Phosphodiesterase-5 inhibition suppresses colonic inflammation-induced tumorigenesis via blocking the recruitment of MDSC

Phosphodiesterase 5 (PDE-5) is a major isoform of cGMP phosphodiesterase in diverse tissues and plays a critical role in regulating intracellular cGMP concentrations. However, the distribution and expression of PDE-5 in colitis-related colon cancer was still unclear, not even the function and mechanism. Western blotting and ELISA were performed to detect colonic PDE-5 expression in AOM/DSS-induced tumorigenesis model. Sildenafil, a specific PDE-5 inhibitor, was used to treat AOM/DSS-induced and AOM-induced colonic tumorigenesis model and DSS-induced colitis model. The leukocyte infiltration in colonic tissue was examined by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence staining. Further matrigel-based invasion assay was employed to determine the effects of Sildenafil on myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) in vitro. We first demonstrated the upregulation of colonic PDE-5 expression and the prevention role of PDE-5 inhibition in AOM/DSS-induced tumorigenesis model. More importantly, PDE-5 inhibitor Sildenafil inhibited colonic tumorigenesis dependent on inflammation and suppressed DSS-induced colitis. Molecular mechanism investigation indicated that Sildenafil regulated inflammation microenvironment via directly inhibiting MDSC infiltration in colonic tissue. The study provides solid evidence for the use of PDE-5 inhibitor in preventing and treating colonic inflammation-related tumorigenesis.