Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027627 (metastases)
 103,950 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) presented as a cerebral hemispheric mass in a 33-year-old man. Bone marrow metastases were discovered 11 months later. A cell line (CHP707m) was derived from these metastases. In culture, the cells showed features of neuronal differentiation, forming short neurites and synthesizing low-molecular-weight neurofilament protein. Northern blotting showed the tumor cells express nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor messenger RNA, and fluorescence-activated cell-sorting demonstrated NGF receptors on the cell surface. Western blotting showed CHP707m NGF receptors are truncated. The receptors are functional; they bind iodine 125-labeled mouse NGF with an affinity of 1.6 x 10(-9) M, and short-term treatment with NGF induces expression by the tumor cells of the proto-oncogene, c-fos. Although CHP707m is the first central nervous system PNET cell line proven to express NGF receptors, immunohistological survey of tissue sections prepared from human central nervous system PNETs showed that 13 of 35 contained NGF receptor-positive tumor cells. Thus, more than one-third of such tumors might be responsive to the effects of NGF.
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PMID:Human central nervous system primitive neuroectodermal tumor expressing nerve growth factor receptors: CHP707m. 217 17

The brain is a unique microenvironment enclosed by the skull, lacking lymphatic drainage and maintaining a highly regulated vascular transport barrier. To metastasize to the brain malignant tumor cells must attach to microvessel endothelial cells, respond to brain-derived invasion factors, invade the blood-brain barrier and respond to survival and growth factors. Trophic factors are important in brain invasion because they can act to stimulate this process. In responsive malignant cells trophic factors such as neurotrophins can promote invasion by enhancing the production of basement membrane-degradative enzymes (such as type IV collagenase/gelatinase and heparanase) capable of locally destroying the basement membrane and the blood-brain barrier. We examined human melanoma cell lines that exhibit varying abilities to form brain metastases. These melanoma lines express low-affinity neurotrophin receptor p75NTR in relation to their brain-metastatic potentials but the variants do not express trkA, the gene encoding a high affinity nerve growth factor (NGF) tyrosine kinase receptor p140trkA. Melanoma cells metastatic to brain also respond to paracrine factors made by brain cells. We have found that a paracrine form of transferrin is important in brain metastasis, and brain-metastatic cells respond to low levels of transferrin and express high levels of transferrin receptors. Brain-metastatic tumor cells can also produce autocrine factors and inhibitors that influence their growth, invasion and survival in the brain. We found that brain-metastatic melanoma cells synthesize transcripts for the following autocrine growth factors: TGF beta, bFGF, TGF alpha and IL-1 beta. Synthesis of these factors may influence the production of neurotrophins by adjacent brain cells, such as oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. Increased amounts of NGF were found in tumor-adjacent tissues at the invasion front of human melanoma tumors in brain biopsies. Trophic factors, autocrine growth factors, paracrine growth factors and other factors may determine whether metastatic cells can successfully invade, colonize and grow in the central nervous system.
Clin Exp Metastasis 1995 Mar
PMID:The role of trophic factors and autocrine/paracrine growth factors in brain metastasis. 788 17

Neuroblastoma (NB), a neural crest derived tumor in children, shows a characteristic pattern of dissemination that includes adrenal glands, local lymph nodes, bone, liver, skin, and bone marrow. We have reconstructed a similar metastatic pattern in SCID mice following tail vein injection of human NB cells. HTLA230, an NB cell line isolated from a patient with advanced disease, and its NGF receptor (trkA) expressing derivative (18-10) cells, consistently disseminated to the liver, the adrenal gland, and the bone marrow, but not the lungs. Metastases in the different organs showed a characteristic hemorrhagic histopathology, and tumors in the bone marrow presented as syncytia-like cell aggregates, typically seen in patients. Cell lines reestablished from 18-10 derived liver and bone marrow metastases maintained their cellular morphology, growth behavior, N-myc overexpression, trkA expression, and functionally responded to NGF treatment, leading to growth arrest and neurite outgrowth. Hence circulating human NB cells in SCID mice show a similar organ-specific metastatic potential as seen in patients, independent of trkA expression.
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PMID:A metastatic neuroblastoma model in SCID mice. 870 12

The role of the neurotrophins (NTs) and their corresponding receptors (NTRs) TrkA, TrkB, TrkC, and p75NTR in neoplasia has received relatively little attention. However, because malignant cell migration within the prostate occurs predominantly by direct extension around prostatic nerves, the presence and possible upregulation of NTs from autocrine/paracrine sources and NTR expression within prostate epithelial tumor cells may be important in metastasis. We have been addressing their expression and interactions in human prostate cancer cell lines (LNCaP, PC-3, and DU145) and their role in prostate cancer invasion. In this study, we demonstrated that nerve growth factor (NGF), the prototypic NT, and NT-4/5 increased in vitro invasion through a reconstituted basement membrane and induced time- and dose-dependent expression of heparanase, a heparan sulfate-specific endo-beta-D-glucuronidase, an important molecular determinant of tumor metastasis. The NT effects were most marked in the DU 145 brain-metastatic cells and were detected at NT concentrations sufficient to fully saturate both low- and high-affinity NTRs. Additionally, we characterized the molecular expression of NT high-affinity (Trk) and low-affinity (p75NTR) receptors in these cell lines by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. These lines had negligible trkA and trkC expression, although trkB was expressed in the three prostatic tumor cell lines examined. The brain-metastatic DU 145 cells were also positive for p75NTR. Our data showed that the NTs and NTRs are important in metastasis and that their expression coincides with transformation to a malignant phenotype capable of invasion along the perineural space and extracapsular metastasis to distant sites. These findings set the stage for more research into this area as related to prostate cancer evolution and may improve therapy for prostate cancer metastasis.
Clin Exp Metastasis 1999 Jun
PMID:Role of neurotrophins and neurotrophins receptors in the in vitro invasion and heparanase production of human prostate cancer cells. 1054 17

The low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor p75(NTR) is a 75-kDa glycoprotein that belongs to the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily and has been implicated in the induction of apoptosis in various tissues and cell lines. Immunohistochemistry on tissue sections from radical prostatectomies has shown that expression of p75(NTR) is limited to the epithelial cells. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses have also shown a progressive loss of p75(NTR) expression in prostate epithelial cells during the malignant progression of organ-confined adenocarcinomas, with complete loss of expression in the naturally occurring prostate tumor cell lines DU-145, PC-3, LNCaP, and TSU-pr1, which were derived from metastases. Reintroduction of p75(NTR) expression into the TSU-pr1 tumor cell line was shown to reestablish the ability of these cells to undergo p75(NTR)-mediated apoptosis. It is not known whether this loss of expression is due to deletion of part or the entire p75(NTR) gene or to other factors. Through the use of southern blotting and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we showed that loss of p75(NTR) protein expression was not due to deletion or loss of the gene. Furthermore, through reverse transcription-PCR, RNase protection, and the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, we showed that transcription of the p75(NTR) gene occurred in these prostate tumor cell lines. Finally, through transient transfection using two constructs of p75(NTR), one containing the full 2-kb 3' untranslated region and one that contains only a few hundred bases of the 3' untranslated region (UTR), we showed that the 3' UTR may have a role in the loss of p75(NTR) expression in prostate cancer.
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PMID:Molecular characterization of the loss of p75(NTR) expression in human prostate tumor cells. 1139 97

The brain is a unique microenvironment enclosed by the skull and maintaining a highly regulated vascular transport barrier. To metastasize to the brain, malignant tumor cells must attach to microvessel endothelial cells, invade the blood-brain barrier (BBB), and respond to brain survival and growth factors. Neurotrophins (NT) are important in brain invasion because they stimulate this process. In brain-metastatic melanoma cells, NT can promote invasion by enhancing the production of extracellular matrixdegradative enzymes such as heparanase, an enzyme capable of locally destroying both the extracellular matrix and the basement membrane of the BBB. We have examined human and murine melanoma cell lines exhibiting varying abilities to form brain metastases, and have found that they express low-affinity neurotrophin receptor p75NTR in relation to their brain-metastatic potentials. They do not, however, express trkA, the gene encoding the tyrosine kinase receptor TrkA, the high-affinity receptor for nerve growth factor (NGF), the prototypic NT. Presence of functional TrkC, the putative receptor for the invasion-promoting neurotrophin NT-3, was also expressed in these cells. Brain-metastatic melanoma cells can also produce autocrine factors and inhibitors that influence their growth, invasion, and survival in the brain. Synthesis of these factors may influence NT production by brain cells adjacent to the neoplastic invasion front, such as oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. In brain biopsies, we observed increased amounts of NGF and NT-3 in tumor-adjacent tissues at the invasion front of human melanoma tumors. Additionally, we found that astrocytes contribute to the brain-metastatic specificity of melanoma cells by producing NT-regulated heparanase. Trophic, autocrine, and paracrine growth factors may therefore determine whether metastatic cells can successfully invade, colonize, and grow in the central nervous system (CNS).
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PMID:Brain-metastatic melanoma: a neurotrophic perspective. 1453 Aug 7

p75NTR is most abundantly expressed in the nervous system, but is also widely expressed in many other organs and tissues where it primarily functions as a negative regulator of cell survival. In the prostate, p75NTR functions as an inhibitory protein capable of slowing proliferation and inducing apoptosis. It has been shown that p75NTR is expressed in the normal prostate, progressively lost from malignant tumor cells in vivo, and largely absent from prostate cancer cell lines derived from metastases. Although the role of p75NTR in prostate cancer has been well established, the signal transduction pathway that mediates its inhibitory activity has only been partially elucidated. This study demonstrates that exogenous expression of p75NTR down-regulates, in a dose-dependent manner, a bifurcated signaling cascade that results in reduced expression of potent transcription effectors. This two-arm signal transduction cascade was directly linked to the upstream receptor by using dominant-negative deletion constructs of p75NTR that rescued tumor cells from p75NTR-induced loss of survival and promotion of apoptosis. Furthermore, the dominant negatives rescued alterations in the levels of signal transduction intermediates. Conversely, the use of kinase-inactive intermediates that are downstream of the receptor further reduced expression of involved transcription effectors and reduced survival of the cells. These results provide a definitive link between the proximate p75NTR and signal transduction intermediates leading to the transcription effectors NF kappa B and JNK, with associated growth suppression and induction of apoptosis.
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PMID:The p75NTR mediates a bifurcated signal transduction cascade through the NF kappa B and JNK pathways to inhibit cell survival. 1570 75

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant childhood brain tumor. Although some previous reports have shown up to a 70% 5-year survival for some of these patients, it is at the cost of significant long-term treatment-related morbidity. The cellular mechanisms leading to metastatic disease in medulloblastoma are mainly unknown. For the first time, we demonstrate the differential expression of heparanase in medulloblastomas and how these differences at the mRNA and protein levels affect the activity and invasive properties of three newly developed cell lines. Furthermore, heparanase expression was confirmed in 7 (88%) of 8 medulloblastoma clinical samples by immunohistochemical staining. Heparanase was found to be localized in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction revealed a negative correlation between heparanase and TrkC (which is associated with a favorable clinical outcome). The activation of TrkC or TrkC/p75NTR by NT-3 affected heparanase activity and cell-invasive properties of medulloblastoma cells in vitro. Taken together, our data extend the body of evidence that invasion and expression/functionality of heparanase, in a context linked to TrkC and p75NTR, may play critical roles in the disease progression of medulloblastoma.
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PMID:Heparanase, TrkC and p75NTR: their functional involvement in human medulloblastoma cell invasion. 1607 9

Metastases in the bone marrow (BM) are grim prognostic factors in patients with neuroblastoma (NB). In spite of extensive analysis of primary tumor cells from high- and low-risk NB patients, a characterization of freshly isolated BM-infiltrating metastatic NB cells is still lacking. Our aim was to identify proteins specifically expressed by metastatic NB cells, that may be relevant for prognostic and therapeutic purposes. Sixty-six Italian children over 18 months of age, diagnosed with stage 4 NB, were included in the study. Metastatic NB cells were freshly isolated from patients' BM by positive immunomagnetic bead manipulation using anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody. Gene expression profiles were compared with those obtained from archived NB primary tumors from patients with 5 y-follow-up. After validation by RT-qPCR, expression/secretion of the proteins encoded by the up-regulated genes in the BM-infiltrating NB cells was evaluated by flow cytometry and ELISA. Compared to primary tumor cells, BM-infiltrating NB cells down-modulated the expression of CX3CL1, AGT, ATP1A2 mRNAs, whereas they up-regulated several genes commonly expressed by various lineages of BM resident cells. BM-infiltrating NB cells expressed indeed the proteins encoded by the top-ranked genes, S100A8 and A9 (calprotectin), CD177 and CD3, and secreted the CXCL7 chemokine. BM-infiltrating NB cells also expressed CD271 and HLA-G. We have identified proteins specifically expressed by BM-infiltrating NB cells. Among them, calprotectin, a potent inflammatory protein, and HLA-G, endowed with tolerogenic properties facilitating tumor escape from host immune response, may represent novel biomarkers and/or targets for therapeutic intervention in high-risk NB patients.
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PMID:Bone marrow-infiltrating human neuroblastoma cells express high levels of calprotectin and HLA-G proteins. 2225 25

Melanoma cells that express stem cell marker CD271 are shown to form tumors when transplanted into nude or immunodeficient mice. These tumors have a higher metastatic potential and worse prognosis than melanomas resulting from transplantation of CD271-negative cells. We studied stem cell markers (CD271, c-kit, SOX1O) in melanomas, correlating their presence with prognostic factors and outcome. A total of 82 melanomas in tissue microarrays were immunostained for CD271, c-kit, and SOX10. Results were correlated with clinicopathologic prognostic parameters (Breslow depth of invasion, Clark level, sentinel lymph node status, and pathologic stage) and outcome (recurrence, metastases, and death). Of the 82 melanomas, CD271 was expressed in 18 (21%), c-kit in 47 (57%), and SOX10 in all (100%). CD271 does show correlation with metastases (P=0.05). c-kit is associated with favorable prognostic parameters [Breslow depth (P<0.001) and pathologic stage (P=0.02)] and with improved outcome [recurrence (P=0.03) and metastases (P=0.004)]. Although SOX10 is a good diagnostic marker, it cannot be used for prognosis because it is expressed in all the melanomas studied. In conclusion, CD271 expression in melanomas is associated with increased frequency of metastases, and c-kit immunoreactivity is associated with favorable prognostic parameters and improved outcome.
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PMID:Tumor stem cells (CD271, c-kit, SOX10) in Melanomas: prognostic and outcome implications. 2395 42


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