Expression of erythropoietin receptor and in vitro functional effects of epoetins in B-cell malignancies.

PURPOSE: Erythropoietin (EPO) and EPO receptor (EPO-R) expression have been reported in solid tumors and are claimed to regulate tumor growth; however, no data have been published on this issue in B-cell malignancies or normal lymphoid cells. This report describes genomic/protein EPO-R expression and in vitro effects of recombinant human EPO (epoetin) in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL), and multiple myeloma (MM). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Blood samples were obtained from patients with B-CLL, MCL, and healthy volunteers, and bone marrow was obtained from MM patients. EPO-R mRNA was detected by reverse transcription-PCR. EPO-R surface expression was investigated by flow cytometry using digoxigenin-labeled epoetin and polyclonal rabbit anti-EPO-R antibody for intracellular receptor. Tumor cell stimulation was determined in vitro using [(3)H]thymidine incorporation and CD69 expression after exposure to epoetin alpha or beta or darbepoetin alpha. RESULTS: EPO-R mRNA was detected in mononuclear cells from 32 of 41 (78%) B-CLL and 5 of 7 (71%) MCL patients, and 21 of 21 (100%) MM samples. Expression was also detected in highly purified T cells from six of eight B-CLL patients, four of four MM patients, and normal donor B and T cells. Surface EPO-R protein was not detected. Intracellular EPO-R staining with anti-EPO-R antibodies was unspecific. No tumor-stimulatory effect was observed with high epoetin concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: EPO-R gene is frequently expressed in lymphoid malignancies and normal B and T cells. However, there was no surface protein expression and no epoetin-induced in vitro stimulation of tumor B cells, indicating that epoetin therapy in vivo is likely to be safe in patients with lymphoid malignancies.

Diversity of cell-mediated adhesions in breast cancer spheroids.

Due to their three dimensional (3D) architecture, multicellular tumor spheroids mimic avascular tumor areas comprising the establishment of diffusion gradients, reduced proliferation rates and increased drug resistance. We have shown recently that the spontaneous formation of spheroids is restricted to a limited number of cell lines whereas the majority grow only as aggregates of cells with loose cell-cell contacts when cultured in 3D. However, by the addition of reconstituted basement membrane (rBM, Matrigel), aggregates can be transformed into spheroids with diffusion barriers and development of quiescent therapy-resistant cells. In this report, we investigated adhesion molecules responsible for rBM-driven versus spontaneous spheroid formation in a diverse population of eight breast tumor cell lines relevant for in vitro and in vivo antitumor drug testing. Inhibition of spheroid formation was monitored in the presence of adhesion molecule functional blocking antibodies and after siRNA-mediated down-regulation of E- and N-cadherin and integrin beta1 adhesion receptors. We identified that E-cadherin mediates the spontaneous formation of spheroids in MCF7, BT-474, T-47D and MDA-MB-361 cells, whereas N-cadherin is responsible for tight packing of MDA-MB-435S cells. In contrast, the matrix protein-induced transformation of 3D aggregates into spheroids in MDA-MB-231 and SK-BR-3 cells is mediated primarily by the collagen I/integrin beta1 interaction with no cadherin involvement. A combination of both, homophilic E-cadherin and integrin beta1/collagen I interaction establishes spheroids in MDA-MB-468 cells. These findings indicate that an evolutionary diverse and complex pattern of interacting cell surface proteins exists in breast cancer cells that determines the 3D growth characteristic in vitro, thereby influencing small molecule or antibody permeation in preclinical in vitro and in vivo tumor models.

Rapid generation of single-tumor spheroids for high-throughput cell function and toxicity analysis.

Spheroids are widely used in biology because they provide an in vitro 3-dimensional (3D) model to study proliferation, cell death, differentiation, and metabolism of cells in tumors and the response of tumors to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The methods of generating spheroids are limited by size heterogeneity, long cultivation time, or mechanical accessibility for higher throughput fashion. The authors present a rapid method to generate single spheroids in suspension culture in individual wells. A defined number of cells ranging from 1000 to 20,000 were seeded into wells of poly-HEMA-coated, 96-well, round-or conical-bottom plates in standard medium and centrifuged for 10 min at 1000 g. This procedure generates single spheroids in each well within a 24-h culture time with homogeneous sizes, morphologies, and stratification of proliferating cells in the rim and dying cells in the core region. Because a large number of tumor cell lines form only loose aggregates when cultured in 3D, the authors also performed a screen for medium additives to achieve a switch from aggregate to spheroid morphology. Small quantities of the basement membrane extract Matrigel, added to the culture medium prior to centrifugation, most effectively induced compact spheroid formation. The compact spheroid morphology is evident as early as 24 h after centrifugation in a true suspension culture. Twenty tumor cell lines of different lineages have been used to successfully generate compact, single spheroids with homogenous size in 96-well plates and are easily accessible for subsequent functional analysis.

Novel human IgG1 and IgG4 Fc-engineered antibodies with completely abolished immune effector functions.

Recombinant human IgG antibodies (hIgGs) completely devoid of binding to Fcγ receptors (FcγRs) and complement protein C1q, and thus with abolished immune effector functions, are of use for various therapeutic applications in order to reduce FcγR activation and Fc-mediated toxicity. Fc engineering approaches described to date only partially achieve this goal or employ a large number of mutations, which may increase the risk of anti-drug antibody generation. We describe here two new, engineered hIgG Fc domains, hIgG1-P329G LALA and hIgG4-P329G SPLE, with completely abolished FcγR and C1q interactions, containing a limited number of mutations and with unaffected FcRn interactions and Fc stability. Both 'effector-silent' Fc variants are based on a novel Fc mutation, P329G that disrupts the formation of a proline sandwich motif with the FcγRs. As this motif is present in the interface of all IgG Fc/FcγR complexes, its disruption can be applied to all human and most of the other mammalian IgG subclasses in order to create effector silent IgG molecules.

Role of claudins in tumorigenesis.

The family of more than 20 claudin (CLDN) proteins comprises one of the major structural elements within the apical tight junction apparatus, a dynamic cellular nexus for maintenance of a luminal barrier, paracellular transport, and signal transduction. Loss of normal tight junction functions constitutes a hallmark of human carcinomas. CLDN1 may support tumor suppressive functions in tissues such as the brain, where dramatic loss of expression has been demonstrated in glioblastoma multiforme. The role(s) for CLDNs 3 and 4 in tumorigenesis is less clear. CLDN4 appears to be over-expressed in ovarian and pancreatic carcinomas, and this raises the possibility that a unique, potentially non-toxic cancer cell target may be developed through the design of enterotoxin analogues. Future goals include understanding the biochemical and physiological mechanisms that are perturbed as a consequence of CLDN alterations in the progression of solid tumors.

Established breast cancer stem cell markers do not correlate with in vivo tumorigenicity of tumor-initiating cells.

The tumor-initiating capacity of primary human breast cancer cells is maintained in vitro by culturing these cells as spheres/aggregates. Inoculation of small cell numbers derived from these non-adherent cultures leads to rapid xenograft tumor formation in mice. Accordingly, injection of more differentiated monolayer cells derived from spheres results in significantly decelerated tumor growth. For our study, two breast cancer cell lines were generated from primary tumors and cultured as mammospheres or as their adherent counterparts. We examined the in vivo tumorigenicity of these cells by injecting serial dilutions into immunodeficient mice. Inoculation of 106 cells per mouse led to rapid tumor formation, irrespective of cell line or culture conditions. However, after injection of only 103 cells, solely sphere cells were highly tumorigenic. In vitro, we investigated differentiation markers, established breast CSC markers and conducted mRNA profiling. Cytokeratin 5 and 18 were increased in both monolayer cell types, indicating a more differentiated phenotype. All cell lines were CD24(-)/CD44(+) and did not express CD133, CD326 or E-cadherin. ALDH1 activity was not detectable in any cell line. A verapamil­sensitive Hoechst side population was present in sphere cells, but there was no correlation with tumorigenicity in vivo. mRNA profiling did not reveal upregulation of relevant transcription factors. In vitro cell cycle kinetics and in vivo tumor doubling times displayed no difference between sphere and monolayer cultures. Our data indicate that intrinsic genetic and functional markers investigated are not indicative of the in vivo tumori-genicity of putative breast tumor-initiating cells.

Reexpression of the TJ protein CLDN1 induces apoptosis in breast tumor spheroids.

Members of the claudin family together with occludin are the major constituents of the tight junction (TJ) complex. The human homologue of the murine CLDN1, previously called SEMP1, was identified by differential expression analysis, and the CLDN1 mRNA was found to be downregulated or completely lost in human breast cancer cells in vitro. Retroviral-induced CLDN1 reexpression in breast cancer cells results in plasma membrane homing of the protein and reconstitution of paracellular flux inhibition, which is not dependent on the presence of occludin protein. In this report, we investigated the physiologic role of CLDN1 in CLDN1-transduced MDA-MB 361 breast tumor cells in adherent 2D and suspension 3D spheroid cell cultures. Retroviral-transduced bulk cultures were FACS-sorted to enrich for 100% CLDN1-positive clonal derivatives with similar expression levels of CLDN1 mRNA and protein. There was no difference in proliferation and cell death characteristics in 2D adherent cell cultures of CLDN1-positive compared to control CLDN1-negative and mock-transduced cell cultures. In contrast, the majority of the CLDN1-transduced derivatives displayed a significant elevation of apoptosis that became evident as early as 2 days after 3D spheroid culture onset. This elevated apoptosis was independent of the volume of established spheroids. The cellular immunofluorescence analysis of CLDN1 protein expression in transduced bulk cultures revealed a CLDN1-positive subfraction with a heterogeneous pattern of membrane and cytosolic immunostaining. In the clonal MDA-MB 361 CLDN1-positive cultures, we found that a more prominent cell membrane localization correlated with a pronounced increase of apoptosis in tumor spheroids. In parallel, inhibition of the paracellular flux rate was observed. These findings support a potential role of the TJ protein CLDN1 in restricting nutrient and growth factor supplies in breast cancer cells, and they indicate that the loss of the cell membrane localization of the TJ protein CLDN1 in carcinomas may be a crucial step during tumor progression.

Expression and targeting of the tight junction protein CLDN1 in CLDN1-negative human breast tumor cells.

Claudins and occludin constitute the major transmembrane proteins of tight junctions (TJs). We have previously identified the human homologue of the murine Cldn1, CLDN1 (SEMP1) that is expressed in normal, mammary gland-derived epithelial cells but is absent in most human breast cancer cell lines. To investigate the potential functions of CLDN1 protein in tumor and normal epithelial cells, we developed an I-NGFR retroviral vector and monoclonal anti-CLDN1 antibody. In subconfluent and confluent breast cancer cells, MDA-MB-435 and MDA-MB-361, endogenous CLDN1 expression was not detected by an anti-CLDN1 monoclonal antibody by Western blot analysis or quantitative RT-PCR. When CLDN1-negative breast cancer cell lines were transduced with a CLDN1 retrovirus the cells express CLDN1 mRNA constitutively as shown by quantitative RT-PCR. Immunofluorescence analyses of the CLDN1 retroviral transduced breast tumor cells using monoclonal antibodies against CLDN1 reveals a subcellular distribution at cell-cell contact sites similar to the CLDN1 homing pattern in T47-D cells, which express endogenous CLDN1. This cell-cell contact co-localization of CLDN1 was evident in CLDN1-transduced breast tumor cells which fail to express occludin protein (MDA-MB-361 and MDA-MB-435) and express relatively little ZO-1 protein (MDA-MB-435), suggesting that other proteins may be responsible for targeting of CLDN1 to cell-cell contact sites. The re-expression of CLDN1 decreases the paracellular flux of 3 and 40 kDa dextran despite the absence of occludin in the MDA-MB-361 tumor cells. Our findings indicate that in CLDN1-negative breast tumor cells, the basal protein partner requirements for physiological homing of the CLDN1 protein are intact, and that CLDN1 gene transfer and protein expression itself might be sufficient to exert a TJ-mediate gate function in metastatic tumor cells even in the absence of other TJ-associated proteins, such as occludin.