DRO1 inactivation drives colorectal carcinogenesis in ApcMin/+ mice

Colorectal cancer develops from adenomatous precursor lesions by a multistep process that involves several independent mutational events in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Inactivation of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) tumor suppressor gene is an early event and a prerequisite for the development of human colorectal adenoma. Previous in vitro studies identified DRO1 (CCDC80) to be a putative tumor suppressor gene that is negatively regulated in colorectal cancers and downregulated upon neoplastic transformation of epithelial cells. To investigate the in vivo role of DRO1 in colorectal carcinogenesis, a constitutive DRO1 knockout mouse model was generated. Disruption of DRO1 did not result in spontaneous intestinal tumor formation, consistent with the notion that DRO1 might have a role in suppressing the development of colon tumors in Apc(Min) (/+) mice, a widely used model for studying the role of APC in intestinal tumorigenesis that is hampered by the fact that mice predominantly develop adenomas in the small intestine and not in the colon. Here, deletion of DRO1 in Apc(Min) (/+) mice results in earlier death, a dramatically increased colonic tumor burden, and frequent development of colorectal carcinoma. Furthermore, enhanced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 is observed in colon epithelium and tumors from DRO1 knockout mice. Thus, this study reveals that inactivation of DRO1 is required for colorectal carcinogenesis in the Apc(Min) (/+) mouse and establishes a new mouse model for the study of colorectal cancer.

This report characterizes a new mouse model for the study of colorectal cancer and establishes DRO1 (CCDC80) as a tumor suppressor via a mechanism involving ERK phosphorylation.