Epithelial-to-Pericyte Transition in Cancer.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lu J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5532613 | biostudies-other | 2017 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:Pericytes have been identified as the major source of precursors of scar-producing myofibroblasts during kidney fibrosis. The underlying mechanisms triggering pericyte-myofibroblast transition are poorly understood. Transforming growth factor ?-1 (TGF-?1) is well recognized as a pluripotent cytokine that drives organ fibrosis. We investigated the role of TGF-?1 in inducing profibrotic signaling from epithelial cells to activate pericyte-myofibroblast transition. Increased expression of TGF-?1 was detected predominantly in injured epithelium after unilateral ureteral obstruction, whereas downstream signaling from the TGF-?1 receptor increased in both injured epithelium and pericytes. In mice with ureteral obstruction that were treated with the pan anti-TGF-? antibody (1D11) or TGF-? receptor type I inhibitor (SB431542), kidney pericyte-myofibroblast transition was blunted. The consequence was marked attenuation of fibrosis. In addition, epithelial cell cycle G2/M arrest and production of profibrotic cytokines were both attenuated. Although TGF-?1 alone did not trigger pericyte proliferation in vitro, it robustly induced ? smooth muscle actin (?-SMA). In cultured kidney epithelial cells, TGF-?1 stimulated G2/M arrest and production of profibrotic cytokines that had the capacity to stimulate proliferation and transition of pericytes to myofibroblasts. In conclusion, this study identified a novel link between injured epithelium and pericyte-myofibroblast transition through TGF-?1 during kidney fibrosis.
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Project description:Vascular pericytes, an important cellular component in the tumor microenvironment, are often associated with tumor vasculatures, and their functions in cancer invasion and metastasis are poorly understood. Here we show that PDGF-BB induces pericyte-fibroblast transition (PFT), which significantly contributes to tumor invasion and metastasis. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments demonstrate that PDGF-BB-PDGFRβ signaling promotes PFT both in vitro and in in vivo tumors. Genome-wide expression analysis indicates that PDGF-BB-activated pericytes acquire mesenchymal progenitor features. Pharmacological inhibition and genetic deletion of PDGFRβ ablate the PDGF-BB-induced PFT. Genetic tracing of pericytes with two independent mouse strains, TN-AP-CreERT2:R26R-tdTomato and NG2-CreERT2:R26R-tdTomato, shows that PFT cells gain stromal fibroblast and myofibroblast markers in tumors. Importantly, coimplantation of PFT cells with less-invasive tumor cells in mice markedly promotes tumor dissemination and invasion, leading to an increased number of circulating tumor cells and metastasis. Our findings reveal a mechanism of vascular pericytes in PDGF-BB-promoted cancer invasion and metastasis by inducing PFT, and thus targeting PFT may offer a new treatment option of cancer metastasis.
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Project description:Vascular pericytes, an important cellular component, in the tumor microenvironment, are often associated with tumor vasculatures and their functions in cancer invasion and metastasis are poorly understood. Here we show that PDGF-BB induces pericyte fibroblast transition (designated as PFT), which significantly contributes to tumor invasion and metastasis. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments demonstrate that the PDGF-BB-PDGFRβ signaling promotes PFT in vitro and in in vivo tumors. Genome-wide expression analysis indicates that PDGF-BB-activated pericytes acquire mesenchymal progenitor features. Pharmacological inhibition and genetic deletion of PDGFRβ ablate the PDGF-BB-induced PFT. Genetic tracing of pericytes with two independent mouse strains, i.e., TN-AP-CreERT2:R26R-tdTomato and NG2:R26R-tdTomato, shows that PFT cells gains stromal fibroblast and myofibroblast markers in tumors. Importantly, co-implantation of PFT cells with less-invasive tumor cells in mice markedly promotes tumor dissemination and invasion, leading to an increased number of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and metastasis. Our findings reveal a novel mechanism of vascular pericytes in PDGF-BB-promoted cancer invasion and metastasis by inducing PFT and thus targeting PFT may offer a new treatment option of cancer metastasis. Pericytes were isolated and treated with PDGF-BB or control for 1 or 5 days
2016-08-24 | E-GEOD-85955 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Vascular pericytes, important mural cells that retain progenitor cell properties and protect vascular integrity in healthy tissues, are often associated with tumor development, but their functions in cancer invasion remain elusive. One prominent outcome of tumor occurrence is that the microenvironment of the lesion often stiffens, which could change resident cell behavior. Here, we found pericytes are matrix stiffness-responsive and mechanical stimuli induce pericyte-fibroblast transition (PFT). Soft PA gels that mimic the stiffness of healthy tissues retain the identity and behavior of pericytes, whereas stiff PA gels that reflect the stiffness of tumorous tissues promote PFT and the mobility and invasiveness of the cells. Matrix stiffness-induced PFT depends on the activation of YAP (Yes-associated protein), a transcription factor, which, upon receiving mechanical signals, transfers from cytoplasm to nucleus to mediate cell transcriptional activities. Our result reveals a mechanism through which vascular pericytes convert to fibroblasts and migrate away from vasculatures to help tumor development, and thus targeting matrix stiffness-induced PFT may offer a new perspective to the treatment of cancer metastasis.
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Project description:Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process whereby epithelial cells assume mesenchymal characteristics to facilitate cancer metastasis. However, EMT also contributes to the initiation and development of primary tumors. Prior studies that explored the hypothesis that EMT gene variants contribute to epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC) risk have been based on small sample sizes and none have sought replication in an independent population. We screened 15,816 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 296 genes in a discovery phase using data from a genome-wide association study of EOC among women of European ancestry (1,947 cases and 2,009 controls) and identified 793 variants in 278 EMT-related genes that were nominally (P < 0.05) associated with invasive EOC. These SNPs were then genotyped in a larger study of 14,525 invasive-cancer patients and 23,447 controls. A P-value <0.05 and a false discovery rate (FDR) <0.2 were considered statistically significant. In the larger dataset, GPC6/GPC5 rs17702471 was associated with the endometrioid subtype among Caucasians (odds ratio (OR) = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.07-1.25, P = 0.0003, FDR = 0.19), whereas F8 rs7053448 (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.27-2.24, P = 0.0003, FDR = 0.12), F8 rs7058826 (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.27-2.24, P = 0.0003, FDR = 0.12), and CAPN13 rs1983383 (OR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.69-0.90, P = 0.0005, FDR = 0.12) were associated with combined invasive EOC among Asians. In silico functional analyses revealed that GPC6/GPC5 rs17702471 coincided with DNA regulatory elements. These results suggest that EMT gene variants do not appear to play a significant role in the susceptibility to EOC.
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2016-08-24 | GSE85955 | GEO
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