Targeted Radionuclide Therapy Decreases Melanoma Lung Invasion by Modifying Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition-Like Mechanisms

Abstract

Melanin-radiolabeled molecules for targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT) provide a promising approach for the treatment of pigmented melanoma. Among these radiolabeled molecules, the iodinated melanin-specific binding molecule ([131I]ICF01012) has shown a significant antitumor effect on metastatic melanoma preclinical models. We report herein that [131I]ICF01012 decreases the epithelial-mesenshymal transition-like (EMT-like) markers in both in vivo and in vitro three-dimensional (3D) melanoma spheroid models. [131I]ICF01012 spheroids irradiation resulted in reduced clonogenic capacity of all pigmented spheroids accompanied by increased protein expression levels of phosphorylated H2A.X, p53 and its downstream target p21. In addition, [131I]ICF01012 treatment leads to a significant increase of cell pigmentation as demonstrated in SK-MEL3 human xenograft model. We also showed that [131I]ICF01012 decreases the size and the number of melanoma lung colonies in the syngeneic murine B16BL6 in vivo model assessing its potentiality to kill circulating tumor cells. Taken together, these results indicate that [131I]ICF01012 reduces metastatic capacity of melanoma cells presumably through EMT-like reduction and cell differentiation induction.