Hypoxia control to normalize pathologic angiogenesis: potential role for endothelial precursor cells and miRNAs regulation

Abstract

Tumor microenvironment is a complex and highly dynamic milieu that provides very important clues on tumor development and progression mechanisms. Tumor-associated endothelial cells play a key role in stroma organization. They achieve tumor angiogenesis, a formation of tumor-associated (angiogenic) vessels mainly through sprouting from locally preexisting vessels and/or recruitment of bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells. This process participates to supply nutritional support and oxygen to the growing tumor. Endothelial cells constitute the interface between circulating blood cells, tumor cells and the extracellular matrix, thereby controlling leukocyte recruitment, tumor cell behavior and metastasis formation. Hypoxia, a critical parameter of the tumor microenvironment, controls endothelial/tumor cell interactions and is the key to tumor angiogenesis development. Under hypoxic stress, tumor cells produce factors that promote angiogenesis, vasculogenesis, tumor cell motility, metastasis and cancer stem cell selection. Targeting tumor vessels is a therapeutic strategy that has lately been fast evolving from antiangiogenesis to vessel normalization as discussed in this review. We shall focus on the pivotal role of endothelial cells within the tumor microenvironment, the specific features and the part played by circulating endothelial precursors cells. Attention is stressed on their recruitment to the tumor site and their role in tumor angiogenesis where they are submitted to miRNAs-mediated de/regulation. Here the compensation of the tumor deregulated angiogenic miRNAs - angiomiRs - is emphasized as a potential therapeutic approach. The strategy is to over express anti-angiomiRs in the tumor angiogenesis site upon selective delivery by precursor endothelial cells as miRs carriers.