Metastatic Cascade (metastatic + cascade)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Suppression of urokinase receptor expression by bikunin is associated with inhibition of upstream targets of extracellular signal-regulated kinase-dependent cascade

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 16 2002
Hiroshi Kobayashi
Our laboratory showed that bikunin, a Kunitz-type protease inhibitor, suppresses 4,-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)- or tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF,)-induced urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) expression in different cell types. In addition to its effects on protease inhibition, bikunin could be modulating other cellular events associated with the metastatic cascade. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether bikunin was able to suppress the expression of uPA receptor (uPAR) mRNA and protein in a human chondrosarcoma cell line, HCS-2/8, and two human ovarian cancer cell lines, HOC-I and HRA. The present study showed that (a) bikunin suppresses the expression of constitutive and PMA-induced uPAR mRNA and protein in a variety of cell types; (b) an extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation system is necessary for the PMA-induced increase in uPAR expression, as PD098059 and U0126, which prevent the activation of MEK1, reduce the uPAR expression; (c) bikunin markedly suppresses PMA-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 at the concentration that prevents uPAR expression, but does not reduce total ERK1/2 antigen level; (d) bikunin has no ability to inhibit overexpression of uPAR in cells treated with sodium vanadate; and (e) we further studied the inhibition of uPAR expression by stable transfection of HRA cells with bikunin gene, demonstrating that bikunin secretion is necessary for inhibition of uPAR expression. We conclude that bikunin downregulates constitutive and PMA-stimulated uPAR mRNA and protein possibly through suppression of upstream targets of the ERK-dependent cascade, independent of whether cells were treated with exogenous bikunin or transfected with bikunin gene. [source]


Downregulation of KiSS-1 expression is responsible for tumor invasion and worse prognosis in gastric carcinoma

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER, Issue 6 2004
Dipok Kumar Dhar
Abstract KiSS-1 is a promising candidate tumor-suppressor gene and may play a key role in the metastatic cascade. The expression profile and the role of KiSS-1 in cancer progression are largely unknown in most of the cancers, including gastric cancer. In this study, KiSS-1 expression was evaluated by RNase protection assay and localization was done by in situ hybridization in 40 gastric cancers and their adjacent normal gastric mucosa. For comparison with clinicopathologic characteristics and patient prognosis, all patients were divided into 2 groups having high and low KiSS-1 expression by using the median as the cutoff value of KiSS-1 expression as determined by the RNase protection assay. Gastric cancers with low KiSS-1 had frequent venous invasion, distant metastasis and tumor recurrence. Accordingly, patients with low KiSS-1 -expressing tumors had a significantly worse overall and disease-free survival. In multivariate analysis, KiSS-1 became the strongest independent prognostic factor among the conventional prognosticators for gastric cancer patients. Collectively, these findings suggest that KiSS-1 may play a crucial role in gastric cancer invasion and could be a useful target for therapeutic intervention. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


siRNA mediated inhibition of MMP-1 reduces invasive potential of a human chondrosarcoma cell line

JOURNAL OF CELLULAR PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 3 2005
Xiaoling Jiang
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play a crucial role in tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Expression of MMP-1 has been reported as a prognostic predictor of recurrence in human chondrosarcoma, and studies using human chondrosarcoma cell lines indicate that MMP-1 expression levels correlate with in vitro invasiveness. These observations suggest that MMP-1 activity has a central role in cell egress from the primary tumor at an early step in the metastatic cascade. In this study, siRNA was used to investigate whether knock down of the MMP-1 gene could be used to inhibit invasiveness in a human chondrosarcoma cell line. The inhibitory effect of siRNA on endogenous MMP-1 gene expression and protein synthesis was demonstrated via RT-PCR, Northern blotting, Western blotting, collagenase activity assay, and an in vitro cell migration assay. The siRNA inhibited MMP-1 expression specifically, since it did not affect the expression of endogenous glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) nor other collagenases. Most importantly, the siRNA mediated reduction in MMP-1 expression correlated with a decreased ability of chondrosarcoma cells to invade a Type I collagen matrix. The reduction of invasive behavior demonstrated by human chondrosarcoma cells transfected with MMP-1 siRNA and the specificity of this inhibition supports the hypothesis that this metalloproteinase molecule is involved in initiation of chondrosarcoma metastasis. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Experimental metastasis and primary tumor growth in mice with hemophilia A

JOURNAL OF THROMBOSIS AND HAEMOSTASIS, Issue 5 2006
F. LANGER
Summary., During experimental lung metastasis, tumor cells adhere to the pulmonary microvasculature and activate coagulation via surface-expressed tissue factor (TF), leading to local fibrin deposition and platelet aggregation. While interventional studies have demonstrated great efficacy of anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents in inhibiting metastasis, no information is available on how tumor biology may be affected by congenital bleeding disorders such as hemophilia A. We therefore used a syngeneic model to study experimental metastasis and primary tumor growth in factor VIII (FVIII)-deficient mice. By conventional reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, flow cytometry, and one-stage clotting assays, we demonstrated constitutive expression of TF mRNA, antigen, and procoagulant activity in the murine B16F10 melanoma cell line. In hemophilic mice, B16F10 lung metastasis was significantly (P < 0.001) enhanced by a single dose of human FVIII (100 U kg,1), suggesting that FVIII played a critical role during the early blood-borne phase of the metastatic cascade. In contrast, lung seeding was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced by lepirudin, a direct thrombin inhibitor, suggesting that thrombin generation contributed to pulmonary metastasis even in the absence of FVIII. Consistent with this finding, intravenous injection of B16F10 cell-evoked laboratory changes of a hemolytic thrombotic microangiopathy and consumptive coagulopathy in both hemophilic and non-hemophilic mice. Subcutaneous implantation of B16F10 cells into mice with hemophilia A gave rise to primary tumors in an exponential growth pattern similar to that observed in non-hemophilic mice. Although TF expression by B16F10 cells may promote thrombin-dependent metastasis in mice with hemophilia A, amplification of coagulation by host FVIII appears to be necessary for maximum lung seeding. [source]


Extracellular and intracellular mechanisms that mediate the metastatic activity of exogenous osteopontin

CANCER, Issue 8 2009
Jami Mandelin PhD
Abstract BACKGROUND: Osteopontin affects several steps of the metastatic cascade. Despite direct correlation with metastasis in experimental systems and in patient studies, the extracellular and intracellular basis for these observations remains unsolved. In this study, the authors used human melanoma and sarcoma cell lines to evaluate the effects of soluble osteopontin on metastasis. METHODS: Exogenous osteopontin or negative controls, including a site-directed mutant osteopontin, were used in functional assays in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo that were designed to test the extracellular and intracellular mechanisms involved in experimental metastasis. RESULTS: In the extracellular environment, the results confirmed that soluble osteopontin is required for its prometastatic effects; this phenomenon is specific, arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD)-dependent, and evident in experimental models of metastasis. In the intracellular environment, osteopontin initially induced rapid tyrosine 418 (Tyr-418) dephosphorylation of the cellular homolog of the Rous sarcoma virus (c-Src), with decreases in actin stress fibers and increased binding to the vascular endothelium. This heretofore undescribed Tyr dephosphorylation was followed by a tandem c-Src phosphorylation after tumor cell attachment to the metastatic site. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study revealed a complex molecular interaction as well as a dual role for osteopontin in metastasis that depends on whether tumor cells are in circulation or attached. Such context-dependent functional insights may contribute to antimetastasis strategies. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society. [source]