Blood flow diverts extracellular vesicles from endothelial degradative compartments to promote angiogenesis.

Extracellular vesicles released by tumors (tEVs) disseminate via circulatory networks and promote microenvironmental changes in distant organs favoring metastatic seeding. Despite their abundance in the bloodstream, how hemodynamics affect the function of circulating tEVs remains unsolved. We demonstrated that efficient uptake of tEVs occurs in venous endothelial cells that are subjected to hemodynamics. Low flow regimes observed in veins partially reroute internalized tEVs toward non-acidic and non-degradative Rab14-positive endosomes, at the expense of lysosomes, suggesting that endothelial mechanosensing diverts tEVs from degradation. Subsequently, tEVs promote the expression of pro-angiogenic transcription factors in low flow-stimulated endothelial cells and favor vessel sprouting in zebrafish. Altogether, we demonstrate that low flow regimes potentiate the pro-tumoral function of circulating tEVs by promoting their uptake and rerouting their trafficking. We propose that tEVs contribute to pre-metastatic niche formation by exploiting endothelial mechanosensing in specific vascular regions with permissive hemodynamics.

Platelets favor the outgrowth of established metastases.

Despite abundant evidence demonstrating that platelets foster metastasis, anti-platelet agents have low therapeutic potential due to the risk of hemorrhages. In addition, whether platelets can regulate metastasis at the late stages of the disease remains unknown. In this study, we subject syngeneic models of metastasis to various thrombocytopenic regimes to show that platelets provide a biphasic contribution to metastasis. While potent intravascular binding of platelets to tumor cells efficiently promotes metastasis, platelets further support the outgrowth of established metastases via immune suppression. Genetic depletion and pharmacological targeting of the glycoprotein VI (GPVI) platelet-specific receptor in humanized mouse models efficiently reduce the growth of established metastases, independently of active platelet binding to tumor cells in the bloodstream. Our study demonstrates therapeutic efficacy when targeting animals bearing growing metastases. It further identifies GPVI as a molecular target whose inhibition can impair metastasis without inducing collateral hemostatic perturbations.

Inhibition of the pseudokinase MLKL alters extracellular vesicle release and reduces tumor growth in glioblastoma.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid-based nanosized particles that convey biological material from donor to recipient cells. EVs play key roles in glioblastoma progression because glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSCs) release pro-oncogenic, pro-angiogenic, and pro-inflammatory EVs. However, the molecular basis of EV release remains poorly understood. Here, we report the identification of the pseudokinase MLKL, a crucial effector of cell death by necroptosis, as a regulator of the constitutive secretion of EVs in GSCs. We find that genetic, protein, and pharmacological targeting of MLKL alters intracellular trafficking and EV release, and reduces GSC expansion. Nevertheless, this function ascribed to MLKL appears independent of its role during necroptosis. In vivo, pharmacological inhibition of MLKL reduces the tumor burden and the level of plasmatic EVs. This work highlights the necroptosis-independent role of MLKL in vesicle release and suggests that interfering with EVs is a promising therapeutic option to sensitize glioblastoma cells.

Nanoluminal Signaling Shapes Collective Metastasis.

Clustering of tumor cells is known to grant superior metastatic efficiency compared with single cells. However, the mechanisms involved remain elusive. Reporting in Cell, Wrenn et al. describe how sealed intercellular compartments, nanolumina, are used as growth factor reservoirs within tumor cell clusters to regulate tumor cell proliferation.

Mechanical Adaptability of Tumor Cells in Metastasis.

The most dangerous aspect of cancer lies in metastatic progression. Tumor cells will successfully form life-threatening metastases when they undergo sequential steps along a journey from the primary tumor to distant organs. From a biomechanics standpoint, growth, invasion, intravasation, circulation, arrest/adhesion, and extravasation of tumor cells demand particular cell-mechanical properties in order to survive and complete the metastatic cascade. With metastatic cells usually being softer than their non-malignant counterparts, high deformability for both the cell and its nucleus is thought to offer a significant advantage for metastatic potential. However, it is still unclear whether there is a finely tuned but fixed mechanical state that accommodates all mechanical features required for survival throughout the cascade or whether tumor cells need to dynamically refine their properties and intracellular components at each new step encountered. Here, we review the various mechanical requirements successful cancer cells might need to fulfill along their journey and speculate on the possibility that they dynamically adapt their properties accordingly. The mechanical signature of a successful cancer cell might actually be its ability to adapt to the successive microenvironmental constraints along the different steps of the journey.

Impairing flow-mediated endothelial remodeling reduces extravasation of tumor cells.

Tumor progression and metastatic dissemination are driven by cell-intrinsic and biomechanical cues that favor the growth of life-threatening secondary tumors. We recently identified pro-metastatic vascular regions with blood flow profiles that are permissive for the arrest of circulating tumor cells. We have further established that such flow profiles also control endothelial remodeling, which favors extravasation of arrested CTCs. Yet, how shear forces control endothelial remodeling is unknown. In the present work, we aimed at dissecting the cellular and molecular mechanisms driving blood flow-dependent endothelial remodeling. Transcriptomic analysis of endothelial cells revealed that blood flow enhanced VEGFR signaling, among others. Using a combination of in vitro microfluidics and intravital imaging in zebrafish embryos, we now demonstrate that the early flow-driven endothelial response can be prevented upon specific inhibition of VEGFR tyrosine kinase and subsequent signaling. Inhibitory targeting of VEGFRs reduced endothelial remodeling and subsequent metastatic extravasation. These results confirm the importance of VEGFR-dependent endothelial remodeling as a driving force of CTC extravasation and metastatic dissemination. Furthermore, the present work suggests that therapies targeting endothelial remodeling might be a relevant clinical strategy in order to impede metastatic progression.

Ral GTPases promote breast cancer metastasis by controlling biogenesis and organ targeting of exosomes.

Cancer extracellular vesicles (EVs) shuttle at distance and fertilize pre-metastatic niches facilitating subsequent seeding by tumor cells. However, the link between EV secretion mechanisms and their capacity to form pre-metastatic niches remains obscure. Using mouse models, we show that GTPases of the Ral family control, through the phospholipase D1, multi-vesicular bodies homeostasis and tune the biogenesis and secretion of pro-metastatic EVs. Importantly, EVs from RalA or RalB depleted cells have limited organotropic capacities in vivoand are less efficient in promoting metastasis. RalA and RalB reduce the EV levels of the adhesion molecule MCAM/CD146, which favors EV-mediated metastasis by allowing EVs targeting to the lungs. Finally, RalA, RalB, and MCAM/CD146, are factors of poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. Altogether, our study identifies RalGTPases as central molecules linking the mechanisms of EVs secretion and cargo loading to their capacity to disseminate and induce pre-metastatic niches in a CD146-dependent manner.

Metastatic Tumor Cells Exploit Their Adhesion Repertoire to Counteract Shear Forces during Intravascular Arrest.

Cancer metastasis is a process whereby a primary tumor spreads to distant organs. We have demonstrated previously that blood flow controls the intravascular arrest of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) through stable adhesion to endothelial cells. We now aim to define the contribution of cell adhesion potential and identify adhesion receptors at play. Early arrest is mediated by the formation of weak adhesion, depending on CD44 and integrin αvß3. Stabilization of this arrest uses integrin α5ß1-dependent adhesions with higher adhesion strength, which allows CTCs to stop in vascular regions with lower shear forces. Moreover, blood flow favors luminal deposition of fibronectin on endothelial cells, an integrin α5ß1 ligand. Finally, we show that only receptors involved in stable adhesion are required for subsequent extravasation and metastasis. In conclusion, we identified the molecular partners that are sequentially exploited by CTCs to arrest and extravasate in vascular regions with permissive flow regimes.

Membrane Tension Orchestrates Rear Retraction in Matrix-Directed Cell Migration.

In development, wound healing, and cancer metastasis, vertebrate cells move through 3D interstitial matrix, responding to chemical and physical guidance cues. Protrusion at the cell front has been extensively studied, but the retraction phase of the migration cycle is not well understood. Here, we show that fast-moving cells guided by matrix cues establish positive feedback control of rear retraction by sensing membrane tension. We reveal a mechanism of rear retraction in 3D matrix and durotaxis controlled by caveolae, which form in response to low membrane tension at the cell rear. Caveolae activate RhoA-ROCK1/PKN2 signaling via the RhoA guanidine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) Ect2 to control local F-actin organization and contractility in this subcellular region and promote translocation of the cell rear. A positive feedback loop between cytoskeletal signaling and membrane tension leads to rapid retraction to complete the migration cycle in fast-moving cells, providing directional memory to drive persistent cell migration in complex matrices.

Studying the Fate of Tumor Extracellular Vesicles at High Spatiotemporal Resolution Using the Zebrafish Embryo.

Tumor extracellular vesicles (EVs) mediate the communication between tumor and stromal cells mostly to the benefit of tumor progression. Notably, tumor EVs travel in the bloodstream, reach distant organs, and locally modify the microenvironment. However, visualizing these events in vivo still faces major hurdles. Here, we describe an approach for tracking circulating tumor EVs in a living organism: we combine chemical and genetically encoded probes with the zebrafish embryo as an animal model. We provide a first description of tumor EVs' hemodynamic behavior and document their intravascular arrest. We show that circulating tumor EVs are rapidly taken up by endothelial cells and blood patrolling macrophages and subsequently stored in degradative compartments. Finally, we demonstrate that tumor EVs activate macrophages and promote metastatic outgrowth. Overall, our study proves the usefulness and prospects of zebrafish embryo to track tumor EVs and dissect their role in metastatic niches formation in vivo.