Nur77 deficiency in mice accelerates tumor invasion and metastasis by facilitating TNFα secretion and lowering CSF-1R expression

PLoS One. 2017 Feb 7;12(2):e0171347. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0171347. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Nur77, an orphan member of the nuclear receptor superfamily, plays critical roles in inflammation and immunity. However, the role of Nur77 in tumor microenvironment remains elusive. Results showed that deletion of Nur77 strikingly enhanced tumor metastasis compared to WT mice. Additionally, compared to the conditioned media derived from Nur77+/+ peritoneal macrophages (CM1), the conditioned media derived from Nur77-/- peritoneal macrophages (CM2) significantly promoted the EMT of cancer cells, and greatly enhanced the migratory and invasive abilities of cancer cells. Moreover, studies using TNF-α blocking antibody demonstrated that pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α was indispensable in supporting CM2-induced EMT to drive cancer cells migration and invasion. Furthermore, we found that Nur77 promoted the expression of CSF-1R, a novel downstream target gene of Nur77, and subsequently enhanced the migration of inflammatory cells. Notably, infiltration of inflammatory cells in the tumors of Nur77-/- mice was markedly abrogated compared to Nur77+/+ mice. Collectively, these results revealed that host Nur77 expression was pivotal in antitumor immune response, and in inhibiting tumor metastasis.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20140364 to T.S., BK20140329 to S.-S.G., BK20161206 to W.-J.G., BE2016666 to J.-M.L.) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (81372574, 31300630, 31540036 to H.W., 81272300, 31570753, 81525020 to J.-M.L. and 81401942 to W.-J.G). This work was also supported by a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.