PTEN and brain tumor metastasis

PTEN and brain tumor metastasis
 

The development of life-threatening cancer metastases at distant organs requires disseminated tumor cells’ adaptation to, and co-evolution with, the drastically different microenvironments of metastatic sites.

Cancer cells of common origin manifest distinct gene expression patterns after metastasizing to different organs. Clearly, the dynamic interaction between metastatic tumor cells and extrinsic signals at individual metastatic organ sites critically effects the subsequent metastatic outgrowth. Yet, it is unclear when and how disseminated tumor cells acquire the essential traits from the microenvironment of metastatic organs that prime their subsequent outgrowth.

Scientists show that both human and mouse tumor cells with normal expression of PTEN, an important tumor suppressor, lose PTEN expression after dissemination to the brain, but not to other organs. The PTEN level in PTEN-loss brain metastatic tumor cells is restored after leaving the brain microenvironment.

This brain microenvironment-dependent, reversible PTEN messenger RNA and protein downregulation is epigenetically regulated by microRNAs from brain astrocytes. Mechanistically, astrocyte-derived exosomes mediate an intercellular transfer of PTEN-targeting microRNAs to metastatic tumor cells, while astrocyte-specific depletion of PTEN-targeting microRNAs or blockade of astrocyte exosome secretion rescues the PTEN loss and suppresses brain metastasis in vivo.

Furthermore, this adaptive PTEN loss in brain metastatic tumor cells leads to an increased secretion of the chemokine CCL2, which recruits IBA1-expressing myeloid cells that reciprocally enhance the outgrowth of brain metastatic tumor cells via enhanced proliferation and reduced apoptosis.

These findings demonstrate a remarkable plasticity of PTEN expression in metastatic tumor cells in response to different organ microenvironments, underpinning an essential role of co-evolution between the metastatic cells and their microenvironment during the adaptive metastatic outgrowth.

These findings signify the dynamic and reciprocal cross-talk between tumor cells and the metastatic niche; importantly, they provide new opportunities for effective anti-metastasis therapies, especially of consequence for brain metastasis patients.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v527/n7576/full/nature15376.html

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