrote the manuscript and performed the research; Wen B designed the study; Qin JC, Yu WT, Li HX, and Liang YQ conducted the experiments and analyzed the data; Nong FF reviewed and edited the manuscript; Wen B revised the manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81673944.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee of the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (approval No. 20130001).
Conflict-of-interest statement: We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript entitled “Cold exposure and Capsaicin promote 1,2-dimethylhydrazine-induced colon carcinogenesis in rats correlates with extracellular matrix remodeling”.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at wenbin@gzucm.edu.cn. Participants gave informed consent for data sharing.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE Guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE Guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bin Wen, PhD, Academic Research, Full Professor, Institute of Science and Technology Innovation Center, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, No. 12 Airport Road, Guangdong 530001, Guangdong Province, China. wenbin@gzucm.edu.cn
Received: March 31, 2021
Peer-review started: April 1, 2021
First decision: June 24, 2021
Revised: July 2, 2021
Accepted: July 30, 2021
Article in press: July 30, 2021
Published online: October 21, 2021
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a cancer with high prevalence and mortality in the world. Extracellular matrix (ECM) is a dynamic compartment that regulates tissue development and homeostasis, and its remodeling contributes to neoplastic progression. The cancerous ECM can change cell phenotype and has profound influence on the colonization of metastatic cancer cells. However, the relationship between ECM remodeling and progression and aggression CRC from imposed by cold and capsaicin exposure remains unclear.

Research motivation

To identify the effect of cold exposure and capsaicin on ECM remodeling, ECM enzymes, and the underlying mechanism.

Research objectives

To explore the role of ECM remodeling and ECM enzymes in the 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced CRC progression and the underlying mechanism.

Research methods

The CRC rat model was conducted by adding DMH and examining the role of ECM remodeling and ECM enzymes on DMH-induced CRC in the model. We investigated the morphology and structure of collagen and elastin using Masson’s trichrome, Picrosirius red, and Weigert’s Resorcin-Fuchsin stains. Additionally, we evaluated the protein expression level of type I collagen (COL I), type III collagen (COL III), elastin, lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 1, MMP2, MMP9, and tissue-specific matrix metalloproteinase 1 by immunohistochemistry and observed the expression of COL I, COL III, elastin, and LOXL2 in the colon tissues of rats by reverse-transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction.

Research results

We found that although there were no differences in the proportion of adenomas, a trend towards the increase of invasive tumors was observed in the cold and capsaicin group. Cold exposure group had a metastasis rate comparative with the other groups. Additionally, abnormal accumulation of both collagen and elastin was observed in the cold exposure and capsaicin group. Specifically, collagen quantitative analysis showed increased length, width, angle, and straightness compared with the DMH group. Collagen deposition and straightness were significantly increased in the cold exposure group compared with the capsaicin group. Cold exposure and capsaicin significantly increased the protein levels of COL I, elastin, and LOXL2 along with increases in their messenger RNA levels in the colon tissues compared with the DMH group, while COL III did not show a significant difference. Furthermore, in immunohistochemical evaluations, MMP1, MMP2, MMP9, and tissue-specific matrix metalloproteinase 1 staining increased in the cold exposure and capsaicin group compared with the DMH group.

Research conclusions

Increased stiffness of colonic tissue and the remodeling of ECM mediated by ECM enzymes resulted from cold and capsaicin exposure, predisposing an environment suitable for CRC development and progression.

Research perspectives

To target ECM in CRC tumor tissue could represent a novel potential therapeutic strategy.