Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is known for specifically killing cancer cells, whereas in resistant cancers, TRAIL/TRAIL-R can promote metastasis via Rac1 and ...PI3K. It remains unknown, however, whether and to what extent TRAIL/TRAIL-R signaling in cancer cells can affect the immune microenvironment. Here we show that TRAIL-triggered cytokine secretion from TRAIL-resistant cancer cells is FADD dependent and identify the TRAIL-induced secretome to drive monocyte polarization to myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and M2-like macrophages. TRAIL-R suppression in tumor cells impaired CCL2 production and diminished both lung MDSC presence and tumor growth. In accordance, the receptor of CCL2, CCR2, is required to facilitate increased MDSC presence and tumor growth. Finally, TRAIL and CCL2 are co-regulated with MDSC/M2 markers in lung adenocarcinoma patients. Collectively, endogenous TRAIL/TRAIL-R-mediated CCL2 secretion promotes accumulation of tumor-supportive immune cells in the cancer microenvironment, thereby revealing a tumor-supportive immune-modulatory role of the TRAIL/TRAIL-R system in cancer biology.
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•TRAIL induces a cytokine cancer secretome in a FADD- and caspase-8-dependent manner•FADD promotes tumor growth along with accumulation of M2-like immune cells in vivo•The TRAIL-induced secretome recruits M2-like immune cells to tumors via CCR2•TRAIL/CCL2 correlate with a tumor-supportive immune profile in lung cancer patients
Hartwig et al. show that endogenous TRAIL signaling in cancer cells induces a FADD-dependent secretome that promotes the accumulation of M2-like immune cells and tumor growth via host CCR2.
Many cancers harbor oncogenic mutations of KRAS. Effectors mediating cancer progression, invasion, and metastasis in KRAS-mutated cancers are only incompletely understood. Here we identify cancer ...cell-expressed murine TRAIL-R, whose main function ascribed so far has been the induction of apoptosis as a crucial mediator of KRAS-driven cancer progression, invasion, and metastasis and in vivo Rac-1 activation. Cancer cell-restricted genetic ablation of murine TRAIL-R in autochthonous KRAS-driven models of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) reduces tumor growth, blunts metastasis, and prolongs survival by inhibiting cancer cell-autonomous migration, proliferation, and invasion. Consistent with this, high TRAIL-R2 expression correlates with invasion of human PDAC into lymph vessels and with shortened metastasis-free survival of KRAS-mutated colorectal cancer patients.
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•mTRAIL-R promotes KRAS-driven lung and pancreatic cancer growth and metastasis•Human TRAIL-R2 promotes tumor growth, migration, invasion, and metastasis•Endogenous mTRAIL-R constitutively activates Rac1 in vivo in tumors•TRAIL-R2 expression positively correlates with the onset of metastasis in patients
von Karstedt et al. show that mouse TRAIL-R and human TRAIL-R2, but not TRAIL-R1, are important for the progression, invasion, and metastasis of KRAS-mutant tumors through the regulation of Rac-1.
Targeted inhibition of the ERK-MAPK pathway, upregulated in a majority of human cancers, has been hindered in the clinic by drug resistance and toxicity. The MRAS-SHOC2-PP1 (SHOC2 phosphatase) ...complex plays a key role in RAF-ERK pathway activation by dephosphorylating a critical inhibitory site on RAF kinases. Here we show that genetic inhibition of SHOC2 suppresses tumorigenic growth in a subset of KRAS-mutant NSCLC cell lines and prominently inhibits tumour development in autochthonous murine KRAS-driven lung cancer models. On the other hand, systemic SHOC2 ablation in adult mice is relatively well tolerated. Furthermore, we show that SHOC2 deletion selectively sensitizes KRAS- and EGFR-mutant NSCLC cells to MEK inhibitors. Mechanistically, SHOC2 deletion prevents MEKi-induced RAF dimerization, leading to more potent and durable ERK pathway suppression that promotes BIM-dependent apoptosis. These results present a rationale for the generation of SHOC2 phosphatase targeted therapies, both as a monotherapy and to widen the therapeutic index of MEK inhibitors.
•Angiogenic factors, including the VEGF family play a role in tumor progression.•We show increased expression of VEGF-A, VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 in endometrial cancers.•VEGFR3 expression significantly ...correlates with tumor stage.•There are significant correlations in expression of VEGFR2 and 3, EGFR, CXCR1 and 2.•Cross-talk exists between angiogenic factors, and they may have a prognostic role.
Angiogenesis plays a key role in the progression of various tumors, including endometrial carcinomas. Several cytokines and their associated receptors are shown to be involved, particularly VEGF-A with VEGFR1, -2 and -3.
The expressions of VEGF-A, VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 were studied in by immunohistochemistry in 76 endometrial carcinoma specimens. VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 receptor expression were also studied by qRT-PCR in 17 tumors in comparison to normal endometrium. The expression profiles were correlated with tumor type, grade, stage, lymphovascular invasion, disease free survival, and the expressions of other cytokine receptors (EGFR, CXCR1 and CXCR2).
Immunohistochemically, 63% of endometrial cancers expressed VEGF-A, 55% VEGFR2 and 26% VEGFR3. VEGFR3 was significantly correlated with tumor stage (p=0.02), with a trend towards poorer disease free survival (p=0.09). VEGF-A was significantly correlated with microvessel density (p<0.01). Using qRT-PCR, increased expression of VEGFR2 (17.2-fold) and VEGFR3 (21.9-fold) was seen in endometrial carcinomas compared with normal endometrium, with significant correlations among the expression levels of VEGFR2, VEGFR3, EGFR, CXCR1 and CXCR2.
Our study suggests that evaluation of VEGFR3 expression in tumors may provide prognostic data, and help identify patients who would best benefit from anti-angiogenic therapeutic agents. This is the first report showing correlations between the expressions levels of the different receptors.
Survival from ovarian cancer (OC) is improved with surgery, but surgery can be complex and tumour identification, especially for borderline ovarian tumours (BOT), is challenging. The Rapid ...Evaporative Ionisation Mass Spectrometric (REIMS) technique reports tissue histology in real-time by analysing aerosolised tissue during electrosurgical dissection.
Aerosol produced during diathermy of tissues was sampled with the REIMS interface. Histological diagnosis and mass spectra featuring complex lipid species populated a reference database on which principal component, linear discriminant and leave-one-patient-out cross-validation analyses were performed.
A total of 198 patients provided 335 tissue samples, yielding 3384 spectra. Cross-validated OC classification vs separate normal tissues was high (97·4% sensitivity, 100% specificity). BOT were readily distinguishable from OC (sensitivity 90.5%, specificity 89.7%). Validation with fresh tissue lead to excellent OC detection (100% accuracy). Histological agreement between iKnife and histopathologist was very good (kappa 0.84, P < 0.001, z = 3.3). Five predominantly phosphatidic acid (PA(36:2)) and phosphatidyl-ethanolamine (PE(34:2)) lipid species were identified as being significantly more abundant in OC compared to normal tissue or BOT (P < 0.001, q < 0.001).
The REIMS iKnife distinguishes gynaecological tissues by analysing mass-spectrometry-derived lipidomes from tissue diathermy aerosols. Rapid intra-operative gynaecological tissue diagnosis may improve surgical care when histology is unknown, leading to personalised operations tailored to the individual.
Solid pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of the pancreas is an uncommon neoplasm of uncertain lineage. They have been shown to express nuclear beta-catenin believed to be due to mutations of the ...beta-catenin gene. The aim of this study was to investigate the status of the E-cadherin/catenin complex in SPTs. We studied the expression of 4 principal members of the E-cadherin/catenin complex using immunohistochemistry and the E-cadherin gene status by screening all exons of the gene for mutations, in 6 cases of SPT. In addition to the nuclear localization of beta-catenin, we found nuclear localization of E-cadherin in all tumors with complete absence of membranous and cytoplasmic localization. Nuclear localization of E-cadherin was independent of beta-catenin. No mutations were identified in the E-cadherin gene in any of the tumors. Ten cases of pancreatic adenocarcinomas and 15 neuroendocrine tumors were studied as well for comparison. The reported changes in the expression of the principal members of the E-cadherin/catenin complex were unique to SPTs. Our study shows abnormalities in the expression of 4 principal members of the E-cadherin/catenin complex in SPTs, which may help to explain the discohesive nature of the cells and the cystic changes in these tumors, and provide additional diagnostic features.
Primary or acquired therapy resistance is a major obstacle to the effective treatment of cancer. Resistance to apoptosis has long been thought to contribute to therapy resistance. We show here that ...recombinant TRAIL and CDK9 inhibition cooperate in killing cells derived from a broad range of cancers, importantly without inducing detectable adverse events. Remarkably, the combination of TRAIL with CDK9 inhibition was also highly effective on cancers resistant to both, standard-of-care chemotherapy and various targeted therapeutic approaches. Dynamic BH3 profiling revealed that, mechanistically, combining TRAIL with CDK9 inhibition induced a drastic increase in the mitochondrial priming of cancer cells. Intriguingly, this increase occurred irrespective of whether the cancer cells were sensitive or resistant to chemo- or targeted therapy. We conclude that this pro-apoptotic combination therapy has the potential to serve as a highly effective new treatment option for a variety of different cancers. Notably, this includes cancers that are resistant to currently available treatment modalities.
Ovarian mucinous tumors (OMTs) of the intestinal type share morphologic features with primary tumors of other sites, and it can often be difficult to distinguish primary ovarian from metastatic ...mucinous tumors. MUC1, MUC2, MUC5AC, and MUC6 expressions were studied by immunohistochemistry in 36 OMTs of intestinal type (17 malignant, 19 borderline), 18 pancreatic, 12 biliary, 15 esophageal, 9 gastric, and 7 colorectal/appendiceal adenocarcinomas. All samples were from primary sites, except for colorectal tumors which were from ovarian metastases. Borderline and malignant OMTs show similar mucin immunoprofile, being strongly and uniformly positive for MUC5AC (97.2% of cases), whereas only focally positive for MUC1 (19.4%), MUC2 (38.9%), and MUC6 (22.2%). The positive frequencies of pancreatic adenocarcinomas for MUC1, MUC2, MUC5AC, and MUC6, respectively, were 100%, 16.7%, 94.4%, and 61.1%; for biliary (cholangiocarcinomas) were 91.7%, 0%, 16.7%, and 8.3%; for esophageal carcinomas were 73.3%, 33.3%, 53.3%, and 26.7%; for gastric carcinomas were 44.4%, 44.4%, 44.4%, and 0% and for lower gastrointestinal tract cancers were 28.6%, 85.7%, 42.9%, and 0%. Our study shows that OMTs are usually MUC5AC+/MUC1-, which is different from pancreatic, biliary, esophageal, gastric, and colorectal/appendiceal carcinomas. We recommend that these mucin stains be added to the panel of immunostains to differentiate metastatic tumors to the ovary from primary OMTs.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease of progressive vascular remodeling, characterized by dysregulated growth of pulmonary vascular cells and inflammation. A prevailing view is that ...abnormal cellular metabolism, notably aerobic glycolysis that increases glucose demand, underlies the pathogenesis of PAH. Increased lung glucose uptake has been reported in animal models. Few data exist from patients with PAH.
Dynamic positron emission tomography imaging with fluorine-18-labeled 2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose ((18)FDG) ligand with kinetic analysis demonstrated increased mean lung parenchymal uptake in 20 patients with PAH, 18 with idiopathic PAH (IPAH) (FDG score: 3.27±1.22), and 2 patients with connective tissue disease (5.07 and 7.11) compared with controls (2.02±0.71; P<0.05). Further compartment analysis confirmed increased lung glucose metabolism in IPAH. Lung (18)FDG uptake and metabolism varied within the IPAH population and within the lungs of individual patients, consistent with the recognized heterogeneity of vascular pathology in this disease. The monocrotaline rat PAH model also showed increased lung (18)FDG uptake, which was reduced along with improvements in vascular pathology after treatment with dicholoroacetate and 2 tyrosine kinase inhibitors, imatinib and sunitinib. Hyperproliferative pulmonary vascular fibroblasts isolated from IPAH patients exhibited upregulated glycolytic gene expression, along with increased cellular (18)FDG uptake; both were reduced by dicholoroacetate and imatinib.
Some patients with IPAH exhibit increased lung (18)FDG uptake. (18)FDG positron emission tomography imaging is a tool to investigate the molecular pathology of PAH and its response to treatment.
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