Calcium mobilization from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) into the cytosol is a key component of several signaling networks controlling tumor cell growth, differentiation, or apoptosis. Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium transport ATPases (SERCA-type calcium pumps), enzymes that accumulate calcium in the ER, play an important role in these phenomena. We report that SERCA3 expression is significantly reduced or lost in colon carcinomas when compared with normal colonic epithelial cells, which express this enzyme at a high level. To study the involvement of SERCA enzymes in differentiation, in this work differentiation of colon and gastric cancer cell lines was initiated, and the change in the expression of SERCA isoenzymes as well as intracellular calcium levels were investigated. Treatment of the tumor cells with butyrate or other established differentiation inducing agents resulted in a marked and specific induction of the expression of SERCA3, whereas the expression of the ubiquitous SERCA2 enzymes did not change significantly or was reduced. A similar marked increase in SERCA3 expression was found during spontaneous differentiation of post-confluent Caco-2 cells, and this closely correlated with the induction of other known markers of differentiation. Analysis of the expression of the SERCA3 alternative splice isoforms revealed induction of all three known iso-SERCA3 variants (3a, 3b, and 3c). Butyrate treatment of the KATO-III gastric cancer cells led to higher resting cytosolic calcium concentrations and, in accordance with the lower calcium affinity of SERCA3, to diminished ER calcium content. These data taken together indicate a defect in SERCA3 expression in colon cancers as compared with normal colonic epithelium, show that the calcium homeostasis of the endoplasmic reticulum may be remodeled during cellular differentiation, and indicate that SERCA3 constitutes an interesting new differentiation marker that may prove useful for the analysis of the phenotype of gastrointestinal adenocarcinomas.Cellular calcium concentration gradients and calcium ion fluxes are important components of several signaling networks controlling cell growth, differentiation, or apoptosis (1, 2). In a resting cell, the cytosolic free calcium concentration is ϳ50 -100 nM, whereas the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) 1 or the extracellular medium contains calcium in the high micromolar to low millimolar range. Binding of several growth factors, hormones, chemokines, or bioactive peptides to their cell surface receptors leads to the formation of the second messenger inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP 3 ), which induces calcium release from the endoplasmic reticulum into the cytosol through IP 3 receptor calcium channels. The ensuing decrease of the calcium content of the ER lumen induces the opening of calcium channels in the plasma membrane, allowing calcium influx into the cytosol from the extracellular space. Calcium release from the ER and ensuing calcium influx lead to the augmentation of the cytosolic free calcium concentration. As m...

Calcium accumulation in the endoplasmic reticulum is accomplished by sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium transport ATPases (SERCA enzymes). To better characterize the role of SERCA3 in colon carcinogenesis, its expression has been investigated in colonic epithelium, benign lesions, adenomas, and adenocarcinomas. In addition, the regulation of SERCA3 expression was analyzed in the context of the adenomatous polyposis coli/␤-catenin/T-cell factor 4 (TCF4) pathway and of specificity protein 1 (Sp1)-like factordependent transcription. We report that SERCA3 expression increased along the crypts as cells differentiated in normal colonic mucosa and in hyperplastic polyps, was moderately and heterogeneously expressed in colonic adenomas with expression levels inversely correlated with the degree of dysplasia, was barely detectable in well and moderately differentiated adenocarcinomas, and was absent in poorly differentiated tumors. Inhibition of Sp1-like factor-dependent transcription blocked SERCA3 expression during cell differentiation, and Calcium homeostasis of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is involved in several essential cell functions. Calcium stored in the ER is required for chaperone-assisted maturation of newly synthesized proteins transiting through the organelle. 1-3 Moreover, second messenger-induced calcium release from the ER through inositol-tris-phosphate-and ryanodine receptor-type calcium channels constitutes an integral part of many intracellular signal transduction pathways and networks. 4,5 Because ER calcium homeostasis is therefore involved in many constitutive or inducible cell functions, calcium accumulation into this organelle, assured by sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium transport ATPase (SERCA)-type calcium pumps is essential for numerous cellular activities such as secretion, neuronal plasticity, stress responses, proliferation, differentiation, or various forms of cell death. 6 -12 Three SERCA genes are known that code by alternative splicing several isoforms, the expression of which is tissue dependent and developmentally regulated. 13

Phosphorylation, immunoblotting, limited proteolysis and drug-sensitivity analysis were used to characterize the sarcoendoplasmic-reticulum Ca2+ ATPases in a variety of human cell types. In platelets, several megakaryoblastoid and lymphoblastoid cell lines two distinct autophosphorylated forms of these ATPases with molecular mass of 100 and 97 kDa could be observed, whereas in several other cell types the 97 kDa form was absent. On immunoblots the 97 kDa species was specifically recognized by an inhibitory monoclonal antibody raised against the Ca2+ pump of platelet internal membranes, yielded on trypsinolysis a major fragment of 80 kDa, exhibited a distinct electrophoretic migration pattern as compared with the skeletal-, cardiac- and smooth-muscle Ca2+ pumps, and its autophosphorylation was strongly inhibited by the Ca(2+)-mobilizing agent 2,5-di-(t-butyl)-1,4-benzohydroquinone (tBHQ). The 100 kDa species reacted with an antibody specific for the cardiac- and smooth-muscle Ca2+ pumps, yielded on trypsinolysis fragments of 55 and 35 kDa, and its autophosphorylation was much less sensitive to tBHQ inhibition. These findings indicate the simultaneous presence of two different endoplasmic-reticulum Ca2+ pumps in a variety of human cell types, and may explain the previously observed differences in the Ca(2+)-handling characteristics of different intracellular Ca2+ pools and cell types.