Amphiregulin increases migration and proliferation of epithelial ovarian cancer cells by inducing its own expression via PI3-kinase signaling.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is overexpressed in many types of cancer, including epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), and its expression has been found to correlate with advanced stage and poor prognosis. The EGFR ligand amphiregulin (AREG) has been investigated as a target for human cancer therapy and is known to have an autocrine role in many cancers. A cytokine array identified AREG as one of several cytokines upregulated by EGF in a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) dependent manner in EOC cells. To investigate the functional role of AREG in EOC, its effect on cellular migration and proliferation was assessed in two EOC cells lines, OV167 and SKOV3. AREG increased both migration and proliferation of EOC cell line models through activation of PI3-K signaling, but independent of mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. Through an AREG autocrine loop mediated via PI3-K, upregulation of AREG led to increased levels of both AREG transcript and secreted AREG, while downregulation of endogenous AREG decreased the ability of exogenous AREG to induce cell migration and proliferation. Further, inhibition of endogenous AREG activity or metalloproteinase activity decreased EGF-induced EOC migration and proliferation, indicating a role for soluble endogenous AREG in mediating the functional effects of EGFR in inducing migration and proliferation in EOC.

Prevention of Cholestatic Liver Disease and Reduced Tumorigenicity in a Murine Model of PFIC Type 3 Using Hybrid AAV-piggyBac Gene Therapy.

Recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors are highly promising vehicles for liver-targeted gene transfer, with therapeutic efficacy demonstrated in preclinical models and clinical trials. Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 3 (PFIC3), an inherited juvenile-onset, cholestatic liver disease caused by homozygous mutation of the ABCB4 gene, may be a promising candidate for rAAV-mediated liver-targeted gene therapy. The Abcb4-/- mice model of PFIC3, with juvenile mice developing progressive cholestatic liver injury due to impaired biliary phosphatidylcholine excretion, resulted in cirrhosis and liver malignancy. Using a conventional rAAV strategy, we observed markedly blunted rAAV transduction in adult Abcb4-/- mice with established liver disease, but not in disease-free, wild-type adults or in homozygous juveniles prior to liver disease onset. However, delivery of predominantly nonintegrating rAAV vectors to juvenile mice results in loss of persistent transgene expression due to hepatocyte proliferation in the growing liver. Conclusion: A hybrid vector system, combining the high transduction efficiency of rAAV with piggyBac transposase-mediated somatic integration, was developed to facilitate stable human ABCB4 expression in vivo and to correct juvenile-onset chronic liver disease in a murine model of PFIC3. A single dose of hybrid vector at birth led to life-long restoration of bile composition, prevention of biliary cirrhosis, and a substantial reduction in tumorigenesis. This powerful hybrid rAAV-piggyBac transposon vector strategy has the capacity to mediate lifelong phenotype correction and reduce the tumorigenicity of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 3 and, with further refinement, the potential for human clinical translation.

Modeling correction of severe urea cycle defects in the growing murine liver using a hybrid recombinant adeno-associated virus/piggyBac transposase gene delivery system.

UNLABELLED: Liver-targeted gene therapy based on recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors (rAAV) shows promising therapeutic efficacy in animal models and adult-focused clinical trials. This promise, however, is not directly translatable to the growing liver, where high rates of hepatocellular proliferation are accompanied by loss of episomal rAAV genomes and subsequently a loss in therapeutic efficacy. We have developed a hybrid rAAV/piggyBac transposon vector system combining the highly efficient liver-targeting properties of rAAV with stable piggyBac-mediated transposition of the transgene into the hepatocyte genome. Transposition efficiency was first tested using an enhanced green fluorescent protein expression cassette following delivery to newborn wild-type mice, with a 20-fold increase in stably gene-modified hepatocytes observed 4 weeks posttreatment compared to traditional rAAV gene delivery. We next modeled the therapeutic potential of the system in the context of severe urea cycle defects. A single treatment in the perinatal period was sufficient to confer robust and stable phenotype correction in the ornithine transcarbamylase-deficient Spf(ash) mouse and the neonatal lethal argininosuccinate synthetase knockout mouse. Finally, transposon integration patterns were analyzed, revealing 127,386 unique integration sites which conformed to previously published piggyBac data. CONCLUSION: Using a hybrid rAAV/piggyBac transposon vector system, we achieved stable therapeutic protection in two urea cycle defect mouse models; a clinically conceivable early application of this technology in the management of severe urea cycle defects could be as a bridging therapy while awaiting liver transplantation; further improvement of the system will result from the development of highly human liver-tropic capsids, the use of alternative strategies to achieve transient transposase expression, and engineered refinements in the safety profile of piggyBac transposase-mediated integration.

The chemokine CXCL1 induces proliferation in epithelial ovarian cancer cells by transactivation of the epidermal growth factor receptor.

The chemokine CXCL1 is elevated in plasma and ascites from patients with ovarian cancer. We have previously shown that CXCL1 is a marker of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signalling in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cell lines, a pathway that is commonly activated in ovarian tumours. To investigate whether CXCL1 also has functional significance in ovarian cancer, this chemokine was either down-regulated using siRNAs or overexpressed by transfection of CXCL1 into the EOC cell lines SKOV3 and OVCAR-3 and proliferation assessed over 7 days. Overexpression of CXCL1 increased proliferation of ovarian cancer cells over 7 days, while down-regulation was inhibitory. Treatment of cells with recombinant CXCL1 induced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) phosphorylation at Y1068, indicating crosstalk between the CXCL1 G-protein-coupled receptor CXCR2 and the EGFR. CXCL1-induced proliferation was also decreased by inhibition of EGFR kinase activity and was dependent on extracellular matrix metalloproteinase-mediated release of heparin-binding EGF (HB-EGF). Involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) signalling was also evident since inhibition of both Ras and MEK activity decreased CXCL1-induced proliferation. CXCL1-induced ERK1/2 phosphorylation was inhibited by the MEK1 inhibitor PD98059; however, EGFR phosphorylation was unaffected, indicating that CXCL1 activation of MAPK signalling is downstream of the EGFR. Taken together, these data show that CXCL1 functions through CXCR2 to transactivate the EGFR by proteolytic cleavage of HB-EGF, leading to activation of MAPK signalling and increased proliferation of EOC cells.

Vascularity during wound maturation correlates with fragmentation of serum albumin but not ceruloplasmin, transferrin, or haptoglobin.

Reduced vascularity during wound maturation is mediated by endothelial apoptosis. Albumin has an anti-apoptotic activity for endothelium, which increases up to 100-fold on albumin fragmentation (AF). We now report that levels of AF correlate with changing vascularity during wound maturation. Both scarring and adipogenic wound-healing models were established in mice. Western blots of granulation tissue revealed AF concurrent with periods of high vascularity as determined by thin-section microscopy, with reduced AF on wound maturation (p<0.02). In profiling AF, the levels of 27.5 and 39 kDa fragments were reduced on maturation of both scarring and adipogenic wounds (p<0.005), as were the levels of an additional 17.5 kDa fragment prominent only in adipogenic wounds (p<0.001). A 49 kDa albumin fragment was found to be reduced during maturation of scarring (p<0.001) but not adipogenic wounds. For comparison, we probed for transferrin, ceruloplasmin, and haptoglobin fragmentation on the basis that like albumin, these are considered acute-phase transport proteins. Minimal fragmentation of transferrin and ceruloplasmin was seen, along with partial dissociation of haptoglobin subunits, but these did not correlate with AF or vascularity. Our findings are consistent with a role for AF in regulating granulation tissue vascularity during healing.

Gonadotropin-induced ovarian cancer cell migration and proliferation require extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 activation regulated by calcium and protein kinase C{delta}.

The gonadotropin hypothesis proposes that elevated serum gonadotropin levels may increase the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). We have studied the effect of treating EOC cell lines (OV207 and OVCAR-3) with FSH or LH. Both gonadotropins activated the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) pathway and increased cell migration that was inhibited by the MAPK 1 inhibitor PD98059. Both extra- and intracellular calcium ion signalling were implicated in gonadotropin-induced ERK1/2 activation as treatment with either the calcium chelator EGTA or an inhibitor of intracellular calcium release, dantrolene, inhibited gonadotropin-induced ERK1/2 activation. Verapamil was also inhibitory, indicating that gonadotropins activate calcium influx via L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels. The cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) pathway was not involved in the mediation of gonadotropin action in these cells as gonadotropins did not increase intracellular cAMP formation and inhibition of PKA did not affect gonadotropin-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2. Activation of ERK1/2 was inhibited by the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor GF 109203X as well as by the PKCdelta inhibitor rottlerin, and downregulation of PKCdelta was inhibited by small interfering RNA (siRNA), highlighting the importance of PKCdelta in the gonadotropin signalling cascade. Furthermore, in addition to inhibition by PD98059, gonadotropin-induced ovarian cancer cell migration was also inhibited by verapamil, GF 109203X and rottlerin. Similarly, gonadotropin-induced proliferation was inhibited by PD98059, verapamil, GF 109203X and PKCdelta siRNA. Taken together, these results demonstrate that gonadotropins induce both ovarian cancer cell migration and proliferation by activation of ERK1/2 signalling in a calcium- and PKCdelta-dependent manner.

Negative feedback for endothelial apoptosis: a potential physiological role for fibroblast growth factor.

Although most physiologically important processes are regulated through negative feedback loops and numerous factors regulating endothelial apoptosis are identified, little is known about negative feedback mechanisms for endothelial apoptosis. Here we describe the release of soluble anti-apoptotic activity by endothelial cells undergoing apoptosis, and identify fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) as contributing to this. In brief, apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells was induced by serum deprivation and confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, DNA gel electrophoresis and a sub-diploid population seen by fluorescence-activated cell scanning analysis. Apoptosis was most rapid early during culture, and this was demonstrated to be due to the accumulation of soluble anti-apoptotic activity in experiments replacing culture medium with fresh medium, or alternatively returning conditioned medium to cells. FGF-2 antigen was detected in both conditioned medium and cell lysates, while neutralizing antibodies reduced the protective effect of medium conditioned by apoptotic endothelium. Experiments with the highly specific FGF-2 receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor SU5402 indicated that FGF-2 accounted for the protective activity. We propose FGF-2 negative feedback as potentially important in microvascular remodelling. This is consistent with the absence of a secretory signal sequence in FGF-2, as well as canalicular fragmentation, which is unique to endothelial apoptosis and appears to result in minor cytoplasmic leakage.

The anti-apoptotic activity of albumin for endothelium is mediated by a partially cryptic protein domain and reduced by inhibitors of G-coupled protein and PI-3 kinase, but is independent of radical scavenging or bound lipid.

Increased vascular disease occurs with low albumin (human serum albumin, HSA), possibly reflecting specific inhibition of endothelial apoptosis reported for tissue culture. Despite the reported specificity for endothelial protection by HSA, the high but physiological concentrations needed appear more consistent with non-specific low-affinity interactions. We reconcile this contradiction by demonstrating protection is mediated by a partially cryptic HSA protein domain, which becomes more exposed and active following cyanogen bromide fragmentation (p < 0.001). Also, although others reported HSA radical scavenging and bound lipids as important for inhibiting apoptosis in non-endothelial cell types, we demonstrate the protective effect for endothelium is unaffected when HSA radical scavenging is blocked by alkylation, or following delipidation. Further probing the mechanism responsible, we found that the G-coupled protein inhibitors pertussis toxin and suramin reduced protection of endothelium by HSA (p < 0.005), while the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein had no effect. Consistent with a role for phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K) was inhibition by both wortmannin and LY294002 (p < 0.05), as well as phosphorylation of Akt, while MAP kinase inhibitors had no effect. We conclude the active site in HSA inhibiting endothelial apoptosis is partially cryptic, and acts via a G-coupled protein PI3K-dependent mechanism.