Richards Katherine E, Xiao Weikun, Hill Reginald
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 45556, USA.
Harper Cancer Research Institute, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46617, USA.
Cancers (Basel). 2022 Jun 6;14(11):2812. doi: 10.3390/cancers14112812.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is currently the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. Even though the poor prognosis of PDAC is often attributed to late diagnosis, patients with an early diagnosis who undergo tumor resection and adjuvant chemotherapy still show tumor recurrence, highlighting a need to develop therapies which can overcome chemoresistance. Chemoresistance has been linked to the high expression of microRNAs (miRs), such as miR-21, within tumor cells. Tumor cells can collect miRs through the uptake of miR-containing lipid extracellular vesicles called exosomes. These exosomes are secreted in high numbers from cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) within the tumor microenvironment during gemcitabine treatment and can contribute to cell proliferation and chemoresistance. Here, we show a novel mechanism in which CAF-derived exosomes may promote proliferation and chemoresistance, in part, through suppression of the tumor suppressor PTEN. We identified five microRNAs: miR-21, miR-181a, miR-221, miR-222, and miR-92a, that significantly increased in number within the CAF exosomes secreted during gemcitabine treatment which target PTEN. Furthermore, we found that CAF exosomes suppressed PTEN expression in vitro and that treatment with the exosome inhibitor GW4869 blocked PTEN suppression in vivo. Collectively, these findings highlight a mechanism through which the PTEN expression loss, often seen in PDAC, may be attained and lend support to investigations into the use of exosome inhibitors as potential therapeutics to improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy.
胰腺导管腺癌(PDAC)目前是美国癌症相关死亡的第三大主要原因。尽管PDAC预后不良通常归因于诊断较晚,但早期诊断并接受肿瘤切除和辅助化疗的患者仍会出现肿瘤复发,这突出表明需要开发能够克服化疗耐药性的疗法。化疗耐药性与肿瘤细胞内微小RNA(miR)的高表达有关,如miR-21。肿瘤细胞可以通过摄取称为外泌体的含miR脂质细胞外囊泡来收集miR。在吉西他滨治疗期间,这些外泌体大量分泌自肿瘤微环境中的癌症相关成纤维细胞(CAF),并可促进细胞增殖和化疗耐药性。在此,我们展示了一种新机制,即CAF衍生的外泌体可能部分通过抑制肿瘤抑制因子PTEN来促进增殖和化疗耐药性。我们鉴定出五种微小RNA:miR-21、miR-181a、miR-221、miR-222和miR-92a,它们在吉西他滨治疗期间分泌的CAF外泌体中的数量显著增加,且靶向PTEN。此外,我们发现CAF外泌体在体外抑制PTEN表达,而用外泌体抑制剂GW4869处理可在体内阻断PTEN的抑制作用。总的来说,这些发现突出了一种机制,通过该机制,在PDAC中常见的PTEN表达缺失可能得以实现,并为研究使用外泌体抑制剂作为潜在治疗方法以提高化疗效果提供了支持。
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