Brantley Dana M, Cheng Nikki, Thompson Erin J, Lin Qing, Brekken Rolf A, Thorpe Philip E, Muraoka Rebecca S, Cerretti Douglas Pat, Pozzi Ambra, Jackson Dowdy, Lin Charles, Chen Jin
Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, TN 37232, USA.
Oncogene. 2002 Oct 10;21(46):7011-26. doi: 10.1038/sj.onc.1205679.
The Eph family of receptor tyrosine kinases and their ligands, known as ephrins, play a crucial role in vascular development during embryogenesis. The function of these molecules in adult angiogenesis has not been well characterized. Here, we report that blocking Eph A class receptor activation inhibits angiogenesis in two independent tumor types, the RIP-Tag transgenic model of angiogenesis-dependent pancreatic islet cell carcinoma and the 4T1 model of metastatic mammary adenocarcinoma. Ephrin-A1 ligand was expressed in both tumor and endothelial cells, and EphA2 receptor was localized primarily in tumor-associated vascular endothelial cells. Soluble EphA2-Fc or EphA3-Fc receptors inhibited tumor angiogenesis in cutaneous window assays, and tumor growth in vivo. EphA2-Fc or EphA3-Fc treatment resulted in decreased tumor vascular density, tumor volume, and cell proliferation, but increased cell apoptosis. However, EphA2-Fc had no direct effect on tumor cell growth or apoptosis in culture, yet inhibited migration of endothelial cells in response to tumor cells, suggesting that the soluble receptor inhibited blood vessel recruitment by the tumor. These data provide the first functional evidence for Eph A class receptor regulation of pathogenic angiogenesis induced by tumors and support the function of A class Eph receptors in tumor progression.
受体酪氨酸激酶的Eph家族及其配体(称为ephrins)在胚胎发育过程中的血管生成中起着关键作用。这些分子在成人血管生成中的功能尚未得到充分表征。在这里,我们报告阻断Eph A类受体激活可抑制两种独立肿瘤类型中的血管生成,即血管生成依赖性胰岛细胞癌的RIP-Tag转基因模型和转移性乳腺腺癌的4T1模型。Ephrin-A1配体在肿瘤细胞和内皮细胞中均有表达,而EphA2受体主要定位于肿瘤相关血管内皮细胞。可溶性EphA2-Fc或EphA3-Fc受体在皮肤窗口试验中抑制肿瘤血管生成,并在体内抑制肿瘤生长。EphA2-Fc或EphA3-Fc处理导致肿瘤血管密度、肿瘤体积和细胞增殖降低,但细胞凋亡增加。然而,EphA2-Fc对培养中的肿瘤细胞生长或凋亡没有直接影响,但抑制内皮细胞对肿瘤细胞的迁移反应,表明可溶性受体抑制肿瘤诱导的血管募集。这些数据为Eph A类受体对肿瘤诱导的病理性血管生成的调节提供了首个功能证据,并支持A类Eph受体在肿瘤进展中的作用。