Over-expression of neurotensin high-affinity receptor 1 (NTS1) in relation with its ligand neurotensin (NT) and nuclear ß-catenin in inflammatory bowel disease-related oncogenesis

We investigated the expression of the neurotensin high-affinity receptor 1 (NTS1) during inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-related colorectal oncogenesis, in colonic samples from 30 patients with IBD-related adenocarcinomas, dysplasias, and inflammatory mucosa (IM).The percentage of NTS1-positive epithelial cells progressively increased from the inflammatory condition to adenocarcinoma and was significantly higher in adenocarcinomas than in IM (p = 0.0169). In parallel, the percentage of neurotensin (NT)-positive epithelial cells increased during the IBD-related oncogenesis. Finally, as NTS1 is a ß-catenin inducible gene, we found that a number of preneoplastic lesions and adenocarcinomas co-expressed NTS1 and ß-catenin without NT expression. Therefore, this study suggests two pathways of NTS1 overexpression during IBD-related oncogenesis: one triggered by NT overexpression, and a second associated with an activation of the APC/β-catenin pathway, these two pathways being not mutually exclusive.