Enhanced cancer metastasis in mice deficient in vasohibin-1 gene

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 16;8(9):e73931. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073931. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Vasohibin-1 (VASH1) is isolated as an endogenous angiogenesis inhibitor produced by the vascular endothelium. We previously reported that tumor growth and tumor angiogenesis were augmented in VASH1 (-/-) mice. Here we examined whether VASH1 plays any role in cancer metastasis. When Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cells were inoculated in the footpad to observe spontaneous metastasis, a significant increase in lung metastasis together with inguinal lymph node metastasis was evident in the VASH1 (-/-) mice. Histological analyses revealed that vessels of the footpad tumor in VASH1 (-/-) mice were more immature, having fewer mural cells. However, when LLC cells were injected into a tail vein, the extent of lung metastasis was unchanged between wild-type mice and VASH1 (-/-) mice. When VASH1 in endothelial cells in culture was knocked-down by siRNA, we observed a decrease in the content of ZO-1, a component of tight junctions, which decrease resulted in increased transmigration of cancer cells across the endothelial cell monolayer. These results indicate that endogenous VASH1 tightens the endothelial barrier and makes tumor vessels resistant to cancer metastasis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Blotting, Western
  • Carcinoma, Lewis Lung / complications
  • Carcinoma, Lewis Lung / metabolism*
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / deficiency*
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / genetics*
  • Cell Line
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Gene Silencing / physiology
  • Humans
  • Lung Neoplasms / complications
  • Lung Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction

Substances

  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • Vash1 protein, mouse

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grant number 22112006 from the program Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas “Integrative Research on Cancer Microenvironment Network”; by grant number 22300323 from the program Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan; and by a Health and Labor Sciences research grant (Third Term Comprehensive Control Research for Cancer) from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.