TGF-B induced protein IG-H3 is essential for the growth of human liver metastases

Introduction : Transforming growth factor-beta-induced protein ig-h3 (TGFBI) is extracellular matrix component known to be important for cell-collagen interaction. We and others have reported elevated expression of TGFBI in sev- eral human cancers, where its role remains controversial. Aim Current study aims at clarifying the function of TGFBI to date. Methods &Results : CRC-LM and in liver metastases originating from breast, lung and pancreatic tumors. We have next focused on func- tional aspects and have silenced TGFBI expression in SW1222 human colorectal carcinoma cells. The suppression of TGFBI protein led to a marked decrease in cell migration (-70%) and proliferation (-30%) in vitro. To study the effects in vivo we have developed a novel animal model of colorectal carcinoma based on chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) that mimics human CRC-LM. TGFBI silencing resulted in 50% reduction of tumor volume in the CAM tumor model. Notably, the tumors displayed a marked inhibition of vascularization, suggesting an additional anti-angiogenic effect. Indeed, SW1222 cells silenced for TGFBI expression secreted lower levels of VEGFA in vitro. Finally, we have investigated if TGFBI can be used as systemically reachable target for antibody-drug delivery. For this purpose we have The in vivo data demonstrated that TGFBI is an accessible tumor target. Conclusions : Taken together, the present study shows that TGFBI is essential for promoting the development of CRC- LM and therefore represents a promising target for designing novel therapeutic approaches

Changes in the transcriptional profile in response to overexpression of the osteopontin-c splice isoform in ovarian (OvCar-3) and prostate (PC-3) cancer cell lines.

BACKGROUND: Especially in human tumor cells, the osteopontin (OPN) primary transcript is subject to alternative splicing, generating three isoforms termed OPNa, OPNb and OPNc. We previously demonstrated that the OPNc splice variant activates several aspects of the progression of ovarian and prostate cancers. The goal of the present study was to develop cell line models to determine the impact of OPNc overexpression on main cancer signaling pathways and thus obtain insights into the mechanisms of OPNc pro-tumorigenic roles. METHODS: Human ovarian and prostate cancer cell lines, OvCar-3 and PC-3 cells, respectively, were stably transfected to overexpress OPNc. Transcriptomic profiling was performed on these cells and compared to controls, to identify OPNc overexpression-dependent changes in gene expression levels and pathways by qRT-PCR analyses. RESULTS: Among 84 genes tested by using a multiplex real-time PCR Cancer Pathway Array approach, 34 and 16, respectively, were differentially expressed between OvCar-3 and PC-3 OPNc-overexpressing cells in relation to control clones. Differentially expressed genes are included in all main hallmarks of cancer, and several interacting proteins have been identified using an interactome network analysis. Based on marked up-regulation of Vegfa transcript in response to OPNc overexpression, we partially validated the array data by demonstrating that conditioned medium (CM) secreted from OvCar-3 and PC-3 OPNc-overexpressing cells significantly induced endothelial cell adhesion, proliferation and migration, compared to CM secreted from control cells. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the present study elucidated transcriptional changes of OvCar-3 and PC-3 cancer cell lines in response to OPNc overexpression, which provides an assessment for predicting the molecular mechanisms by which this splice variant promotes tumor progression features

Role of myoferlin in mitochondrial dynamics and metabolic fitness of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic cancer is the 7th most common cause of cancer mortality in the world. It is predicted to become the 2nd leading cause of cancer-related death in 2030. In the majority of cases, due to a late diagnosis, the tumor is not resectable and already disseminated. Therefore, new specific biomarkers providing early diagnosis for pancreatic cancer are needed. In addition to the lack of specific and early biomarkers, chemotherapies (gemcitabine and folfirinox) poorly improve the overall survival of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients. Hence, a better understanding of physiopathological processes underlying PDAC is required in order to offer more effective treatments. Myoferlin is a 230 kDa protein with multiple C2 domains known to interact, through calcium binding, with negatively charged phospholipids. This protein was first described in myoblast fusion. Interestingly, Myoferlin is also overexpressed in several cancers, including pancreatic cancer, where it plays a role in endocytosis, exocytosis, and has been located in exosomes. Recently, our team showed a fragmentation of the mitochondrial network in PDAC cells when myoferlin was depleted using siRNA. Understanding the mechanism underlying this mitochondrial disruption would be of great interest as mitochondria are major actors in cancer development, progression and resistance. Owing to the known role of myoferlin in membrane fusion, we assessed its direct involvement in the mitochondrial fusion machinery. Indeed, if myoferlin is a part of the mitochondrial fusion machinery, its silencing together with an unopposed fission would lead to mitochondrial fragmentation. First, we performed immunofluorescence to colocalize myoferlin and a mitochondrial outer membrane 65kDa protein. Colocalization studies showed no significant colocalization. We then performed immunofluorescence to stained myoferlin and the main factor of mitochondrial fusion mitofusin-1/2 (MFN1/2). Colocalization image analysis revealed a 60% colocalization between both proteins. Those results were further confirmed by PLA (Proximity Ligation Assay). Finally, to evaluate a direct protein-protein interaction, we performed a co-immunoprecipitation assay. The main isoform of myoferlin appeared to coimmunoprecipitate with MFN1/2, suggesting a direct interaction between these proteins.Role of myoferlin in mitochondrial dynamics and metabolic fitness of pancreatic cance

Identification of novel accessible proteins bearing diagnostic and therapeutic potential in human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreas ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a deadly malignancy with poor early diagnostic and no effective therapy. Although several proteomic studies have performed comparative analysis between normal and malignant tissues, there is a lack of clear characterization of proteins that could be of clinical value. Systemically reachable ("potentially accessible") proteins, suitable for imaging technologies and targeted therapies represent a major group of interest. The current study explores potentially accessible proteins overexpressed in PDAC, employing innovative proteomics technologies. In the discovery phase, potentially accessible proteins from fresh human normal and PDAC tissues were ex vivo biotinylated, isolated and identified using 2D-nano-HPLC-MS/MS method. The analysis revealed 422 up-regulated proteins in the tumor, of which 83 (including protein isoforms) were evaluated as potentially accessible. Eleven selected candidates were further confirmed as up-regulated using Western blot and multiple reaction monitoring protein quantification. Of these, transforming growth factor beta-induced (TGFBI), latent transforming growth factor beta binding 2 (LTBP2), and asporin (ASPN) were further investigated by employing large scale immunohistochemistry-based validations. They were found to be significantly expressed in a large group of clinical PDAC samples compared to corresponding normal and inflammatory tissues. In conclusion, TGFBI, LTBP2, and ASPN are novel, overexpressed, and potentially accessible proteins in human PDAC. They bear the potential to be of clinical value for diagnostic and therapeutic applications and merit further studies using in vivo models. Peer reviewe

Bridging pro-inflammatory signals, synaptic transmission and protection in spinal explants in vitro

Multiple sclerosis is characterized by tissue atrophy involving the brain and the spinal cord, where reactive inflammation contributes to the neurodegenerative processes. Recently, the presence of synapse alterations induced by the inflammatory responses was suggested by experimental and clinical observations, in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mouse model and in patients, respectively. Further knowledge on the interplay between pro-inflammatory agents, neuroglia and synaptic dysfunction is crucial to the design of unconventional protective molecules. Here we report the effects, on spinal cord circuits, of a cytokine cocktail that partly mimics the signature of T lymphocytes sub population Th1. In embryonic mouse spinal organ-cultures, containing neuronal cells and neuroglia, cytokines induced inflammatory responses accompanied by a significant increase in spontaneous synaptic activity. We suggest that cytokines specifically altered signal integration in spinal networks by speeding the decay of GABAA responses. This hypothesis is supported by the finding that synapse protection by a non-peptidic NGF mimetic molecule prevented both the changes in the time course of GABA events and in network activity that were left unchanged by the cytokine production from astrocytes and microglia present in the cultured tissue. In conclusion, we developed an important tool for the study of synaptic alterations induced by inflammation, that takes into account the role of neuronal and not neuronal resident cells

Myoferlin: an indispensable component in VEGFA secretion by pancreas cancer cells

In this poster, our laboratory showed the importance of myoferlin, a biomarker of pancreas cancer, in the controle of VEGF-A mediated angiogenesis. Our laboratory showed that silencing myoferlin in pancreas cancer cells, BxPC-3, provoques a decrease in cell prolifération in vitro and a decrease in tumor volumes in animal model. Myoferlin silencing also provokes a decrease in VEGF-A secretion in the conditioned medium and that decrease was abserved in the animal model as a decrease in microvessels dencity. It appeared that this decrease in secretion is due to a a blockage in the exocytosis. Our data also showed a significate correlation between myoferlin expression and microvessels density in patients section

Myoferlin controls mitochondrial structure and activity in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and affects tumor aggressiveness

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death. Therapeutic options remain very limited and are based on classical chemotherapies. Energy metabolism reprogramming appears as an emerging hallmark of cancer and is considered a therapeutic target with considerable potential. Myoferlin, a ferlin family member protein overexpressed in PDAC, is involved in plasma membrane biology and has a tumor-promoting function. In the continuity of our previous studies, we investigated the role of myoferlin in the context of energy metabolism in PDAC. We used selected PDAC tumor samples and PDAC cell lines together with small interfering RNA technology to study the role of myoferlin in energetic metabolism. In PDAC patients, we showed that myoferlin expression is negatively correlated with overall survival and with glycolytic activity evaluated by 18F-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography. We found out that myoferlin is more abundant in lipogenic pancreatic cancer cell lines and is required to maintain a branched mitochondrial structure and a high oxidative phosphorylation activity. The observed mitochondrial fission induced by myoferlin depletion led to a decrease of cell proliferation, ATP production, and autophagy induction, thus indicating an essential role of myoferlin for PDAC cell fitness. The metabolic phenotype switch generated by myoferlin silencing could open up a new perspective in the development of therapeutic strategies, especially in the context of energy metabolism

Asporin Is a Fibroblast-Derived TGF-beta1 Inhibitor and a Tumor Suppressor Associated with Good Prognosis in Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is a leading malignancy affecting the female population worldwide. Most morbidity is caused by metastases that remain incurable to date. TGF-beta1 has been identified as a key driving force behind metastatic breast cancer, with promising therapeutic implications. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Employing immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis, we report, to our knowledge for the first time, that asporin is overexpressed in the stroma of most human breast cancers and is not expressed in normal breast tissue. In vitro, asporin is secreted by breast fibroblasts upon exposure to conditioned medium from some but not all human breast cancer cells. While hormone receptor (HR) positive cells cause strong asporin expression, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells suppress it. Further, our findings show that soluble IL-1beta, secreted by TNBC cells, is responsible for inhibiting asporin in normal and cancer-associated fibroblasts. Using recombinant protein, as well as a synthetic peptide fragment, we demonstrate the ability of asporin to inhibit TGF-beta1-mediated SMAD2 phosphorylation, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, and stemness in breast cancer cells. In two in vivo murine models of TNBC, we observed that tumors expressing asporin exhibit significantly reduced growth (2-fold; p = 0.01) and metastatic properties (3-fold; p = 0.045). A retrospective IHC study performed on human breast carcinoma (n = 180) demonstrates that asporin expression is lowest in TNBC and HER2+ tumors, while HR+ tumors have significantly higher asporin expression (4-fold; p = 0.001). Assessment of asporin expression and patient outcome (n = 60; 10-y follow-up) shows that low protein levels in the primary breast lesion significantly delineate patients with bad outcome regardless of the tumor HR status (area under the curve = 0.87; 95% CI 0.78-0.96; p = 0.0001). Survival analysis, based on gene expression (n = 375; 25-y follow-up), confirmed that low asporin levels are associated with a reduced likelihood of survival (hazard ratio = 0.58; 95% CI 0.37-0.91; p = 0.017). Although these data highlight the potential of asporin to serve as a prognostic marker, confirmation of the clinical value would require a prospective study on a much larger patient cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Our data show that asporin is a stroma-derived inhibitor of TGF-beta1 and a tumor suppressor in breast cancer. High asporin expression is significantly associated with less aggressive tumors, stratifying patients according to the clinical outcome. Future pre-clinical studies should consider options for increasing asporin expression in TNBC as a promising strategy for targeted therapy

Myoferlin contributes to the metastatic phenotype of pancreatic cancer cells by enhancing their migratory capacity through the control of oxidative phosphorylation

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the deadliest malignancies with an overall survival of 5%, and is the second cause of death by cancer, mainly linked to its high metastatic aggressiveness. Accordingly, understanding the mechanisms sustaining the PDAC metastatic phenotype remains a priority. In this study, we have generated and used a murine in vivo model to select clones from the human PANC-1 PDAC cell line that exhibit a high propensity to seed and metastasized into the liver. We showed that myoferlin, a protein previously reported to be overexpressed in PDAC, is significantly involved in the migratory abilities of the selected cells. We first report that highly PANC-1 metastatic clones expressed significantly higher myoferlin level than the corresponding low metastatic ones. Using scratch wound and Boyden’s chamber assays, we show that cells expressing high myoferlin level have higher migratory potential than cells characterized by a low myoferlin abundance. Moreover, we demonstrate that myoferlin silencing leads to a migration decrease associated to a reduction of mitochondrial respiration. Since mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation has been shown to be implicated in the tumor progression and dissemination, our data identify myoferlin as a valid potential therapeutic target in PDAC