Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Cancer Signaling and Microenvironment, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111, USA.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA; Cancer Signaling and Microenvironment, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA 19111, USA.
Cell. 2024 Oct 17;187(21):6016-6034.e25. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.013. Epub 2024 Sep 6.
There is documented sex disparity in cutaneous melanoma incidence and mortality, increasing disproportionately with age and in the male sex. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. While biological sex differences and inherent immune response variability have been assessed in tumor cells, the role of the tumor-surrounding microenvironment, contextually in aging, has been overlooked. Here, we show that skin fibroblasts undergo age-mediated, sex-dependent changes in their proliferation, senescence, ROS levels, and stress response. We find that aged male fibroblasts selectively drive an invasive, therapy-resistant phenotype in melanoma cells and promote metastasis in aged male mice by increasing AXL expression. Intrinsic aging in male fibroblasts mediated by EZH2 decline increases BMP2 secretion, which in turn drives the slower-cycling, highly invasive, and therapy-resistant melanoma cell phenotype, characteristic of the aged male TME. Inhibition of BMP2 activity blocks the emergence of invasive phenotypes and sensitizes melanoma cells to BRAF/MEK inhibition.
有文献记载,皮肤黑色素瘤的发病率和死亡率存在性别差异,且这种差异随着年龄的增长和男性性别而不成比例地增加。然而,其潜在机制尚不清楚。虽然已经评估了肿瘤细胞中的生物学性别差异和固有免疫反应变异性,但肿瘤周围微环境在衰老背景下的作用却被忽视了。在这里,我们表明,皮肤成纤维细胞在增殖、衰老、ROS 水平和应激反应方面发生了年龄介导的、依赖于性别的变化。我们发现,衰老的雄性成纤维细胞选择性地驱动黑色素瘤细胞产生侵袭性、耐药性表型,并通过增加 AXL 的表达促进老年雄性小鼠的转移。EZH2 下降介导的雄性成纤维细胞内在衰老增加了 BMP2 的分泌,进而驱动了具有侵袭性、耐药性的黑色素瘤细胞表型,其特征是老年雄性 TME 中的特征。抑制 BMP2 活性可以阻止侵袭性表型的出现,并使黑色素瘤细胞对 BRAF/MEK 抑制敏感。
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