Intestinal epithelial GR in the regulation of intestinal inflammation and colon cancer. Intestinal epithelial GR in the regulation of intestinal inflammation and colon cancer

The goal of this project is to investigate the role of glucocorticoids and their receptor, glucocorticoid receptor (GR), in intestinal stress response and tissue homeostasis. Using a mouse model with specific deletion of GR in intestinal epithelium (GR iKO mice), we recently discovered that intestinal epithelial GR deficiency deteriorates acute colitis while reducing chronic inflammation-associated colon cancer formation in mice. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying these phenotypes, we examined colonic transcriptomes of Flox control and GR iKO mice treated with or without dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) for 7 days by microarray analysis. Overall design: Total RNA were extracted from colon tissues of 4 pairs of regular Flox control and GR iKO mice and 3 pairs of Flox and GR iKO mice treated with 2.5% DSS in drinking water for 7 days. Gene expression profiles were analyzed using Agilent Whole Mouse Genome 4x44 multiplex format oligo arrays (014868) (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA), following the Agilent 1-color microarray-based gene expression analysis protocol.