Comodulation of cellular polyamines and proliferation: biomarker application to colorectal mucosa

Polyamines are low molecular weight aliphatic amines required for normal cellular growth which are ubiquitously found in all living tissues. Polyamine biosynthesis is known to increase with mitogenesis, and elevated polyamine concentrations are found in hyperproliferative tissues. Quantitation of tissue polyamine content may thus provide a biochemical measure of proliferation, with potential biomarker application to the colonic mucosa where dysregulated epithelial proliferation is associated with cancer risk. This study was performed to validate polyamine analyses as a measure of cellular proliferation, and to preliminarily assess polyamine characteristics when applied to clinical samples. Using FHC, a human colonic epithelial cell line, for in vitro experimentation, deoxycholic acid or retinol was added to freshly passaged cultures to either stimulate or inhibit proliferation, respectively. Parallel cultures were then assayed for (1) proliferation by sulforhodamine B staining; and (2) polyamine content by a high-performance liquid chromatographic method. Deoxycholic acid stimulated, and retinol inhibited proliferation in dose-dependent fashion. Polyamine content, specifically the spermidine content and the spermidine/spermine ratio, also increased or decreased in response to culture with deoxycholic acid or retinol, respectively. Significant linear correlations between proliferation and spermidine (r = 0.858, P < 0.001), and with the spermidine/spermine ratio (r = 0.574, P < 0.05) were observed. When quantitative polyamine analyses were applied to human colonic specimens, replicate mucosal sampling revealed a high degree of intra-individual variability, indicating a heterogeneous distribution of polyamines within anatomically confined colonic segments. The results support a role for quantitative polyamine analyses as a correlative measure of colonic epithelial proliferation; however, intraindividual variability may limit the utility of colorectal biomarker measurements.