ABCC5 supports osteoclast formation and promotes breast cancer metastasis to bone.

INTRODUCTION: Bone is the most common site of breast cancer metastasis, and complications associated with bone metastases can lead to a significantly decreased patient quality of life. Thus, it is essential to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms that underlie the emergence and growth of breast cancer skeletal metastases. METHODS: To search for novel molecular mediators that influence breast cancer bone metastasis, we generated gene-expression profiles from laser-capture microdissected trephine biopsies of both breast cancer bone metastases and independent primary breast tumors that metastasized to bone. Bioinformatics analysis identified genes that are differentially expressed in breast cancer bone metastases compared with primary, bone-metastatic breast tumors. RESULTS: ABCC5, an ATP-dependent transporter, was found to be overexpressed in breast cancer osseous metastases relative to primary breast tumors. In addition, ABCC5 was significantly upregulated in human and mouse breast cancer cell lines with high bone-metastatic potential. Stable knockdown of ABCC5 substantially reduced bone metastatic burden and osteolytic bone destruction in mice. The decrease in osteolysis was further associated with diminished osteoclast numbers in vivo. Finally, conditioned media from breast cancer cells with reduced ABCC5 expression failed to induce in vitro osteoclastogenesis to the same extent as conditioned media from breast cancer cells expressing ABCC5. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that ABCC5 functions as a mediator of breast cancer skeletal metastasis. ABCC5 expression in breast cancer cells is important for efficient osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. Hence, ABCC5 may be a potential therapeutic target for breast cancer bone metastasis.

Crk adaptor proteins act as key signaling integrators for breast tumorigenesis.

INTRODUCTION: CT10 regulator of kinase (Crk) adaptor proteins (CrkI, CrkII and CrkL) play a role in integrating signals for migration and invasion of highly malignant breast cancer cell lines. This has important implications, as elevated CrkI/II protein levels were observed in a small cohort of breast cancer patients, which identified a potential role for Crk proteins in breast cancer progression. Numerous in vitro studies identified a role for Crk proteins in cell motility, but little is known about how Crk proteins contribute to breast cancer progression in vivo. METHODS: The clinical significance of Crk proteins in human breast cancer was assessed by analyzing published breast cancer datasets using a gene expression signature that was generated following CrkII over-expression and by examining Crk protein expression in tissue microarrays of breast tumors (n = 254). Stable knockdown of Crk (CrkI/CrkII/CrkL) proteins was accomplished using a short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-mediated approach in two basal breast cancer cell lines, MDA-231 1833TR and SUM1315, where the former have a high affinity to form bone metastases. Both in vitro assays (cell migration, invasion, soft agar growth) and in vivo experiments (intra-cardiac, tibial and mammary fat pad injections) were performed to assess the functional significance of Crk proteins in breast cancer. RESULTS: A gene signature derived following CrkII over-expression correlated significantly with basal breast cancers and with high grade and poor outcome in general. Moreover, elevated Crk immunostaining on tissue microarrays revealed a significant association with highly proliferative tumors within the basal subtype. RNAi-mediated knockdown of all three Crk proteins in metastatic basal breast cancer cells established a continued requirement for Crk in cell migration and invasion in vitro and metastatic growth in vivo. Furthermore, Crk ablation suppressed anchorage independent growth and in vivo orthotopic tumor growth. This was associated with diminished cell proliferation and was rescued by expression of non-shRNA targeted CrkI/II. Perturbations in tumor progression correlated with altered integrin signaling, including decreased cell spreading, diminished p130Cas phosphorylation, and Cdc42 activation. CONCLUSIONS: These data highlight the physiological importance of Crk proteins in regulating growth of aggressive basal breast cancer cells and identify Crk-dependent signaling networks as promising therapeutic targets.

CCN3 impairs osteoblast and stimulates osteoclast differentiation to favor breast cancer metastasis to bone.

Bone is a preferred site for breast cancer metastasis, causing pain, fractures, spinal cord compressions, and hypercalcemia, all of which can significantly diminish the patient's quality of life. We identified CCN3 as a novel factor that is highly expressed in bone metastatic breast cancer cells from a xenograft mouse model and in bone metastatic lesions from patients with breast cancer. We demonstrate that CCN3 overexpression enhances the ability of weakly bone metastatic breast cancer cells to colonize and grow in the bone without altering their growth in the mammary fat pad. We further demonstrated that human recombinant CCN3 inhibits osteoblast differentiation from primary bone marrow cultures, leading to a higher receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL)/osteoprotegerin (OPG) ratio. In conjunction with its ability to impair osteoblast differentiation, we uncovered a novel role for CCN3 in promoting osteoclast differentiation from RANKL-primed monocyte precursors. CCN3 exerts its pro-osteoclastogenic effects by promoting calcium oscillations and nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 (NFATc1) nuclear translocation. Together, these results demonstrate that CCN3 regulates the differentiation of bone resident cells to create a resorptive environment that promotes the formation of osteolytic breast cancer metastases.

CXCR4 peptide antagonist inhibits primary breast tumor growth, metastasis and enhances the efficacy of anti-VEGF treatment or docetaxel in a transgenic mouse model.

CXCR4 is a chemokine receptor implicated in the homing of cancer cells to target metastatic organs, which overexpress its ligand, stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1. To determine the efficacy of targeting CXCR4 on primary tumor growth and metastasis, we used a peptide inhibitor of CXCR4, CTCE-9908, that was administered in a clinically relevant approach using a transgenic breast cancer mouse model. We first performed a dosing experiment of CTCE-9908 in the PyMT mouse model, testing 25, 50 and 100 mg/kg versus the scrambled peptide in groups of 8-16 mice. We then combined CTCE-9908 with docetaxel or DC101 (an anti-VEGFR2 monoclonal antibody). We found that increasing doses of CTCE-9908 alone slowed the rate of tumor growth, with a 45% inhibition of primary tumor growth at 3.5 weeks of treatment with 50 mg/kg of CTCE-9908 (p = 0.005). Expression levels of VEGF were also found to be reduced by 42% with CTCE-9908 (p = 0.01). In combination with docetaxel, CTCE-9908 administration decreased tumor volume by 38% (p = 0.02), an effect that was greater than that observed with docetaxel alone. In combination with DC101, CTCE-9908 also demonstrated an enhanced effect compared to DC101 alone, with a 37% decrease in primary tumor volume (p = 0.01) and a 75% reduction in distant metastasis (p = 0.009). In combination with docetaxel or an anti-angiogenic agent, the anti-tumor and anti-metastatic effects of CTCE-9908 were markedly enhanced, suggesting potentially new effective combinatorial therapeutic strategies in the treatment of breast cancer, which include targeting the SDF-1/CXCR4 ligand/receptor pair.

Targeting aberrant TGF-beta signaling in pre-clinical models of cancer.

The TGF-beta signaling pathway is central to the control of diverse biological processes including cellular proliferation, cell survival, apoptosis, extracellular matrix deposition/remodeling, migration, invasion and immune regulation/inflammation. Given the pleiotropic effects of this cytokine, it comes as no surprise that numerous pathological conditions are associated with alterations in the TGF-beta pathway, including chronic fibrosis, airway remodeling (asthma), cardiovascular disease and cancer. Thus, there are increasing efforts to develop reagents and therapeutic strategies to impair TGF-beta signaling. Here we review several classes of inhibitors, including knock-down strategies aimed at signaling components of the TGF-beta pathway, TGF-beta neutralizing antibodies, TGF-beta receptor extracellular domains that function as ligand traps and small molecule kinase inhibitors. Strategies with potential for application as anti-cancer therapeutics that have been evaluated in pre-clinical animal models will be discussed. TGF-beta action is complex, shifting from a tumor suppressor to a promoter of tumor cell invasion and metastasis in several types of cancer. This raises important issues regarding not only the status of the TGF-beta pathway in the individual patient but also the precise stage during disease progression that such inhibitors should be employed. Potential consequences of targeting the TGF-beta pathway will also be considered.