Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0278488 (metastatic breast cancer)
 7,812 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Metastatic progression of cancer is a complex and clinically daunting process. We previously identified a set of human microRNAs (miRNAs) that robustly suppress breast cancer metastasis to lung and bone and which display expression levels that predict human metastasis. Although these findings revealed miRNAs as suppressors of cell-autonomous metastatic phenotypes, the roles of non-coding RNAs in non-cell-autonomous cancer progression processes remain unknown. Here we reveal that endogenous miR-126, an miRNA silenced in a variety of common human cancers, non-cell-autonomously regulates endothelial cell recruitment to metastatic breast cancer cells, in vitro and in vivo. It suppresses metastatic endothelial recruitment, metastatic angiogenesis and metastatic colonization through coordinate targeting of IGFBP2, PITPNC1 and MERTK--novel pro-angiogenic genes and biomarkers of human metastasis. Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) secreted by metastatic cells recruits endothelia by modulating IGF1-mediated activation of the IGF type-I receptor on endothelial cells; whereas c-Mer tyrosine kinase (MERTK) receptor cleaved from metastatic cells promotes endothelial recruitment by competitively antagonizing the binding of its ligand GAS6 to endothelial MERTK receptors. Co-injection of endothelial cells with breast cancer cells non-cell-autonomously rescues their miR-126-induced metastatic defect, revealing a novel and important role for endothelial interactions in metastatic initiation. Through loss-of-function and epistasis experiments, we delineate an miRNA regulatory network's individual components as novel and cell-extrinsic regulators of endothelial recruitment, angiogenesis and metastatic colonization. We also identify the IGFBP2/IGF1/IGF1R and GAS6/MERTK signalling pathways as regulators of cancer-mediated endothelial recruitment. Our work further reveals endothelial recruitment and endothelial interactions in the tumour microenvironment to be critical features of metastatic breast cancer.
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PMID:A microRNA regulon that mediates endothelial recruitment and metastasis by cancer cells. 2217 Jun 10

MerTK, a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) of the TYRO3/AXL/MerTK family, is expressed in myeloid lineage cells in which it acts to suppress proinflammatory cytokines following ingestion of apoptotic material. Using syngeneic mouse models of breast cancer, melanoma, and colon cancer, we found that tumors grew slowly and were poorly metastatic in MerTK-/- mice. Transplantation of MerTK-/- bone marrow, but not wild-type bone marrow, into lethally irradiated MMTV-PyVmT mice (a model of metastatic breast cancer) decreased tumor growth and altered cytokine production by tumor CD11b+ cells. Although MerTK expression was not required for tumor infiltration by leukocytes, MerTK-/- leukocytes exhibited lower tumor cell-induced expression of wound healing cytokines, e.g., IL-10 and growth arrest-specific 6 (GAS6), and enhanced expression of acute inflammatory cytokines, e.g., IL-12 and IL-6. Intratumoral CD8+ T lymphocyte numbers were higher and lymphocyte proliferation was increased in tumor-bearing MerTK-/- mice compared with tumor-bearing wild-type mice. Antibody-mediated CD8+ T lymphocyte depletion restored tumor growth in MerTK-/- mice. These data demonstrate that MerTK signaling in tumor-associated CD11b+ leukocytes promotes tumor growth by dampening acute inflammatory cytokines while inducing wound healing cytokines. These results suggest that inhibition of MerTK in the tumor microenvironment may have clinical benefit, stimulating antitumor immune responses or enhancing immunotherapeutic strategies.
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PMID:MerTK inhibition in tumor leukocytes decreases tumor growth and metastasis. 2386 99