15-lipoxygenase-1 exerts its tumor suppressive role by inhibiting nuclear factor-kappa B via activation of PPAR gamma.

15-Lipoxygenase-1 (15-LOX-1) is an enzyme of the inflammatory eicosanoid pathway whose expression is known to be lost in colorectal cancer (CRC). We have previously shown that reintroduction of the gene in CRC cell lines slows proliferation and induces apoptosis (Cimen et al. [2009] Cancer Sci 100: 2283-2291). We have hypothesized that 15-LOX-1 may be anti-tumorigenic by the inhibition of the antiapoptotic inflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor kappa B. We show here that ectopic expression of 15-LOX-1 gene in HCT-116 and HT-29 CRC cell lines inhibited the degradation of inhibitor of kappa B (I kappa B alpha), decreased nuclear translocation of p65 and p50, decreased DNA binding in the nucleus and decreased transcriptional activity of Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B). As the 15-LOX-1 enzymatic product 13(S)-HODE is known to be a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma) agonist, and NF-kappa B can be inhibited by PPAR gamma, we examined whether activation of PPAR gamma was necessary for the abrogation of NF-kappa B activity. Our data show that the inhibition of both early and late stages of NF-kappa B activation could rescued by the PPARg antagonist GW9662 indicating that the inhibition was most likely mediated via PPAR gamma