Project description:Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulates tumour initiation, progression, metastasis and resistance to anti-cancer therapy. Whereas great progress had recently been made in understanding the role and mechanisms that regulate EMT in cancer, no therapeutic strategy to pharmacologically target EMT had been identified so far. Here, we found that Netrin-1 is upregulated in a primary mouse model of skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCCs) presenting spontaneous EMT. Pharmacological inhibition of Netrin-1 by administrating NP137, an anti-Netrin-1 blocking monoclonal antibody currently used in clinical trials in human cancer, decreased the proportion EMT tumour cells in skin SCCs, as well as decreased the number of metastasis and increased the sensitivity of tumour cells to chemotherapy. Single-cell RNA-seq revealed the presence of different EMT states including epithelial, early and late hybrid EMT as well as fully EMT states in control SCCs. In contrast, administration of NP137 prevents the progression of cancer cells towards a late EMT state and sustains tumour epithelial states. ShRNA knockdown (KD) of Netrin-1 and its receptor Unc5b in EPCAM+ tumour cells inhibited EMT in vitro in the absence of stromal cells and regulated a common gene signature promoting tumour epithelial state and restricting EMT. To assess the relevance of these findings to human cancers, we treated mice transplanted with A549 human cancer cell line that undergoes EMT following TGF-b1 administration with NP137. Netrin-1 inhibition decreased EMT in A549 cells in vivo. Altogether, our results identify a new pharmacological strategy to target EMT in cancer opening novel therapeutic interventions for anti-cancer therapy.
Project description:Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulates tumour initiation, progression, metastasis and resistance to anti-cancer therapy. Whereas great progress had recently been made in understanding the role and mechanisms that regulate EMT in cancer, no therapeutic strategy to pharmacologically target EMT had been identified so far. Here, we found that Netrin-1 is upregulated in a primary mouse model of skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCCs) presenting spontaneous EMT. Pharmacological inhibition of Netrin-1 by administrating NP137, an anti-Netrin-1 blocking monoclonal antibody currently used in clinical trials in human cancer, decreased the proportion EMT tumour cells in skin SCCs, as well as decreased the number of metastasis and increased the sensitivity of tumour cells to chemotherapy. Single-cell RNA-seq revealed the presence of different EMT states including epithelial, early and late hybrid EMT as well as fully EMT states in control SCCs. In contrast, administration of NP137 prevents the progression of cancer cells towards a late EMT state and sustains tumour epithelial states. ShRNA knockdown (KD) of Netrin-1 and its receptor Unc5b in EPCAM+ tumour cells inhibited EMT in vitro in the absence of stromal cells and regulated a common gene signature promoting tumour epithelial state and restricting EMT. To assess the relevance of these findings to human cancers, we treated mice transplanted with A549 human cancer cell line that undergoes EMT following TGF-b1 administration with NP137. Netrin-1 inhibition decreased EMT in A549 cells in vivo. Altogether, our results identify a new pharmacological strategy to target EMT in cancer opening novel therapeutic interventions for anti-cancer therapy.
Project description:Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulates tumor initiation, progression, metastasis and resistance to anti-cancer therapy. Whereas great progress had recently been made in understanding the role and mechanisms that regulate EMT in cancer, no therapeutic strategy to pharmacologically target EMT had been identified so far. Here, we found that Netrin-1 is upregulated in a primary mouse model of skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCCs) presenting spontaneous EMT. Pharmacological inhibition of Netrin-1 by administrating NP137, an anti-Netrin-1 blocking monoclonal antibody currently used in clinical trials in human cancer, decreased the proportion EMT tumor cells in skin SCCs, as well as decreased the number of metastasis and increased the sensitivity of tumor cells to chemotherapy. Single-cell RNA-seq revealed the presence of different EMT states including epithelial, early and late hybrid EMT as well as fully EMT states in control SCCs. In contrast, administration of NP137 prevents the progression of cancer cells towards a late EMT state and sustains tumor epithelial states. ShRNA knockdown (KD) of Netrin-1 and its receptor Unc5b in EPCAM+ tumor cells inhibited EMT in vitro in the absence of stromal cells and regulated a common gene signature promoting tumor epithelial state and restricting EMT. To assess the relevance of these findings to human cancers, we treated mice transplanted with A549 human cancer cell line that undergoes EMT following TGF-b1 administration with NP137. Netrin-1 inhibition decreased EMT in A549 cells in vivo. Altogether, our results identify a new pharmacological strategy to target EMT in cancer opening novel therapeutic interventions for anti-cancer therapy.
Project description:Netrin-1 is up-regulated in a large fraction of human cancers as a pro-tumoralmechanism. Therefore, a phase I trial assessing netrin-1 blockade using an anti- netrin-1 monoclonal antibody (NP137) in patients with advanced solid cancer is ongoing. We analyzed here the potential implication of netrin-1 in endometrial carcinoma. We show that netrin-1 is up-regulated in the vast majority of human endometrial carcinomas, and demonstrate that NP137 treatment is effective in reducing tumor progression in preclinical mouse models of endometrial carcinoma. We report here a confirmed objective response in a patient with endometrial carcinoma (EC) treated in monotherapy with NP137. A 51.16% reduction of target lesions at 6 weeks and up to 54.65% reduction during the next 6 months of NP137 treatment was observed for a 74 years old woman. To evaluate the mechanism of action of the anti-netrin-1 mAb, we performed gene profiling of mouse PTENf/f endometrial tumors treated with NP137 and observed that, in addition to cell death induction, NP137 induced a reversion of the Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). Of interest, by analyzing 13 pre/post paired biopsies of the patients with endometrial carcinoma treated in the NP137 trial, we confirmed a significant reduction of EMT in tumors. We thus performed pre/post NP137 treatment biopsy- based single cell RNA sequencing in a patient with endometrial carcinoma, and showed a net decrease of neoplastic cells and a reversion of EMT markers in the remaining tumor cells, with associated change in the tumor microenvironment. Given the importance of EMT in resistance to the current standard of care including chemotherapy or immune-checkpoint inhibitors, we showed in a PTENf/f endometrial cancer mouse model that combining NP137 with carboplatin paclitaxel outperformed carboplatin paclitaxel alone. Our results thus identify for the first time, in preclinical models and in patients, netrin-1 blockade as a clinical strategy triggering both tumor debulking and reversion of EMT, thus potentially alleviating resistance to standard treatments.
Project description:Netrin-1 is up-regulated in a large fraction of human cancers as a pro-tumoralmechanism. Therefore, a phase I trial assessing netrin-1 blockade using an anti- netrin-1 monoclonal antibody (NP137) in patients with advanced solid cancer is ongoing. We analyzed here the potential implication of netrin-1 in endometrial carcinoma. We show that netrin-1 is up-regulated in the vast majority of human endometrial carcinomas, and demonstrate that NP137 treatment is effective in reducing tumor progression in preclinical mouse models of endometrial carcinoma. We report here a confirmed objective response in a patient with endometrial carcinoma (EC) treated in monotherapy with NP137. A 51.16% reduction of target lesions at 6 weeks and up to 54.65% reduction during the next 6 months of NP137 treatment was observed for a 74 years old woman. To evaluate the mechanism of action of the anti-netrin-1 mAb, we performed gene profiling of mouse PTENf/f endometrial tumors treated with NP137 and observed that, in addition to cell death induction, NP137 induced a reversion of the Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). Of interest, by analyzing 13 pre/post paired biopsies of the patients with endometrial carcinoma treated in the NP137 trial, we confirmed a significant reduction of EMT in tumors. We thus performed pre/post NP137 treatment biopsy- based single cell RNA sequencing in a patient with endometrial carcinoma, and showed a net decrease of neoplastic cells and a reversion of EMT markers in the remaining tumor cells, with associated change in the tumor microenvironment. Given the importance of EMT in resistance to the current standard of care including chemotherapy or immune-checkpoint inhibitors, we showed in a PTENf/f endometrial cancer mouse model that combining NP137 with carboplatin paclitaxel outperformed carboplatin paclitaxel alone. Our results thus identify for the first time, in preclinical models and in patients, netrin-1 blockade as a clinical strategy triggering both tumor debulking and reversion of EMT, thus potentially alleviating resistance to standard treatments.
Project description:Netrin-1 is up-regulated in a large fraction of human cancers as a pro-tumoralmechanism. Therefore, a phase I trial assessing netrin-1 blockade using an anti- netrin-1 monoclonal antibody (NP137) in patients with advanced solid cancer is ongoing. We analyzed here the potential implication of netrin-1 in endometrial carcinoma. We show that netrin-1 is up-regulated in the vast majority of human endometrial carcinomas, and demonstrate that NP137 treatment is effective in reducing tumor progression in preclinical mouse models of endometrial carcinoma. We report here a confirmed objective response in a patient with endometrial carcinoma (EC) treated in monotherapy with NP137. A 51.16% reduction of target lesions at 6 weeks and up to 54.65% reduction during the next 6 months of NP137 treatment was observed for a 74 years old woman. To evaluate the mechanism of action of the anti-netrin-1 mAb, we performed gene profiling of mouse PTENf/f endometrial tumors treated with NP137 and observed that, in addition to cell death induction, NP137 induced a reversion of the Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). Of interest, by analyzing 13 pre/post paired biopsies of the patients with endometrial carcinoma treated in the NP137 trial, we confirmed a significant reduction of EMT in tumors. We thus performed pre/post NP137 treatment biopsy- based single cell RNA sequencing in a patient with endometrial carcinoma, and showed a net decrease of neoplastic cells and a reversion of EMT markers in the remaining tumor cells, with associated change in the tumor microenvironment. Given the importance of EMT in resistance to the current standard of care including chemotherapy or immune-checkpoint inhibitors, we showed in a PTENf/f endometrial cancer mouse model that combining NP137 with carboplatin paclitaxel outperformed carboplatin paclitaxel alone. Our results thus identify for the first time, in preclinical models and in patients, netrin-1 blockade as a clinical strategy triggering both tumor debulking and reversion of EMT, thus potentially alleviating resistance to standard treatments.
Project description:Netrin-1 is up-regulated in a large fraction of human cancers as a pro-tumoralmechanism. Therefore, a phase I trial assessing netrin-1 blockade using an anti- netrin-1 monoclonal antibody (NP137) in patients with advanced solid cancer is ongoing. We analyzed here the potential implication of netrin-1 in endometrial carcinoma. We show that netrin-1 is up-regulated in the vast majority of human endometrial carcinomas, and demonstrate that NP137 treatment is effective in reducing tumor progression in preclinical mouse models of endometrial carcinoma. We report here a confirmed objective response in a patient with endometrial carcinoma (EC) treated in monotherapy with NP137. A 51.16% reduction of target lesions at 6 weeks and up to 54.65% reduction during the next 6 months of NP137 treatment was observed for a 74 years old woman. To evaluate the mechanism of action of the anti-netrin-1 mAb, we performed gene profiling of mouse PTENf/f endometrial tumors treated with NP137 and observed that, in addition to cell death induction, NP137 induced a reversion of the Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT). Of interest, by analyzing 13 pre/post paired biopsies of the patients with endometrial carcinoma treated in the NP137 trial, we confirmed a significant reduction of EMT in tumors. We thus performed pre/post NP137 treatment biopsy- based single cell RNA sequencing in a patient with endometrial carcinoma, and showed a net decrease of neoplastic cells and a reversion of EMT markers in the remaining tumor cells, with associated change in the tumor microenvironment. Given the importance of EMT in resistance to the current standard of care including chemotherapy or immune-checkpoint inhibitors, we showed in a PTENf/f endometrial cancer mouse model that combining NP137 with carboplatin paclitaxel outperformed carboplatin paclitaxel alone. Our results thus identify for the first time, in preclinical models and in patients, netrin-1 blockade as a clinical strategy triggering both tumor debulking and reversion of EMT, thus potentially alleviating resistance to standard treatments.