OncoTargets and Therapy (Apr 2020)

The Metastasis Potential Promoting Capacity of Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Was Attenuated by Cisplatin via Modulating KRT8

  • Li X,
  • Song Q,
  • Guo X,
  • Wang L,
  • Zhang Q,
  • Cao L,
  • Ren Y,
  • Wu X,
  • Meng Z,
  • Xu K

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 2711 – 2723

Abstract

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Xueqin Li,1,* Qianqian Song,1,* Xueru Guo,1,* Limin Wang,1 Qicheng Zhang,1 Limin Cao,1 Yinghui Ren,1 Xiang Wu,2 Zhaowei Meng,3 Ke Xu1 1Tianjin Key Laboratory of Lung Cancer Metastasis and Tumor Microenvironment, Tianjin Lung Cancer Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, People’s Republic of China; 2Core Facility Center, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Nuclear Medicine, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Ke XuTianjin Key Laboratory of Lung Cancer Metastasis and Tumor Microenviroment, Tianjin Lung Cancer Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected] MengDepartment of Nuclear Medicine, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are an essential component of tumor microenvironment. They are attracting increasing attentions due to their crucial role in tumor growth, drug-resistance and metastasis. Cisplatin is a first-line chemotherapy drug applying in various types of cancer. There are intensive studies on cisplatin’s effect on tumor cells, however, its effect on CAFs remains poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the effect of cisplatin on CAFs.Methods: Cell migration was detected by wound healing assay. Cell invasion was performed by the transwell assay. mRNA expression was detected by quantitative PCR, and protein expression was detected by Western blotting. Tumor growth was measured using BALB/c nude mice tumor models.Results: Cisplatin attenuated the promoting capacity of CAFs on lung cancer cell migration and invasion, via suppressing CAFs’ effect on metastasis-related genes including Twist1, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), MMP2, and AKT signaling pathway. Keratin 8 (KRT8) was identified as a target of cisplatin. KRT8 upregulation in CAFs is responsible for the inhibitory effect of cisplatin on lung cancer cells metastasis potential through AKT pathway suppression. The stimulation of AKT by AKT activator SC79 reversed KRT8’s effect on cell migration. Importantly, in vivo study also showed that CAFs enhanced tumor growth significantly, and cisplatin effectively abrogated the promoting effect of CAFs on tumor growth.Conclusion: Our results revealed a novel mechanism that cisplatin attenuated the metastasis promoting effect of CAFs via KRT8/AKT signaling pathway. This finding highlights KRT8 in CAFs as a potential therapeutic candidate for metastasis treatment.Keywords: cancer-associated fibroblasts, KRT8, lung cancer, metastasis, cisplatin, AKT

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