Department of Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Cancer Res. 2016 Jul 15;76(14):4249-58. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-2813. Epub 2016 May 24.
Abnormal architectures of collagen fibers in the extracellular matrix (ECM) are hallmarks of many invasive diseases, including cancer. Targeting specific stages of collagen assembly in vivo presents a great challenge due to the involvement of various crosslinking enzymes in the multistep, hierarchical process of ECM build-up. Using advanced microscopic tools, we monitored stages of fibrillary collagen assembly in a native fibroblast-derived 3D matrix system and identified anti-lysyl oxidase-like 2 (LOXL2) antibodies that alter the natural alignment and width of endogenic fibrillary collagens without affecting ECM composition. The disrupted collagen morphologies interfered with the adhesion and invasion properties of human breast cancer cells. Treatment of mice bearing breast cancer xenografts with the inhibitory antibodies resulted in disruption of the tumorigenic collagen superstructure and in reduction of primary tumor growth. Our approach could serve as a general methodology to identify novel therapeutics targeting fibrillary protein organization to treat ECM-associated pathologies. Cancer Res; 76(14); 4249-58. ©2016 AACR.
细胞外基质(ECM)中胶原纤维的异常结构是许多侵袭性疾病(包括癌症)的特征。由于多种交联酶参与 ECM 构建的多步骤、层次过程,因此针对胶原组装的特定阶段在体内具有很大的挑战性。我们使用先进的显微镜工具,在天然成纤维细胞衍生的 3D 基质系统中监测纤维状胶原组装的阶段,并鉴定出抗赖氨酰氧化酶样 2(LOXL2)抗体,该抗体可改变内源性纤维状胶原的天然排列和宽度,而不影响 ECM 组成。破坏的胶原形态干扰了人乳腺癌细胞的黏附和侵袭特性。用抑制性抗体治疗携带乳腺癌异种移植物的小鼠导致肿瘤发生的胶原超结构破坏,并减少原发性肿瘤生长。我们的方法可以作为一种通用方法,用于鉴定针对纤维状蛋白组织的新型治疗方法,以治疗与 ECM 相关的病变。癌症研究;76(14);4249-58。©2016AACR。