Involvement of chemokine receptors in breast cancer metastasis

Breast cancer is characterized by a distinct metastatic pattern involving the regional lymph nodes, bone marrow, lung and liver. Tumour cell migration and metastasis share many similarities with leukocyte trafficking, which is critically regulated by chemokines and their receptors. Here we report that the chemokine receptors CXCR4 and CCR7 are highly expressed in human breast cancer cells, malignant breast tumours and metastases. Their respective ligands CXCL12/SDF-1alpha and CCL21/6Ckine exhibit peak levels of expression in organs representing the first destinations of breast cancer metastasis. In breast cancer cells, signalling through CXCR4 or CCR7 mediates actin polymerization and pseudopodia formation, and subsequently induces chemotactic and invasive responses. In vivo, neutralizing the interactions of CXCL12/CXCR4 significantly impairs metastasis of breast cancer cells to regional lymph nodes and lung. Malignant melanoma, which has a similar metastatic pattern as breast cancer but also a high incidence of skin metastases, shows high expression levels of CCR10 in addition to CXCR4 and CCR7. Our findings indicate that chemokines and their receptors have a critical role in determining the metastatic destination of tumour cells.     

Osteoclast differentiation factor RANKL controls development of progestin-driven mammary cancer

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in humans and will on average affect up to one in eight women in their lifetime in the United States and Europe. The Women's Health Initiative and the Million Women Study have shown that hormone replacement therapy is associated with an increased risk of incident and fatal breast cancer. In particular, synthetic progesterone derivatives (progestins) such as medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA), used in millions of women for hormone replacement therapy and contraceptives, markedly increase the risk of developing breast cancer. Here we show that the in vivo administration of MPA triggers massive induction of the key osteoclast differentiation factor RANKL (receptor activator of NF-κB ligand) in mammary-gland epithelial cells. Genetic inactivation of the RANKL receptor RANK in mammary-gland epithelial cells prevents MPA-induced epithelial proliferation, impairs expansion of the CD49f(hi) stem-cell-enriched population, and sensitizes these cells to DNA-damage-induced cell death. Deletion of RANK from the mammary epithelium results in a markedly decreased incidence and delayed onset of MPA-driven mammary cancer. These data show that the RANKL/RANK system controls the incidence and onset of progestin-driven breast cancer.     

Bone metastasis: can osteoclasts be excluded?

The RANK/RANKL signalling mechanism is the final common pathway of osteoclast formation and activity. Inhibitors of RANK ligand (RANKL) that bind to RANK (for 'receptor activator of NF-kappaB'), such as osteoprotegerin (OPG), neutralizing antibodies against RANKL and soluble RANK antagonists, are well described inhibitors of bone metastasis in preclinical and clinical models, presumably because of their effects on osteoclasts. Jones et al. show that OPG inhibits bone metastasis after intracardiac injection of B16F10 murine melanoma cells, but claim that bone metastases are entirely independent of osteoclast formation and bone resorption: rather, they are caused by an effect on cell migration through RANK. However, we question whether these surprising conclusions are rigorously supported by their data.     

Chemokine receptor CXCR4 downregulated by von Hippel-Lindau tumour suppressor pVHL

Organ-specific metastasis is governed, in part, by interactions between chemokine receptors on cancer cells and matching chemokines in target organs. For example, malignant breast cancer cells express the chemokine receptor CXCR4 and commonly metastasize to organs that are an abundant source of the CXCR4-specific ligand stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (ref. 1). It is still uncertain how an evolving tumour cell is reprogrammed to express CXCR4, thus implementing the tendency to metastasize to specific organs. Here we show that the von Hippel-Lindau tumour suppressor protein pVHL negatively regulates CXCR4 expression owing to its capacity to target hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) for degradation under normoxic conditions. This process is suppressed under hypoxic conditions, resulting in HIF-dependent CXCR4 activation. An analysis of clear cell renal carcinoma that manifests mutation of the VHL gene in most cases revealed an association of strong CXCR4 expression with poor tumour-specific survival. These results suggest a mechanism for CXCR4 activation during tumour cell evolution and imply that VHL inactivation acquired by incipient tumour cells early in tumorigenesis confers not only a selective survival advantage but also the tendency to home to selected organs.     

A microRNA regulon that mediates endothelial recruitment and metastasis by cancer cells

Metastatic progression of cancer is a complex and clinically daunting process. We previously identified a set of human microRNAs (miRNAs) that robustly suppress breast cancer metastasis to lung and bone and which display expression levels that predict human metastasis. Although these findings revealed miRNAs as suppressors of cell-autonomous metastatic phenotypes, the roles of non-coding RNAs in non-cell-autonomous cancer progression processes remain unknown. Here we reveal that endogenous miR-126, an miRNA silenced in a variety of common human cancers, non-cell-autonomously regulates endothelial cell recruitment to metastatic breast cancer cells, in vitro and in vivo. It suppresses metastatic endothelial recruitment, metastatic angiogenesis and metastatic colonization through coordinate targeting of IGFBP2, PITPNC1 and MERTK--novel pro-angiogenic genes and biomarkers of human metastasis. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) secreted by metastatic cells recruits endothelia by modulating IGF1-mediated activation of the IGF type-I receptor on endothelial cells; whereas c-Mer tyrosine kinase (MERTK) receptor cleaved from metastatic cells promotes endothelial recruitment by competitively antagonizing the binding of its ligand GAS6 to endothelial MERTK receptors. Co-injection of endothelial cells with breast cancer cells non-cell-autonomously rescues their miR-126-induced metastatic defect, revealing a novel and important role for endothelial interactions in metastatic initiation. Through loss-of-function and epistasis experiments, we delineate an miRNA regulatory network's individual components as novel and cell-extrinsic regulators of endothelial recruitment, angiogenesis and metastatic colonization. We also identify the IGFBP2/IGF1/IGF1R and GAS6/MERTK signalling pathways as regulators of cancer-mediated endothelial recruitment. Our work further reveals endothelial recruitment and endothelial interactions in the tumour microenvironment to be critical features of metastatic breast cancer.     

Mesenchymal stem cells within tumour stroma promote breast cancer metastasis

Mesenchymal stem cells have been recently described to localize to breast carcinomas, where they integrate into the tumour-associated stroma. However, the involvement of mesenchymal stem cells (or their derivatives) in tumour pathophysiology has not been addressed. Here, we demonstrate that bone-marrow-derived human mesenchymal stem cells, when mixed with otherwise weakly metastatic human breast carcinoma cells, cause the cancer cells to increase their metastatic potency greatly when this cell mixture is introduced into a subcutaneous site and allowed to form a tumour xenograft. The breast cancer cells stimulate de novo secretion of the chemokine CCL5 (also called RANTES) from mesenchymal stem cells, which then acts in a paracrine fashion on the cancer cells to enhance their motility, invasion and metastasis. This enhanced metastatic ability is reversible and is dependent on CCL5 signalling through the chemokine receptor CCR5. Collectively, these data demonstrate that the tumour microenvironment facilitates metastatic spread by eliciting reversible changes in the phenotype of cancer cells.     

Suppression of murine breast cancer metastasis by selective inhibition of CXCR4 by synthetic polypeptide derived from viral macrophage inflammatory protein II

Stromal cell-derived factor-1 and its receptor CXC chemokine receptor-4 (CXCR4) have been implicated in breast cancer metastasis. A significant association between HER2 and CXCR4 expression has been observed in human breast tumor tissues, and overexpression of CXCR4 is essential for HER2-mediated tumor metastasis. Moreover, CXCR4 expression is low in normal breast tissues and high in malignant tumors, suggesting that a blockade of CXCR4 may limit tumor metastasis. The present study investigated the action of a synthetic antagonist 21-mer peptide derived from viral macrophage inflammatory protein II against CXCR4 (NT21MP) in inhibiting metastasis in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that chemotaxis of SKBR3 cells toward SDF-1α was reduced by NT21MP in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05). NT21MP inhibited tumor growth at 500 μg/kg and in combination with Herceptin, the anti-HER2 antibody. The in vivo metastatic assay showed that NT21MP significantly inhibited pulmonary metastasis, and the number of metastatic tumor nodes on the surface of the lung was greatly decreased. Compared with the saline-treated control group, PCNA expression was dose-dependently decreased by NT21MP, the percentage of apoptotic cells was increased, and CXCR4 mRNA and protein expression were downregulated. In conclusion, NT21MP inhibits cellular prolifer-ation, promotes apoptosis by downregulating CXCR4 expression, and suppresses the progression of primary and metastatic tumors. CXCR4 may be a useful therapeutic target for breast cancer, and NT21MP may serve as a potential target drug for the treatment of breast cancer metastasis.     

CCL2 recruits inflammatory monocytes to facilitate breast-tumour metastasis

Macrophages, which are abundant in the tumour microenvironment, enhance malignancy. At metastatic sites, a distinct population of metastasis-associated macrophages promotes the extravasation, seeding and persistent growth of tumour cells. Here we define the origin of these macrophages by showing that Gr1-positive inflammatory monocytes are preferentially recruited to pulmonary metastases but not to primary mammary tumours in mice. This process also occurs for human inflammatory monocytes in pulmonary metastases of human breast cancer cells. The recruitment of these inflammatory monocytes, which express CCR2 (the receptor for chemokine CCL2), as well as the subsequent recruitment of metastasis-associated macrophages and their interaction with metastasizing tumour cells, is dependent on CCL2 synthesized by both the tumour and the stroma. Inhibition of CCL2-CCR2 signalling blocks the recruitment of inflammatory monocytes, inhibits metastasis in vivo and prolongs the survival of tumour-bearing mice. Depletion of tumour-cell-derived CCL2 also inhibits metastatic seeding. Inflammatory monocytes promote the extravasation of tumour cells in a process that requires monocyte-derived vascular endothelial growth factor. CCL2 expression and macrophage infiltration are correlated with poor prognosis and metastatic disease in human breast cancer. Our data provide the mechanistic link between these two clinical associations and indicate new therapeutic targets for treating metastatic breast cancer.     

低氧条件下巨噬细胞分泌CCL22促进三阴乳腺癌转移

三阴乳腺癌(Triple Negative Breast Cancer, TNBC)是乳腺癌中恶性程度最高的一种亚型，表现为很高的转移潜能。巨噬细胞，即肿瘤相关巨噬细胞(Tumor-Associated Macrophages, TAM)，在促进TNBC转移中起了重要作用。乳腺癌作为一种实体肿瘤，往往处于缺氧环境中。低氧环境能够促进癌细胞的转移，然而低氧环境中巨噬细胞在促进肿瘤转移中的作用仍然不清楚。在该研究中，THP1细胞被诱导成TAM，经过缺氧培养后，通过Transwell实验检测其促进三阴乳腺癌细胞BT-549和MDA-MB-231的细胞迁移能力；通过尾静脉注射，将MDA-MB-231细胞移植于祼鼠体内，CT扫描，分析了TAM促进TNBC细胞的器官转移能力；通过ELISA实验检测低氧对TAM分泌的肿瘤转移相关因子的影响，通过GDSC在线软件分析了CCL22受体CCR4和其他CCR在乳腺癌组织与正常组织中表达的差异。结果表明低氧条件下巨噬细胞通过分泌CCL22的表达来促进三阴乳腺癌细胞迁移:经过缺氧培养后的TAM显著增强了TNBC细胞迁移能力，以及促进癌细胞在体内向肺转移；低氧诱导TAM分泌CCL22；CCL22受体CCR4在乳腺癌组织中的表达显著高于在正常组织中的。     

小动物活体生物发光成像技术在肿瘤转移研究中的应用

建立小动物活体生物发光成像技术,研究三氧化二砷(As2O3)抑制小鼠B16恶性黑色素瘤的肺转移作用的方法,比较活体生物发光成像技术与常规动物实验技术的优劣性;并探讨As2O3抗小鼠恶性黑色素瘤肺转移的可能机制。结果表明,活体生物发光成像技术可以非侵袭性地动态监测黑色素瘤B16细胞在小鼠肺部的转移过程以及评估As2O3的体内抑制B16肺转移的作用,且活体生物发光成像技术的检测灵敏度优于传统肺转移瘤结节计数技术;As2O3主要通过减低肿瘤新生血管形成、促使肿瘤组织坏死而发挥抗小鼠黑色素瘤肺转移的作用。     

RANK ligand mediates progestin-induced mammary epithelial proliferation and carcinogenesis

RANK ligand (RANKL), a TNF-related molecule, is essential for osteoclast formation, function and survival through interaction with its receptor RANK. Mammary glands of RANK- and RANKL-deficient mice develop normally during sexual maturation, but fail to form lobuloalveolar structures during pregnancy because of defective proliferation and increased apoptosis of mammary epithelium. It has been shown that RANKL is responsible for the major proliferative response of mouse mammary epithelium to progesterone during mammary lactational morphogenesis, and in mouse models, manipulated to induce activation of the RANK/RANKL pathway in the absence of strict hormonal control, inappropriate mammary proliferation is observed. However, there is no evidence so far of a functional contribution of RANKL to tumorigenesis. Here we show that RANK and RANKL are expressed within normal, pre-malignant and neoplastic mammary epithelium, and using complementary gain-of-function (mouse mammary tumour virus (MMTV)-RANK transgenic mice) and loss-of function (pharmacological inhibition of RANKL) approaches, define a direct contribution of this pathway in mammary tumorigenesis. Accelerated pre-neoplasias and increased mammary tumour formation were observed in MMTV-RANK transgenic mice after multiparity or treatment with carcinogen and hormone (progesterone). Reciprocally, selective pharmacological inhibition of RANKL attenuated mammary tumour development not only in hormone- and carcinogen-treated MMTV-RANK and wild-type mice, but also in the MMTV-neu transgenic spontaneous tumour model. The reduction in tumorigenesis upon RANKL inhibition was preceded by a reduction in pre-neoplasias as well as rapid and sustained reductions in hormone- and carcinogen-induced mammary epithelial proliferation and cyclin D1 levels. Collectively, our results indicate that RANKL inhibition is acting directly on hormone-induced mammary epithelium at early stages in tumorigenesis, and the permissive contribution of progesterone to increased mammary cancer incidence is due to RANKL-dependent proliferative changes in the mammary epithelium. The current study highlights a potential role for RANKL inhibition in the management of proliferative breast disease.     

乳腺癌相关转移基因的研究进展

目的综述肿瘤转移基因在乳腺癌中的研究进展。方法采用文献回顾的方法,对目前国内外肿瘤转移基因在乳腺癌中的研究状况加以分析与综述。结果肿瘤转移基因与乳腺癌的发生、转移及预后相关。结论对肿瘤转移基因的深入研究有助于进一步深化对乳腺癌生物学行为的认识,为肿瘤转移的分子诊断和基因治疗提供新的思路。     

Mediators of vascular remodelling co-opted for sequential steps in lung metastasis

Metastasis entails numerous biological functions that collectively enable cancerous cells from a primary site to disseminate and overtake distant organs. Using genetic and pharmacological approaches, we show that the epidermal growth factor receptor ligand epiregulin, the cyclooxygenase COX2, and the matrix metalloproteinases 1 and 2, when expressed in human breast cancer cells, collectively facilitate the assembly of new tumour blood vessels, the release of tumour cells into the circulation, and the breaching of lung capillaries by circulating tumour cells to seed pulmonary metastasis. These findings reveal how aggressive primary tumorigenic functions can be mechanistically coupled to greater lung metastatic potential, and how such biological activities may be therapeutically targeted with specific drug combinations.     

Overexpression of PITPNM3 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell metastasis

A previous study indicated that C–C chemokine(C–C motif)ligand 18(CCL18)is capable of inducing tumor cell invasion and metastasis by interacting with receptor membrane-associated phosphatidylinositol transfer protein 3(PITPNM3)in breast cancer cells.The present study aims to investigate the correlation between the PITPNM3 expression and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot were performed to detect the expression pattern of PITPNM3 in patient samples and HCC cell lines.Wound-healing and transwell chamber assays were performed to assess the migration and invasiveness of HCC cells,and the activation of the signaling protein downstream of PITPNM3 was also detected by Western blot and immunofluorescence.The results revealed that PITPNM3 was upregulated in HCC tissue compared to matched normal liver tissue.Silencing the expression of PITPNM3 by specific siRNAs markedly attenuated the invasive and metastatic abilities of HCC cells,whereas the upregulation of PITPNM3 significantly increased HCC cell mobility.Furthermore,inhibiting the expression of PITPNM3 suppressed the activation of Pyk2,FAK,and Src,while overexpression of PITPNM3enhanced the phosphorylation of FAK and Src in HCC cells.Besides,suppression of Pyk2 can also impair the clustering of integrin.These results imply that PITPNM3 is a vital determinant of HCC migration and invasion.     

人RANKL胞外结构域原核表达载体的构建及表达条件优化

细胞核因子κB受体活化因子配体(Receptor activator of the NF-κB ligand,RANKL)是TNF超家族的重要成员之一,属于Ⅱ型跨膜蛋白,通过与其受体核因子κB受体活化因子(RANK)构建的信号通路参与乳腺癌的发生、肿瘤骨转移、骨质疏松、关节炎等病理过程。人RANKL胞外结构域基因片段与原核表达载体pET-21b融合并转化至表达菌Rosetta,并对其表达条件进行了优化。通过对诱导时机,诱导温度,异丙基-β-D-硫代吡喃半乳糖苷(IPTG)浓度,诱导时间及甘油浓度的条件优化表明,当IPTG的浓度为0.2 mmol/mL,20℃振荡诱导培养6 h时,甘油浓度为4%时,可在上清中获得高效表达的pET-21bRANKL融合蛋白,为该蛋白的进一步纯化及结构与功能研究打下了良好的基础。     

Hedgehog signalling in prostate regeneration, neoplasia and metastasis

Metastatic cancers adopt certain properties of normal cells in developing or regenerating organs, such as the ability to proliferate and alter tissue organization. We find here that activity of the Hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway, which has essential roles in developmental patterning, is required for regeneration of prostate epithelium, and that continuous pathway activation transforms prostate progenitor cells and renders them tumorigenic. Elevated pathway activity furthermore distinguishes metastatic from localized prostate cancer, and pathway manipulation can modulate invasiveness and metastasis. Pathway activity is triggered in response to endogenous expression of Hh ligands, and is dependent upon the expression of Smoothened, an essential Hh response component that is not expressed in benign prostate epithelial cells. Monitoring and manipulating Hh pathway activity may thus offer significant improvements in diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancers with metastatic potential.     

Metastasis suppressor gene KiSS-1 encodes peptide ligand of a G-protein-coupled receptor

Metastasis is a major cause of death in cancer patients and involves a multistep process including detachment of cancer cells from a primary cancer, invasion of surrounding tissue, spread through circulation, re-invasion and proliferation in distant organs. KiSS-1 is a human metastasis suppressor gene, that suppresses metastases of human melanomas and breast carcinomas without affecting tumorigenicity. However, its gene product and functional mechanisms have not been elucidated. Here we show that KiSS-1 (refs 1, 4) encodes a carboxy-terminally amidated peptide with 54 amino-acid residues, which we have isolated from human placenta as the endogenous ligand of an orphan G-protein-coupled receptor (hOT7T175) and have named 'metastin'. Metastin inhibits chemotaxis and invasion of hOT7T175-transfected CHO cells in vitro and attenuates pulmonary metastasis of hOT7T175-transfected B16-BL6 melanomas in vivo. The results suggest possible mechanisms of action for KiSS-1 and a potential new therapeutic approach.