Dual Role of WISP1 in maintaining glioma stem cells and tumor-supportive macrophages in glioblastoma

Nat Commun. 2020 Jun 15;11(1):3015. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16827-z.

Abstract

The interplay between glioma stem cells (GSCs) and the tumor microenvironment plays crucial roles in promoting malignant growth of glioblastoma (GBM), the most lethal brain tumor. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this crosstalk are incompletely understood. Here, we show that GSCs secrete the Wnt-induced signaling protein 1 (WISP1) to facilitate a pro-tumor microenvironment by promoting the survival of both GSCs and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). WISP1 is preferentially expressed and secreted by GSCs. Silencing WISP1 markedly disrupts GSC maintenance, reduces tumor-supportive TAMs (M2), and potently inhibits GBM growth. WISP1 signals through Integrin α6β1-Akt to maintain GSCs by an autocrine mechanism and M2 TAMs through a paracrine manner. Importantly, inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin-WISP1 signaling by carnosic acid (CA) suppresses GBM tumor growth. Collectively, these data demonstrate that WISP1 plays critical roles in maintaining GSCs and tumor-supportive TAMs in GBM, indicating that targeting Wnt/β-catenin-WISP1 signaling may effectively improve GBM treatment and the patient survival.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Brain Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Brain Neoplasms / therapy
  • CCN Intercellular Signaling Proteins / genetics*
  • CCN Intercellular Signaling Proteins / metabolism
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Cell Proliferation / genetics
  • Doxycycline / pharmacology
  • Glioma / genetics*
  • Glioma / metabolism
  • Glioma / therapy
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Macrophages / metabolism*
  • Mice, Inbred NOD
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Mice, SCID
  • Neoplastic Stem Cells / metabolism*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins / genetics*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins / metabolism
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / metabolism
  • RNA Interference
  • Signal Transduction / genetics
  • Tumor Microenvironment / drug effects
  • Tumor Microenvironment / genetics
  • U937 Cells
  • Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays / methods

Substances

  • CCN Intercellular Signaling Proteins
  • CCN4 protein, human
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
  • Doxycycline