<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD Journal Publishing DTD v2.3 20070202//EN" "journalpublishing.dtd">
<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xml:lang="en" article-type="research-article">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">nutrients</journal-id>
      <journal-title>Nutrients</journal-title>
      <abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">Nutrients</abbrev-journal-title>
      <abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="pubmed">Nutrients</abbrev-journal-title>
      <issn pub-type="epub">2072-6643</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>MDPI</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.3390/nu3090805</article-id>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">nutrients-03-00805</article-id>
      <article-categories>
        <subj-group>
          <subject>Article</subject>
        </subj-group>
      </article-categories>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Deficiency in the 15 kDa Selenoprotein Inhibits Human Colon Cancer Cell Growth</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Tsuji</surname>
            <given-names>Petra A.</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref rid="af1-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="aff">1</xref>
          <xref rid="af2-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="aff">2</xref>
          <xref rid="af3-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="aff">3</xref>
          <xref rid="af4-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="aff">4</xref>
          <xref rid="c1-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="corresp">*</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Naranjo-Suarez</surname>
            <given-names>Salvador</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref rid="af2-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="aff">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Carlson</surname>
            <given-names>Bradley A.</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref rid="af2-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="aff">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Tobe</surname>
            <given-names>Ryuta</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref rid="af2-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="aff">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Yoo</surname>
            <given-names>Min-Hyuk</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref rid="af2-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="aff">2</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Davis</surname>
            <given-names>Cindy D.</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref rid="af3-nutrients-03-00805" ref-type="aff">3</xref>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="af1-nutrients-03-00805"><label>1 </label>Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD 20892, USA</aff>
      <aff id="af2-nutrients-03-00805"><label>2 </label>Molecular Biology of Selenium Section, Laboratory of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA; Email: <email>naranjos@mail.nih.gov</email> (S.N.-S.); <email>carlsonb@mail.nih.gov</email> (B.A.C.); <email>tober@mail.nih.gov</email> (R.T.); <email>yoom@mail.nih.gov</email> (M.-H.Y.)</aff>
      <aff id="af3-nutrients-03-00805"><label>3 </label>Nutritional Science Research Group, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD 20892, USA; Email: <email>davisci@mail.nih.gov</email></aff>
      <aff id="af4-nutrients-03-00805"><label>4 </label>Department of Biological Sciences, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, USA</aff>
      <author-notes>
        <corresp id="c1-nutrients-03-00805"><label>* </label>Author to whom correspondence should beaddressed; Email: <email>ptsuji@towson.edu</email>; Tel.: +1-401-704-4117; Fax: +1-401-704-2405.</corresp>
      </author-notes>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub">
        <day>05</day>
        <month>09</month>
        <year>2011</year>
      </pub-date>
      <pub-date pub-type="collection">
        <month>09</month><year>2011</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>3</volume>
      <issue>9</issue>
      <fpage>805</fpage>
      <lpage>817</lpage>
      <history>
        <date date-type="received">
          <day>01</day>
          <month>08</month>
          <year>2011</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="rev-recd">
          <day>15</day>
          <month>08</month>
          <year>2011</year>
        </date>
        <date date-type="accepted">
          <day>29</day>
          <month>08</month>
          <year>2011</year>
        </date>
      </history>
      <permissions>
        <copyright-statement>©  2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.</copyright-statement>
        <copyright-year>2011</copyright-year>
        <license xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" license-type="open-access" xlink:href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">
          <p>This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).</p>
        </license>
      </permissions>
      <abstract>
        <p> Selenium is an essential micronutrient for humans and animals, and is thought to provide protection against some forms of cancer. These protective effects appear to be mediated, at least in part, through selenium-containing proteins (selenoproteins). Recent studies in a mouse colon cancer cell line have shown that the 15 kDa selenoprotein (Sep15) may also play a role in promoting colon cancer. The current study investigated whether the effects of reversing the cancer phenotype observed when Sep15 was removed in mouse colon cancer cells, were recapitulated in HCT116 and HT29 human colorectal carcinoma cells. Targeted down-regulation of Sep15 using RNAi technology in these human colon cancer cell lines resulted in similarly decreased growth under anchorage-dependent and anchorage-independent conditions. However, the magnitude of reduction in cell growth was much less than in the mouse colon cancer cell line investigated previously. Furthermore, changes in cell cycle distribution were observed, indicating a delayed release of Sep15 deficient cells from the G<sub>0</sub>/G<sub>1</sub> phase after synchronization. The potential mechanism by which human colon cancer cells lacking Sep15 revert their cancer phenotype will need to be explored further.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <kwd> HCT116 cells</kwd>
        <kwd>HT29 cells</kwd>
        <kwd>shRNA</kwd>
        <kwd>selenium</kwd>
        <kwd>cancer prevention</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
  <body>
    <sec sec-type="intro">
      <title>1. Introduction</title>
      <p>Selenium is present in the environment, and distributed widely in the Earth’s crust in varying concentrations, and found in trace quantities in most plant and animal tissues. While not an essential nutrient for plants, it is an essential nutrient for humans and many other life forms [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B1-nutrients-03-00805">1</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B2-nutrients-03-00805">2</xref>]. Epidemiological, clinical and preclinical studies provide evidence that selenium may protect against colon cancer [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B3-nutrients-03-00805">3</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B4-nutrients-03-00805">4</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B5-nutrients-03-00805">5</xref>]. Part of the protective effect appears to be mediated through selenium containing proteins (selenoproteins). The 15 kDa selenoprotein gene (<italic>SEP15</italic>) is one of 25 known selenoprotein genes in humans and 24 genes in rodents [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B6-nutrients-03-00805">6</xref>]. Similar to many other selenoproteins, the gene product, Sep15, belongs to the class of thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase—like selenoproteins [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B7-nutrients-03-00805">7</xref>], and has been shown to exhibit redox activity [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B8-nutrients-03-00805">8</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B9-nutrients-03-00805">9</xref>]. However, its mechanistic properties continue to be elucidated. In humans, <italic>SEP15</italic> is located on chromosome 1p31, a locus commonly deleted or mutated in cancer [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B10-nutrients-03-00805">10</xref>], and human polymorphisms in this gene are thought to reflect differential susceptibility to cancer [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B11-nutrients-03-00805">11</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12-nutrients-03-00805">12</xref>]. Other studies also suggest a role of Sep15 in cancer prevention [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12-nutrients-03-00805">12</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B13-nutrients-03-00805">13</xref>].</p>
      <p>Interestingly, more recent studies suggest that Sep15 may have an important role in promoting and/or sustaining colon cancer [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14-nutrients-03-00805">14</xref>]. Mouse colon CT26 cells that were stably transfected with shRNA constructs targeting Sep15 displayed decreased growth abilities both under anchorage-dependent and anchorage-independent conditions. Moreover, the cells’ tumorigenic potential was decreased, as most mice injected with control cells had developed subcutaneous tumors, whereas few mice injected with Sep15-deficient cells developed tumors. The ability to form pulmonary metastases had similar results; <italic>i.e</italic>., mice injected intravenously with plasmid-transfected control cells developed more than 250 lung metastases per animal. However, mice injected with cells with down-regulation of Sep15 only formed 7.8 ± 5.4 metastases. This influence on cellular proliferation was likely mediated, at least in part, by the observed G<sub>2</sub>/M cell cycle arrest in mouse colon cancer cells that lacked Sep15 expression.</p>
      <p>Expression of Sep15, which is regulated by dietary selenium, is found to be higher in liver, kidney, prostate and thryroid tissues [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15-nutrients-03-00805">15</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16-nutrients-03-00805">16</xref>], but can also be detected in other tissues, such as colon [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17-nutrients-03-00805">17</xref>]. A recent study demonstrated that absence of Sep15 expression in mice <italic>in vivo</italic> does not reveal any strong phenotypes or gross abnormalities [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16-nutrients-03-00805">16</xref>]. However, previous observations in cells [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B9-nutrients-03-00805">9</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B18-nutrients-03-00805">18</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B19-nutrients-03-00805">19</xref>] as well as these recent observations of mild oxidative stress in livers and cataract formation in lenses in Sep15 knockout mice [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B16-nutrients-03-00805">16</xref>] indicate a role of Sep15 in redox homeostasis as well as glycoprotein folding.</p>
      <p>Knockout of Sep15 in mice <italic>in vivo</italic> has also been shown to influence colon cancer susceptibility [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17-nutrients-03-00805">17</xref>]. The total number of carcinogen-induced aberrant crypt foci per colon and the number of aberrant crypts per focus were significantly lower in Sep15 knockout mice compared to wild type and heterozygous littermate controls. Because aberrant crypt foci serve as a surrogate biomarker for colon cancer risk in humans [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B20-nutrients-03-00805">20</xref>], these results indicate that, unlike previous observations in human mesothelioma cells [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B12-nutrients-03-00805">12</xref>], a lack of Sep15 expression may be protective against colon tumor formation <italic>in vivo.</italic></p>
      <p>The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the effects observed when Sep15 was removed in mouse colon cancer cells through RNAi technology, were recapitulated in human colon cancer cells, for which we utilized two commercially available, p53-expressing human colorectal carcinoma cell lines, HCT116 and HT29. Both cell lines expressed Sep15 in appreciable levels. Our results demonstrate that targeted down-regulation of Sep15 in these human colon cancer cell lines indeed resulted in similarly decreased growth under anchorage-dependent and anchorage-independent conditions. However, the magnitude of the decrease in cell growth was much lower than in the mouse colon cancer cell line investigated previously [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14-nutrients-03-00805">14</xref>], and the potential mechanism will need to be explored further.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec>
      <title>2. Experimental Section</title>
      <sec>
        <title>2.1. Materials and Reagents</title>
        <p><sup>75</sup>Se (specific activity ~1000 Ci/mmol) was obtained from the Research Reactor Facility at the University of Missouri (Columbia, MO, USA). Dulbecco’s Minimum Essential Medium (DMEM), Gibco<sup>®</sup> fetal bovine serum, puromycin, NuPage<sup>®</sup> 4–12% polyacrylamide gels, LDS sample buffer, See-Blue Plus2 protein markers, and TRIzol<sup>®</sup> reagent were purchased from Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA, USA), iScript™ cDNA synthesis Kit from Bio-Rad Laboratories (Philadelphia, PA, USA), SYBR green supermix from New England Biolabs (Ipswich, MA, USA), primers for real-time PCR from Sigma-Genosys (St. Louis, MO, USA), Ribonuclease A from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA), and Noble agar from Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). All other reagents used were commercially available and were of the highest quality available.</p>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>2.2. Culture of Mammalian Cells and Cell Growth Assays</title>
        <p>HCT116 and HT29 cells were cultured in growth medium (DMEM supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum, 1% penicillin/streptomycin) in a humidified atmosphere with 5% CO<sub>2</sub> at 37 °C. Both malignant cell lines were stably transfected with shSep15 or a control construct as described below. Cell growth was monitored by seeding cells in 6-well plates at 1 × 10<sup>5</sup> cells/well in complete growth medium and counting cells for four days. </p>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>2.3. Targeted Down-Regulation of Sep15</title>
        <p>For the generation of HCT116 shSep15 cells, two Mission<sup>®</sup> shRNA lentiviral transduction particles with validated sequences were chosen for targeting Sep15 knockdown (CCGGCTTTGCAGCTCTTGTGATCTTCTCGAGAAGATCACAAGAGCTGCAAAGTTTTTTG or CCGGGAAAGGAATGACAGCAGACTACTCGAGTAGTCTCGCTGTCATTCCTTTCTTTTTTG), and used as described by the manufacturer (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA). Briefly, cells were plated at 50% confluency, and viral particles were incubated overnight following addition of hexadimethrine bromide. Fresh medium was applied, and HCT116 Sep15 knockdown cells were selected by puromycin resistance. Both sequences resulted in very similar down-regulation of Sep15, and only results of one construct in comparison to shRNA lentiviral control particles are reported herein. </p>
        <p>For the generation of HT29 Sep15 knockdown cells, the first sequence was cloned in the pSuper retroviral plasmid (Oligoengine, Seattle, WA, USA) following the manufacturer’s instructions. GP-293 cells were transfected with 1.5 µg of the retroviral vector and 1 µg of an amphotropic envelope expression vector (pVSV-G). Medium was changed 24 h after transfection, and cell culture supernatants were harvested 48 h post-transfection, filtered through a 0.22 µm filter, and diluted (1:2) with fresh medium. Diluted viral supernatants containing 6 µg/mL hexadimethrine bromide were then added to HT29 cells (plated at a low confluency 24 h prior to the infection). HT29 Sep15 knockdown cells were selected by puromycin resistance.</p>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>2.4. Real-Time RT-PCR Analysis</title>
        <p>Total RNA was extracted from HCT116 and HT29 cells using the TRIzol<sup>®</sup> reagent. cDNA was synthesized using iScript™ with 1.5 μg of total RNA. For real-time quantitative RT-PCR, 1.5 μL of cDNA were used in 20 μL reactions by employing the MyiQ™ Single-Color Real-Time PCR detection system (BioRad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA). Specificity of the amplifications was verified through analysis of the melting point curves. The primers used for real-time PCR are shown in <xref ref-type="table" rid="nutrients-03-00805-t001">Table 1</xref>. The expression of mRNA levels was calculated relative to the expression of <italic>GAPDH</italic> as the internal control, and was graphed relative to expression in HCT116 control cells.</p>
        <table-wrap id="nutrients-03-00805-t001" position="anchor">
          <object-id pub-id-type="pii">nutrients-03-00805-t001_Table 1</object-id>
          <label>Table 1</label>
          <caption>
            <p>Human real-time RT-PCR primers utilized.</p>
          </caption>
          <table>
           <thead>
              <tr>
                <th align="center" valign="middle">Gene</th>
                <th align="center" valign="middle">Primer Sequence</th>
              </tr>
           </thead>
           <tbody>
              <tr>
                <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top">
                  <italic>GAPDH</italic>
                </td>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-ACGTGTCAGTGGTGGACCTG—fwd</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-TGTCGCTGTTGAAGTCAGAG—rev</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top">
                  <italic>GBP-1</italic>
                </td>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-CTATGAGGAACCGAGGAAGG—fwd</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-CACGTTCCACTTCAATCTCC—rev</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top">
                  <italic>GPx1</italic>
                </td>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-GTGCAACCAGTTTGGGCATCS—fwd</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-CCGCAGGAAGGCGAAGAGAGG—rev</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top">
                  <italic>GPx2</italic>
                </td>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-CCATCAACATTGAGCCTGAC—fwd</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-CTAAGGCTCCTCAGGACTGG—rev</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top">
                  <italic>IFN- γ</italic>
                </td>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-TGTTACTGCCAGGACCCATA—fwd</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-TTCTGTCACTCTCCTCTTTCCA—rev</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top">
                  <italic>SEP15</italic>
                </td>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-CCGGCGTTTGGGCTACGGTT—fwd</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-CCAGCTGAAGCAGGTTGAAC—rev</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td rowspan="2" align="center" valign="top">
                  <italic>TR1</italic>
                </td>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-CCATAGTTACTTTTGGCCAT—fwd</td>
              </tr>
              <tr>
                <td align="left" valign="middle">5′-GCGCAGCTGCAAAGCCTTGT—rev</td>
              </tr>
           </tbody>
          </table>
        </table-wrap>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>2.5. <sup>75</sup>Se Labeling of Cells</title>
        <p>Cells were seeded in a six-well plate (1 × 10<sup>5</sup> cells/well), incubated for 18–24 h, and then labeled with 50 μCi/well of <sup>75</sup>Se for 24 h before harvesting. Cells were suspended in 1× NuPage<sup>®</sup> LDS sample buffer, sonicated and 75 μg protein were electrophoresed on a NuPage<sup>®</sup> 4–12% polyacrylamide gel. The gel was stained with Coomassie Blue, dried, and exposed to a PhosphorImager screen (Molecular Dynamics, GE Healthcare, Piscataway, NJ, USA).</p>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>2.6. Soft Agar Assay</title>
        <p>Anchorage-independent growth was assayed as described previously [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14-nutrients-03-00805">14</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B21-nutrients-03-00805">21</xref>] with a total of 3000 cells of each stably transfected cell line suspended in 3 mL of 0.35% agar in complete DMEM and spread onto 60 mm dishes masked with a basal layer of 3 mL of 0.7% agar in the medium. Cells were incubated at 37 °C, 5% CO<sub>2</sub> for 20 days, and complete growth medium was applied to the dishes every 3 to 4 days. The colonies were visualized by staining with ρ-iodonitrotetrazolium violet overnight, scanned and counted.</p>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>2.7. Cell Cycle Analysis</title>
        <p>HT29 and HCT116 cells were grown in complete medium to 60% confluency, washed twice with PBS, and maintained in serum-free medium for 48 h to induce G<sub>0</sub>/G<sub>1</sub> cell cycle synchronization. Cells were then growth stimulated with complete growth medium for 6, 12, 24 or 48 h (<italic>n</italic> = 6). Cells were then washed with PBS, trypsinized and suspended in PBS (1–2 × 10<sup>7</sup> cells/mL) and kept on ice for 15 min. Ice-cold 70% ethanol was added gradually and cells were fixed overnight. Cells were centrifuged and resuspended in Ribonuclease A (100 units) and incubated at 37 °C for 20 min. The suspension was stained with propidium iodide in the dark at 4 °C overnight, filtered through a 50 micron mesh, and acquired with a FACScalibur™ (BD, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA). The percent of cells in each phase of the cell cycle was analyzed by ModFit LT v.3.0 (Verity, Topsham, ME, USA).</p>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>2.8. Statistical Analyses</title>
        <p>Data are presented as means ± SE and were analyzed by ANOVA or Student’s <italic>t</italic>-test using GraphPad Prism (v.4, LaJolla, CA, USA). Differences with <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05 were considered significant. Levels of statistical significance were indicated as follows: * <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05, ** <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01, *** <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001.</p>
      </sec>
    </sec>
    <sec sec-type="results">
      <title>3. Results</title>
      <p>Using RNAi-technology, Sep15 mRNA expression was reduced significantly between 85% and 95% in both HCT116 (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05) and HT29 (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001) colon cancer cells compared to plasmid-transfected controls (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f001">Figure 1</xref>a), respectively. Interestingly, HT29 cells had an over two-fold higher Sep15 mRNA expression (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001) compared to HCT116 cells. Other selenoproteins, including glutathione peroxidases 1 and 2 (GPx1 and 2), and thioredoxin reductase 1 (TR1), did not exhibit statistically significant differences in mRNA expression (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f001">Figure 1</xref>b–d). Subsequently, expression of Sep15 and other selenoproteins was visualized by labeling cells with <sup>75</sup>Se (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f002">Figure 2</xref>). Targeted down-regulation of <italic>SEP15</italic> resulted in loss of Sep15 protein in shSep15 cells compared to the plasmid-transfected control cells in both HCT116 and HT29 cells. The relatively higher expression of basal Sep15 mRNA in HT29 cells was recapitulated by the band strengths of the selenoproteins analyzed by <sup>75</sup>Se labeling. This may indicate a higher production and/or turnover rate of Sep15 in these cells.</p>
      <fig id="nutrients-03-00805-f001" position="anchor">
        <label>Figure 1</label>
        <caption>
          <p>mRNA expression of selenoproteins in Sep15 deficient human colorectal cancer cells. mRNA levels of (<bold>a</bold>) Sep15, (<bold>b</bold>) GPx1, (<bold>c</bold>) GPx2 and (<bold>d</bold>) TR1 were measured using quantitative real-time RT-PCR, and <italic>GAPDH</italic> was used as an internal control. Data are displayed as means ± SE (ANOVA, <italic>n</italic> = 3) and were graphed relative to expression in HCT116 control cells (cycle threshold values were 17.6, 20.1, 19.6, 29.7 and 23.5 for <italic>GAPDH</italic>, <italic>SEP15</italic>, <italic>GPX1</italic>, <italic>GPX2</italic> and <italic>TR1</italic>, respectively).</p>
        </caption>
        <graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="nutrients-03-00805-g001.tif"/>
      </fig>
      <fig id="nutrients-03-00805-f002" position="anchor">
        <label>Figure 2</label>
        <caption>
          <p>Protein expression of Sep15, GPx1/2 and TR1 upon targeted removal of Sep15 in HCT116 and HT29 human colorectal cancer cells, as determined by labeling cells with <sup>75</sup>Se. </p>
        </caption>
        <graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="nutrients-03-00805-g002.tif"/>
      </fig>
      <sec>
        <title>3.1. Cell Growth</title>
        <p>HCT116 and HT29 human colon cancer cells that lack Sep15 exhibited a significantly reduced cell growth as early as three days after seeding (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f003">Figure 3</xref>). The growth rate was significantly reduced, and, in both the HCT116 and HT29 cell lines, there were 50% (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001) and 40% (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001) fewer shSep15 cells after four days compared to control cells, respectively (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f003">Figure 3</xref>a,b). </p>
        <fig id="nutrients-03-00805-f003" position="anchor">
          <label>Figure 3</label>
          <caption>
            <p>Effects of Sep15 deficiency on cell growth over a four day period with (<bold>a</bold>) HCT116 cells and (<bold>b</bold>) HT29 cells. Values are means ± SE (<italic>t</italic>-tests, <italic>n</italic> = 3–6).</p>
          </caption>
          <graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="nutrients-03-00805-g003.tif"/>
        </fig>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>3.2. Anchorage-Independent Growth in Soft Agar</title>
        <p>The ability to grow unanchored in soft agar, which is a characteristic of many cancer cells, was also evaluated for both cell lines (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f004">Figure 4</xref>a–c). A representative soft agar dish with stained HT29 cell colonies is shown in <xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f004">Figure 4</xref>a. In comparison to plasmid-transfected control cells, (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f004">Figure 4</xref>b) HCT116 and (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f004">Figure 4</xref>c) HT29 cells transfected with the shSep15 construct had a significantly reduced ability to grow anchorage-independently in soft agar (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001 and <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05, respectively), compared to the plasmid-transfected control cells. Furthermore, for both cell lines, colonies in control dishes appeared generally larger than those observed in dishes with shSep15 cells.</p>
        <fig id="nutrients-03-00805-f004" position="anchor">
          <label>Figure 4</label>
          <caption>
            <p>Effects of Sep15 deficiency on anchorage-independent colony formation in soft agar as quantitated by staining cell colonies with <italic>p</italic>-iodonitrotetrazolium overnight. (<bold>a</bold>) Representative soft agar dishes with stained colonies of HT29 cells after 20 days; numbers of colonies of (<bold>b</bold>) HCT116 cells and (<bold>c</bold>) HT29 cells. Values are mean ± SE (<italic>t</italic>-test, <italic>n</italic> = 4). </p>
          </caption>
          <graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="nutrients-03-00805-g004.tif"/>
        </fig>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>3.3. Cell Cycle Analysis</title>
        <p>Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) was used to evaluate whether targeted down-regulation of Sep15 in human colon cancer cells would result in G<sub>2</sub>/M cell cycle arrest as suggested by our previous results with mouse colon cancer cell lines [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14-nutrients-03-00805">14</xref>]. HCT116 shSep15 cells only exhibited a very small, but statistically significant larger percentage of cells in the G<sub>0</sub>/G<sub>1</sub> phase compared to controls at six hours past cell cycle synchronization (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.01, <xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f005">Figure 5</xref>). However, for HT29 shSep15 cells, a much more pronounced statistically significant delayed release of cells from the G<sub>0</sub>/G<sub>1</sub> phase was observed six hours after synchronization (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f005">Figure 5</xref>). Other time points, <italic>i.e.</italic>, 12, 24 or 48 h following release from synchronization, did not demonstrate any marked differences between shSep15 cells and their respective controls (not shown).</p>
        <fig id="nutrients-03-00805-f005" position="anchor">
          <label>Figure 5</label>
          <caption>
            <p>Cell cycle analysis of HCT116 and HT29 cells. Percent of cells in each phase of the cell cycle as determined by FACS analysis at six hours after release from synchronization with serum is shown. Values are means ± SE (<italic>t</italic>-tests, <italic>n</italic> = 6).</p>
          </caption>
          <graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="nutrients-03-00805-g005.tif"/>
        </fig>
      </sec>
      <sec>
        <title>3.4. Guanylate Binding Protein-1 and Interferon-γ Expression in Human Colon Cancer Cells</title>
        <p>Because Sep15 deficiency in mouse colon cancer cells as well as in Sep15 knockout mice <italic>in vivo</italic> demonstrated a highly increased expression of GBP-1 compared to controls [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14-nutrients-03-00805">14</xref>,<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17-nutrients-03-00805">17</xref>], mRNA expression of GBP-1 was also evaluated in human colon cancer cells. No statistically significant increase of GBP-1 mRNA was observed in shSep15 HCT116 or HT29 cells compared to their respective control cells (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f006">Figure 6</xref>a). Furthermore, mRNA expression of interferon-γ, a known inducer of GBP-1, was at the limit of detection and no significant differences were found between shSep15 knockdown cells and controls for either human cancer cell line (<xref ref-type="fig" rid="nutrients-03-00805-f006">Figure 6</xref>b). The relatively higher levels of GBP-1 in HT29 cells corresponded to relatively higher interferon-γ levels compared to observations in HCT116 cells.</p>
        <fig id="nutrients-03-00805-f006" position="anchor">
          <label>Figure 6</label>
          <caption>
            <p>mRNA expression of guanylate binding protein-1 (GBP-1) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ). mRNA levels of (<bold>a</bold>) GBP-1 and (<bold>b</bold>) IFN-γin HCT116 and HT29 colon cancer cells were determined by quantitative real-time RT-PCR, with <italic>GAPDH</italic> used as internal control. Columns depict means ± SE (<italic>t</italic>-test, <italic>n</italic> = 6), and were graphed relative to expression in HCT116 control cells (cycle threshold values were 17.6, 22.3 and 31.5 for <italic>GAPDH</italic>, <italic>GBP-1</italic> and <italic>IFN-γ</italic>, respectively).</p>
          </caption>
          <graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="nutrients-03-00805-g006.tif"/>
        </fig>
      </sec>
    </sec>
    <sec sec-type="discussion">
      <title>4. Discussion</title>
      <p>Our previous study demonstrated that down-regulation of Sep15 may be protective against tumorigenesis and metastasis in murine colon cancer cells, and that these effects were mediated, at least in part, through an alteration of the cell cycle [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14-nutrients-03-00805">14</xref>]. In the current study, we demonstrated that a targeted down-regulation of Sep15 in the two human colon cancer cell lines, HCT116 and HT29, also resulted in a reversal of the cancer phenotype. Both cell lines, upon down-regulation of Sep15, demonstrated significantly reduced growth abilities under both anchorage-dependent and -independent conditions compared to their respective controls. It appears that removing Sep15 expression may have protective effects against colon cancer in humans also. In contrast, as shown in our previous study, Sep15 deficiency had no effect on anchorage-dependent or -independent cell growth in mouse Lewis lung cancer cells [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14-nutrients-03-00805">14</xref>]. It remains to be investigated, if this apparent tissue specificity of Sep15 observed previously in murine cancer cells will also apply to human cancer cells. Furthermore, the mechanism through which Sep15 acts in human colon cancer will need to be elucidated further. </p>
      <p>In mouse colon cancer CT26 cells, a clear G<sub>2</sub>/M phase arrest was observed in cell cycle analysis [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14-nutrients-03-00805">14</xref>], whereas a delayed release from G<sub>0</sub>/G<sub>1</sub> after cell cycle synchronization was observed in human cells. This delayed response was especially noticeable in HT29 cells, where shSep15 cells remained in the G<sub>0</sub>/G<sub>1</sub> phase significantly longer than their corresponding control cells. This observation indicates that a loss of Sep15 expression in at least some colon cancer cells results in an alteration of the cell cycle.</p>
      <p>We analyzed the mRNA expression of the interferon-γ inducible GBP-1 in both HCT116 and HT29 cells. Our previous results had indicated that targeted removal of Sep15 in mice <italic>in vivo</italic> also induced a very strong up-regulation of the large GTPase GBP-1 [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17-nutrients-03-00805">17</xref>], which is thought to function as an anti-apoptotic protein [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22-nutrients-03-00805">22</xref>]. This up-regulation of GBP-1, in absence of Sep15 expression, has also been found in the mouse colon cancer cell line CT26 [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B17-nutrients-03-00805">17</xref>]. Because up-regulation of GBP-1 expression in humans has been associated with longer survival in colon cancer patients [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B23-nutrients-03-00805">23</xref>], GBP-1 is considered to be an activation marker of endothelial cells during inflammatory diseases. Unlike in mouse colon cancer CT26 cells, no statistically significant increase of GBP-1 mRNA was observed in human colon cancer shSep15 cells compared to their respective controls. HT29 cells, which exhibited a two-fold higher GBP-1 expression than HCT116 cells, and a corresponding higher interferon-γ expression, showed a slight increase in GBP-1 mRNA expression (<italic>P</italic> &gt; 0.05) upon targeted down-regulation of Sep15 compared to their controls. Future experiments should include human (colon) cancer cell lines with an even higher Sep15 expression than HT29 cells, which we would anticipate to have significantly increased GBP-1 levels as a response to loss of Sep15. </p>
    </sec>
    <sec sec-type="conclusions">
      <title>5. Conclusions</title>
      <p>Reduction of Sep15 resulted in reversal of the cancer phenotype in human colon cancer cells, with limited regulation through changes in cell cycle. The slight increase in GBP-1 mRNA in HT29 cells may reflect a stronger effect in response to loss of Sep15 in these cells. Future studies should include targeted down-regulation as well as over-expression of Sep15 in these and other colon cancer cell lines, which may be reflecting human polymorphic Sep15 status, and thus may help further elucidate the function of Sep15 in colon cancer in humans. Furthermore, because Sep15 expression depends on the selenium status, these results are important in regards to differential intake of, and response to, dietary selenium and potential cancer risk.</p>
    </sec>
  </body>
  <back>
    <ack>
      <title>Acknowledgements</title>
      <p>We would like to acknowledge the assistance with FACS analysis by Barbara Taylor from the Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute. This study was funded by the Intramural Research Program of the Center for Cancer Research, the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program and the Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.</p>
    </ack>
    <notes>
      <title>Conflict of Interest</title>
      <p>The authors declare no conflicts of interest.</p>
    </notes>
    <ref-list>
      <title>References</title>
      <ref id="B1-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>1.</label>
        <citation citation-type="book">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Reilly</surname>
              <given-names>C.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <source>Selenium in Food and Health</source>
          <edition>2nd</edition>
          <publisher-name>Springer Science + Business Media</publisher-name>
          <publisher-loc>New York, NY, USA</publisher-loc>
          <year>2006</year>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B2-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>2.</label>
        <citation citation-type="book">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Tsuji</surname>
              <given-names>P.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Davis</surname>
              <given-names>C.D.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Milner</surname>
              <given-names>J.A.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Selenium: Dietary Sources and Human Requirements</article-title>
          <source>Selenium: Its Molecular Biology and Role in Human Health</source>
          <edition>3rd</edition>
          <person-group person-group-type="editor">
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Berry</surname>
              <given-names>M.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <publisher-name>Springer</publisher-name>
          <publisher-loc>New York, NY, USA</publisher-loc>
          <year>2011</year>
          <comment>in press.</comment>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B3-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>3.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Davis</surname>
              <given-names>C.D.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Irons</surname>
              <given-names>R.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Are selenoproteins important for the cancer protective effects of selenium?</article-title>
          <source>Curr. Nutr. Food Sci.</source>
          <year>2005</year>
          <volume>1</volume>
          <fpage>201</fpage>
          <lpage>214</lpage>
          <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.2174/157340105774574857</pub-id>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B4-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>4.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Finley</surname>
              <given-names>J.W.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Ip</surname>
              <given-names>C.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Lisk</surname>
              <given-names>D.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Davis</surname>
              <given-names>C.D.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hintze</surname>
              <given-names>K.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Whanger</surname>
              <given-names>P.D.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Cancerprotective properties of high-selenium broccoli</article-title>
          <source>J. Agric. Food Chem.</source>
          <year>2001</year>
          <volume>49</volume>
          <fpage>2679</fpage>
          <lpage>2683</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1021/jf0014821</pub-id><pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">11368655</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B5-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>5.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Jacobs</surname>
              <given-names>E.T.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Jiang</surname>
              <given-names>R.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Alberts</surname>
              <given-names>D.S.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Greenberg</surname>
              <given-names>E.R.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gunter</surname>
              <given-names>E.W.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Karagas</surname>
              <given-names>M.R.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Lanza</surname>
              <given-names>E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Ratnasinghe</surname>
              <given-names>L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Reid</surname>
              <given-names>M.E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Schatzkin</surname>
              <given-names>A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <etal/>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Selenium and colorectal adenoma: Results of a pooled analysis</article-title>
          <source>J. Natl. Cancer Inst.</source>
          <year>2004</year>
          <volume>96</volume>
          <fpage>1669</fpage>
          <lpage>1675</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1093/jnci/djh310</pub-id><pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">15547179</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B6-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>6.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Kryukov</surname>
              <given-names>G.V.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Castellano</surname>
              <given-names>S.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Novoselov</surname>
              <given-names>S.V.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Lobanov</surname>
              <given-names>A.V.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Zehtab</surname>
              <given-names>O.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Guigó</surname>
              <given-names>R.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Characterization of mammalian selenoproteomes</article-title>
          <source>Science</source>
          <year>2003</year>
          <volume>300</volume>
          <fpage>1439</fpage>
          <lpage>1443</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1126/science.1083516</pub-id><pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">12775843</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B7-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>7.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Labunskyy</surname>
              <given-names>V.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>The Sep15 protein family: Roles in disulfide bond formation and quality control in the endoplasmic reticulum</article-title>
          <source>IUBMB Life</source>
          <year>2007</year>
          <volume>59</volume>
          <fpage>1</fpage>
          <lpage>5</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1080/15216540601126694</pub-id><pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">17365173</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B8-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>8.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Kumaraswamy</surname>
              <given-names>E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Malykh</surname>
              <given-names>A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Korotkov</surname>
              <given-names>K.V.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Kozyavkin</surname>
              <given-names>S.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hu</surname>
              <given-names>Y.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Kwon</surname>
              <given-names>S.Y.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Moustafa</surname>
              <given-names>M.E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Carlson</surname>
              <given-names>B.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Berry</surname>
              <given-names>M.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Lee</surname>
              <given-names>B.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <etal/>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Structure-expression relationships of the 15-kda selenoprotein gene. Possible role of the protein in cancer etiology</article-title>
          <source>J. Biol. Chem.</source>
          <year>2000</year>
          <volume>275</volume>
          <fpage>35540</fpage>
          <lpage>35547</lpage>
          <pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">10945981</pub-id>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B9-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>9.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Ferguson</surname>
              <given-names>A.D.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Labunskyy</surname>
              <given-names>V.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Fomenko</surname>
              <given-names>D.E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Arac</surname>
              <given-names>D.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Chelllah</surname>
              <given-names>Y.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Amezcua</surname>
              <given-names>C.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Rizo</surname>
              <given-names>J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Delsenhofer</surname>
              <given-names>J.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Nmr structures of the selenoproteins Sep15 and selm reveal redox activity of a new thioredoxin-like family</article-title>
          <source>J. Biol. Chem.</source>
          <year>2005</year>
          <volume>281</volume>
          <fpage>3536</fpage>
          <lpage>3543</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1074/jbc.M511386200</pub-id><pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">16319061</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B10-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>10.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Nasr</surname>
              <given-names>M.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hu</surname>
              <given-names>Y.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Diamond</surname>
              <given-names>A.M.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Allelic loss of the <italic>Sep15</italic> locus in breast cancer</article-title>
          <source>Cancer Ther.</source>
          <year>2004</year>
          <volume>1</volume>
          <fpage>293</fpage>
          <lpage>298</lpage>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B11-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>11.</label>
        <citation citation-type="book">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Labunskyy</surname>
              <given-names>V.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>The 15-kda Selenoprotein (Sep15): Functional Analysis and Role in Cancer</article-title>
          <source>Selenium: Its Molecular Biology and Role in Human Health</source>
          <person-group person-group-type="editor">
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Berry</surname>
              <given-names>M.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <publisher-name>Springer</publisher-name>
          <publisher-loc>New York, NY, USA</publisher-loc>
          <year>2006</year>
          <fpage>141</fpage>
          <lpage>148</lpage>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B12-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>12.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Jablonska</surname>
              <given-names>E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gromadzinska</surname>
              <given-names>J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Sobala</surname>
              <given-names>W.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Reszka</surname>
              <given-names>E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Wasowicz</surname>
              <given-names>W.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Lung cancer risk associated with selenium status is modified in smoking individuals by Sep15 polymorphism</article-title>
          <source>Eur. J. Cancer</source>
          <year>2008</year>
          <volume>47</volume>
          <fpage>47</fpage>
          <lpage>54</lpage>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B13-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>13.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Yoo</surname>
              <given-names>M.H.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Carlson</surname>
              <given-names>B.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Selenoproteins that function in cancer prevention and promotion</article-title>
          <source>Biochim. Biophys. Acta</source>
          <year>2009</year>
          <volume>1790</volume>
          <fpage>1541</fpage>
          <lpage>1545</lpage>
          <pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">19272412</pub-id>
          <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1016/j.bbagen.2009.03.001</pub-id>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B14-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>14.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Irons</surname>
              <given-names>R.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Tsuji</surname>
              <given-names>P.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Carlson</surname>
              <given-names>B.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Ouyang</surname>
              <given-names>P.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Yoo</surname>
              <given-names>M.H.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Xu</surname>
              <given-names>X.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Davis</surname>
              <given-names>C.D.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Deficiency in the 15 kda selenoprotein inhibits tumorigenicity and metastasis of colon cancer cells</article-title>
          <source>Cancer Prev. Res.</source>
          <year>2010</year>
          <volume>3</volume>
          <fpage>630</fpage>
          <lpage>639</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-10-0003</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B15-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>15.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Hu</surname>
              <given-names>Y.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Korotkov</surname>
              <given-names>K.V.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Mehta</surname>
              <given-names>R.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Rotimi</surname>
              <given-names>C.N.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Luke</surname>
              <given-names>A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Prewitt</surname>
              <given-names>T.E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Cooper</surname>
              <given-names>R.S.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Stock</surname>
              <given-names>W.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Vokes</surname>
              <given-names>E.E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <etal/>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Distribution and functional consequences of nucleotide polymorphisms in the 3′-untranslated region of the human <italic>Sep15</italic> gene</article-title>
          <source>Cancer Res.</source>
          <year>2001</year>
          <volume>61</volume>
          <fpage>2307</fpage>
          <lpage>2310</lpage>
          <pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">11280803</pub-id>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B16-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>16.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Kasaikina</surname>
              <given-names>M.V.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Fomenko</surname>
              <given-names>D.E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Labunskyy</surname>
              <given-names>V.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Lachke</surname>
              <given-names>S.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Qiu</surname>
              <given-names>W.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Moncaster</surname>
              <given-names>J.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Zhang</surname>
              <given-names>J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Wojnarowicz</surname>
              <given-names>M.W.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Natarajan</surname>
              <given-names>S.K.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Malinouski</surname>
              <given-names>M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <etal/>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>15 kda selenoprotein (Sep15) knockout mice: Role of Sep15 in redox homeostasis and cataract development</article-title>
          <source>J. Biol. Chem.</source>
          <year>2011</year>
          <volume>286</volume>
          <comment>in press.</comment>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B17-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>17.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Tsuji</surname>
              <given-names>P.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Carlson</surname>
              <given-names>B.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Yoo</surname>
              <given-names>M.H.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Xu</surname>
              <given-names>X.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Naranjo-Suarez</surname>
              <given-names>S.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Fomenko</surname>
              <given-names>D.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Davis</surname>
              <given-names>C.D.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Sep15 knockout in mice provides protection against chemically-induced aberrant crypt formation</article-title>
          <source>FASEB J.</source>
          <year>2011</year>
          <volume>25</volume>
          <fpage>110</fpage>
          <lpage>1</lpage>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B18-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>18.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Labunskyy</surname>
              <given-names>V.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Ferguson</surname>
              <given-names>A.D.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Fomenko</surname>
              <given-names>D.E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Chelliah</surname>
              <given-names>Y.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>A novel cysteine-rich domain of sep15 mediates the interaction with udp-glucose: Glycoprotein glucosyltransferase</article-title>
          <source>J. Biol. Chem.</source>
          <year>2005</year>
          <volume>280</volume>
          <fpage>37839</fpage>
          <lpage>37845</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1074/jbc.M508685200</pub-id><pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">16129668</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B19-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>19.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Labunskyy</surname>
              <given-names>V.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Yoo</surname>
              <given-names>M.H.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Sep15, a thioredoxin-like selenoprotein, is involved in the unfolded protein response and differentially regulated by adaptive and acute ER stresses</article-title>
          <source>Biochemistry</source>
          <year>2009</year>
          <volume>48</volume>
          <fpage>8458</fpage>
          <lpage>8465</lpage>
          <pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">19650649</pub-id>
          <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1021/bi900717p</pub-id>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B20-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>20.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Khare</surname>
              <given-names>S.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Chaudhary</surname>
              <given-names>K.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Bissonnette</surname>
              <given-names>M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Carroll</surname>
              <given-names>R.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Aberrant crypt foci in colon cancer epidemiology</article-title>
          <source>Methods Mol. Biol.</source>
          <year>2009</year>
          <volume>472</volume>
          <fpage>373</fpage>
          <lpage>386</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">19107443</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B21-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>21.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Yoo</surname>
              <given-names>M.H.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Xu</surname>
              <given-names>X.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Carlson</surname>
              <given-names>B.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Gladyshev</surname>
              <given-names>V.N.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hatfield</surname>
              <given-names>D.L.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Thioredoxin reductase 1 deficiency reverses tumor phenotypes and tumorigenicity of lung carcinoma cells</article-title>
          <source>J. Biol. Chem.</source>
          <year>2006</year>
          <volume>281</volume>
          <fpage>13005</fpage>
          <lpage>13008</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1074/jbc.C600012200</pub-id><pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">16565519</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B22-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>22.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Mirpuri</surname>
              <given-names>J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Brazil</surname>
              <given-names>J.C.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Berardinelli</surname>
              <given-names>A.J.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Nasr</surname>
              <given-names>T.R.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Cooper</surname>
              <given-names>K.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Schnoor</surname>
              <given-names>M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Lin</surname>
              <given-names>P.W.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Parkos</surname>
              <given-names>C.A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Louis</surname>
              <given-names>N.A.</given-names>
            </name>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Commensal <italic>Escherichia coli</italic> reduces epithelial apoptosis through ifn-alpha-mediated induction of guanylate binding protein-1 in human and murine models of developing intestine</article-title>
          <source>J. Immunol.</source>
          <year>2010</year>
          <volume>184</volume>
          <fpage>7186</fpage>
          <lpage>7195</lpage>
          <pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">20483731</pub-id>
        </citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="B23-nutrients-03-00805">
        <label>23.</label>
        <citation citation-type="journal">
          <person-group person-group-type="author">
            <name>
              <surname>Naschberger</surname>
              <given-names>E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Croner</surname>
              <given-names>R.S.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Merkel</surname>
              <given-names>S.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Dimmler</surname>
              <given-names>A.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Tripal</surname>
              <given-names>P.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Ammann</surname>
              <given-names>K.U.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Kremmer</surname>
              <given-names>E.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Brueckl</surname>
              <given-names>W.M.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Papadopoulos</surname>
              <given-names>T.</given-names>
            </name>
            <name>
              <surname>Hohenadl</surname>
              <given-names>C.</given-names>
            </name>
            <etal/>
          </person-group>
          <article-title>Angiostatic immune reaction in colorectal carcinoma: Impact on survival and perspectives for antiangiogenic therapy</article-title>
          <source>Int. J. Cancer</source>
          <year>2008</year>
          <volume>123</volume>
          <fpage>2120</fpage>
          <lpage>2129</lpage>
        <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1002/ijc.23764</pub-id><pub-id pub-id-type="pmid">18697200</pub-id></citation>
      </ref>
    </ref-list>
  </back>
</article>
