Tumor growth, angiogenesis, and invasion depends on the recruitment and coordinated activity of different cell types populating the tumor stroma, such as endothelial cells, fibroblasts, pericytes, and infiltrating inflammatory cells. Although tumor associated vessels share similar components to normal vessels, including endothelial cells, basement membranes and pericytes, these vessels are abnormal, tortuous and leaky. While the functional role of endothelial cells in the context of tumor angiogenesis and vasculogenesis is extensively studied, the contribution of pericytes/perivascular cells in cancer progression and metastasis is poorly understood. Several studies suggest that targeting pericytes can control the rate of angiogenesis and growth of late stage tumors;however it is imperative to perform functional studies to evaluate the consequence of anti-pericyte therapy before moving these agents into clinical testing phase. In this regard, NG2, a novel cell surface chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan, is shown to be a reliable marker of pericytes/perivascular cells, along with the PDGF receptor 2 (PDGFR2). This grant proposes to perform functional studies utilizing these markers in transgenic mice setting to elucidate the role of pericytes in breast cancer progression and lung metastasis. This application will test the central hypothesis that """"""""pericytes associated with primary breast tumors determine the rate of cancer progression and emergence lung metastasis"""""""". The proposal will functionally explore therapeutic targeting of pericytes using novel genetic mouse models in combination with novel pharmacological interventions using targeted therapy.
The specific aims i n this proposal are: 1) To determine the functional contribution of pericytes in primary breast cancer progression and lung metastasis, 2) To investigate the contribution of epithelial to mesenchymal transition in hypoxia induced lung metastasis, and 3) To determine the role of PDGFR2 in lung metastasis.

Public Health Relevance

About 80% of cancer deaths are associated with systemic disease, also known as 'metastasis'. Many studies suggest that the genetic alterations that accumulate in the cancer cells define, in part, the metastatic potential. Nevertheless, components of the tumor stroma, such as fibroblasts, endothelial cells, and pericytes, may play a role in metastasis. Several studies suggest pericytes as new potential therapeutic targets to inhibit tumor angiogenesis and subsequently tumor growth. Our proposal is designed to functionally determine the contribution of pericytes in primary tumor growth and metastasis, and identify new therapies to inhibit metastasis.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
7R01CA155370-03
Application #
8403632
Study Section
Developmental Therapeutics Study Section (DT)
Program Officer
Mohla, Suresh
Project Start
2011-01-01
Project End
2015-12-31
Budget Start
2013-01-01
Budget End
2013-12-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2013
Total Cost
$312,080
Indirect Cost
$117,030
Name
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department
Biology
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
800772139
City
Houston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77030
Melo, Sonia A; Luecke, Linda B; Kahlert, Christoph et al. (2015) Glypican-1 identifies cancer exosomes and detects early pancreatic cancer. Nature 523:177-82
Keskin, Doruk; Kim, Jiha; Cooke, Vesselina G et al. (2015) Targeting vascular pericytes in hypoxic tumors increases lung metastasis via angiopoietin-2. Cell Rep 10:1066-81
Cleland, Timothy P; Schroeter, Elena R; Zamdborg, Leonid et al. (2015) Mass Spectrometry and Antibody-Based Characterization of Blood Vessels from Brachylophosaurus canadensis. J Proteome Res 14:5252-62
Lovisa, Sara; LeBleu, Valerie S; Tampe, Björn et al. (2015) Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition induces cell cycle arrest and parenchymal damage in renal fibrosis. Nat Med 21:998-1009
Zheng, Xiaofeng; Carstens, Julienne L; Kim, Jiha et al. (2015) Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition is dispensable for metastasis but induces chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer. Nature 527:525-530
Zeisberg, Michael; Tampe, Björn; LeBleu, Valerie et al. (2014) Thrombospondin-1 deficiency causes a shift from fibroproliferative to inflammatory kidney disease and delays onset of renal failure. Am J Pathol 184:2687-98
Özdemir, Berna C; Pentcheva-Hoang, Tsvetelina; Carstens, Julienne L et al. (2014) Depletion of carcinoma-associated fibroblasts and fibrosis induces immunosuppression and accelerates pancreas cancer with reduced survival. Cancer Cell 25:719-34
Kahlert, Christoph; Melo, Sonia A; Protopopov, Alexei et al. (2014) Identification of double-stranded genomic DNA spanning all chromosomes with mutated KRAS and p53 DNA in the serum exosomes of patients with pancreatic cancer. J Biol Chem 289:3869-75
Melo, Sonia A; Sugimoto, Hikaru; O'Connell, Joyce T et al. (2014) Cancer exosomes perform cell-independent microRNA biogenesis and promote tumorigenesis. Cancer Cell 26:707-21
Charytan, David M; Padera, Robert; Helfand, Alexander M et al. (2014) Increased concentration of circulating angiogenesis and nitric oxide inhibitors induces endothelial to mesenchymal transition and myocardial fibrosis in patients with chronic kidney disease. Int J Cardiol 176:99-109

Showing the most recent 10 out of 27 publications