The aberrant methylation of TSP1 suppresses TGF-β1 activation in colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer arises from the progressive accumulation of mutations and epigenetic alterations in colon epithelial cells. Such alterations often deregulate signaling pathways that affect the formation of colon cancer, such as the Wnt, RAS-MAPK and TGF-β pathways. The tumor promoting effects of mutations in genes, such as APC, have been demonstrated in cancer cell lines and in mouse models of intestinal cancer; however, the biological effects of most epigenetic events identified in colorectal cancer remain unknown. Consequently, we assessed whether the aberrant methylation of TSP1, the gene for thrombospondin 1, a regulator of TGF-β ligand activation, is an epigenetic mechanism for inhibiting the TGF-β signaling pathway. We found methylated TSP1 occurs in colon cancer cell lines (33%), colon adenomas (14%) and colon adenocarcinomas (21%). In primary colorectal cancers, loss of TSP1 expression correlated with impaired TGF-β signaling as indicated by decreased Smad2 phosphorylation and nuclear localization. Furthermore, methylation-induced silencing of TSP1 expression reduced the concentration of secreted active TGF-β1 and attenuated TGF-β signaling. Reversal of TSP1 methylation resulted in increased TSP1 mediated activation of the latent LAP:TGF-β complex and subsequent TGF-β receptor activation. Our results demonstrate that the aberrant methylation of TSP1 has biological consequences and provide evidence that the aberrant methylation of TSP1 is a novel epigenetic mechanism for suppressing TGF-β signaling in colorectal cancer.