scholarly journals The Stemness-High Human Colorectal Cancer Cells Promote Angiogenesis by Producing Higher Amounts of Angiogenic Cytokines via Activation of the Egfr/Akt/Nf-κB Pathway

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 1355
Author(s):  
Shin-Yi Chung ◽  
Ta-Chung Chao ◽  
Yeu Su

Purpose: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for cancer metastasis by stimulating tumor angiogenesis via various mechanisms. To elucidate the potential of the stemness-high human colorectal cancer (CRC) cells (i.e., CRCSCs) in activating angiogenesis, effects of the GATA6-overexpressing HCT-116 and HT-29 human CRC clones established previously by us in promoting the angiogenesis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were examined. Methods: Angiogenesis-promoting effects (i.e., migration, invasion, DNA synthesis, and tube formation) in HUVECs of the conditioned media (CM) from various human CRC clones were analyzed. MMP activities were assessed using a zymography assay. Western blotting and selective inhibitors were used to dissect the signaling pathway involved. IHC was used to examine the vascular density in tumor xenografts. Results: We found that the conditioned media (CM) collected from the GATA6-overexpressing clones enhanced angiogenesis of HUVECs more effectively which might be attributed partly to a higher MMP-9 production by HUVECs. Subsequently, elevated levels of IL-8 and VEGF-A were detected in the CM whose tube formation-enhancing activities were abolished by the co-treatment with either a VEGFR2 inhibitor or an IL-8 neutralizing antibody. Interestingly, increased production of these cytokines in the GATA6-overexpressing clones was due to an EGFR/AKT-mediated activation of NF-κB. Furthermore, not only were the levels of CD31 and endomucin but also the blood vessel density was much higher in the xenograft tumors grown from these clones. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that human CRCSCs promote a stronger angiogenesis by producing higher amounts of angiogenic factors through activation of the EGFR/AKT/NF-κB pathway.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
JIachi Ma ◽  
Shoukai Zhang ◽  
Danru Liang ◽  
Lei Li ◽  
Jun Du ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: To better explore the underlying mechanism of liver metastatic formation by placenta-specific protein 1 (PLAC1) in human colorectal cancer, we investigated the proliferation, invasion and angiogenic capabilities of human colorectal cancer cell lines with different liver metastatic potentials as well as the mechanism of action of PLAC1 in the metastatic process. Methods: The expression of PLAC1 was detected by reverse transcriptase PCR, western blot and real-time PCR. The effect of PLAC1 on metastatic potential was determined by proliferation, invasion, and angiogenesis assays, including an in vitro coculture system consisting of cancer cells and vascular endothelial cells that were used to detect the relationship between cancer cells and angiogenesis. In addition, we also determined PLAC1 downstream targets that preferentially contribute to the metastatic process. Results: PLAC1 was expressed in HT-29, WiDr and CaCo-2 colorectal cancer cells but not in Colo320 colorectal cancer cells. PLAC1 could not only significantly enhance the proliferation of CoLo320 and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) but could also promote the invasion of CoLo320 cells. The angiogenesis of HUVECs was enhanced by PLAC1 in a dose-dependent manner. In cocultured systems, angiogenesis was significantly increased by coculture with HT-29 cells. In addition, PLAC1 could promote angiogenesis in coculture with HT-29 cells. Furthermore, PLAC1-enhanced metastatic potential of colorectal cancer cells was dependent on activation of the PI3K/Akt/NF-κB pathway. Conclusions: The activation of PI3K/Akt/NF-κB signaling by PLAC1 may be critical for the metastasis of colorectal cancer cells. According to our results, we suggest that modification of PLAC1 function might be a promising new therapeutic approach to inhibit the aggressive spread of colorectal cancer.


2018 ◽  
Vol 96 (6) ◽  
pp. 761-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sen Hong ◽  
Si Chen ◽  
Xu Wang ◽  
Di Sun ◽  
Zhenkun Yan ◽  
...  

ATPase family AAA domain-containing protein 2 (ATAD2) is involved in various types of cancers, including colorectal cancer. This study aimed to determine the role of ATAD2 in angiogenesis in colorectal cancer. Here, we downregulated ATAD2 expression in HCT116 and SW480 cells, and collected the conditioned medium (CM) from control and ATAD2-silenced cells. The effect of CM on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) was evaluated by using CCK-8, wound healing, tube formation, Western blot, and dual-luciferase reporter assays. Our results showed that the proliferation, migration, and tube formation of HUVEC were reduced in presence of ATAD2-silenced CM, and the levels of phosphorylated vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (P-VEGFR2), CD31, and CD34 were downregulated. Mechanism studies showed that ATAD2 silencing regulated the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and miR-520a. Moreover, we found that miR-520a could bind to ATAD2, and its inhibitor partly reversed the alterations in HUVEC induced by CM from ATAD2-silenced cells. In addition, we demonstrated that miR-520a directly bound to 3′-UTR of VEGFA and inhibited its expression. Collectively, our results indicate that ATAD2 inhibition suppresses VEGFA secretion by increasing miR-520a levels. Our study suggests ATAD2 as a potential therapeutic target for angiogenesis in colorectal cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renpeng Zhou ◽  
Chuang Yin ◽  
Weiwei Bian ◽  
Chen Wang

Abstract Our present study is aimed to evaluate the effects of adipose-derived extracts (AT-Ex) and GDNF within the extracts on skin graft. AT-Ex was harvest from fresh human lipoaspirates with centrifugation, emulsification and lysing by cycles of freeze and thawing. Concentrations of GDNF, VEGF and bFGF were detected by ELISA. AT-Ex and anti-GDNF-antibody-coupled AT-Ex were further used to test their ability to promote tube formation using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and stimulate angiogenesis in nude skin-graft models. The results demonstrated that abundant GDNF, VEGF and bFGF were detected in AT-Ex, with GDNF displaying the highest concentration. AT-Ex significantly promoted the tube formation ability of HUVECs in vitro, with a dosage-dependent manner, while this ability was partially impaired when the anti-GDNF antibody was conjugated. In vivo, The AT-Ex treatment increased dermal thickness, augmented dermal proliferation and increased vascular density and GDNF contributed greatly to the AT-Ex effect in improvement the grafted skin condition by promoting angiogenesis in vivo. Our results suggested that critical effect of GDNF from AT-Ex on improvement skin graft condition.


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