Biomedicines (May 2023)

Uptake-Dependent and -Independent Effects of Fibroblasts-Derived Extracellular Vesicles on Bone Marrow Endothelial Cells from Patients with Multiple Myeloma: Therapeutic and Clinical Implications

  • Aurelia Lamanuzzi,
  • Ilaria Saltarella,
  • Antonia Reale,
  • Assunta Melaccio,
  • Antonio Giovanni Solimando,
  • Concetta Altamura,
  • Grazia Tamma,
  • Clelia Tiziana Storlazzi,
  • Doron Tolomeo,
  • Vanessa Desantis,
  • Maria Addolorata Mariggiò,
  • Jean-François Desaphy,
  • Andrew Spencer,
  • Angelo Vacca,
  • Benedetta Apollonio,
  • Maria Antonia Frassanito

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11051400
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 5
p. 1400

Abstract

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Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as important players in cell-to-cell communication within the bone marrow (BM) of multiple myeloma (MM) patients, where they mediate several tumor-associated processes. Here, we investigate the contribution of fibroblasts-derived EVs (FBEVs) in supporting BM angiogenesis. We demonstrate that FBEVs’ cargo contains several angiogenic cytokines (i.e., VEGF, HGF, and ANG-1) that promote an early over-angiogenic effect independent from EVs uptake. Interestingly, co-culture of endothelial cells from MM patients (MMECs) with FBEVs for 1 or 6 h activates the VEGF/VEGFR2, HGF/HGFR, and ANG-1/Tie2 axis, as well as the mTORC2 and Wnt/β-catenin pathways, suggesting that the early over-angiogenic effect is a cytokine-mediated process. FBEVs internalization occurs after longer exposure of MMECs to FBEVs (24 h) and induces a late over-angiogenic effect by increasing MMECs migration, chemotaxis, metalloproteases release, and capillarogenesis. FBEVs uptake activates mTORC1, MAPK, SRC, and STAT pathways that promote the release of pro-angiogenic cytokines, further supporting the pro-angiogenic milieu. Overall, our results demonstrate that FBEVs foster MM angiogenesis through dual time-related uptake-independent and uptake-dependent mechanisms that activate different intracellular pathways and transcriptional programs, providing the rationale for designing novel anti-angiogenic strategies.

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