Lung-Derived Selectins Enhance Metastatic Behavior of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Abstract

The lung is one of the deadliest sites of breast cancer metastasis, particularly for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). We have previously shown that the lung produces several soluble factors that may enhance the metastatic behavior of TNBC, including E-, L-, and P-selectin. In this paper, we hypothesize that lung-derived selectins promote TNBC metastatic behavior and may serve as a potential therapeutic target. Lungs were isolated from mice and used to generate lung-conditioned media (CM). Lung-derived selectins were immunodepleted and TNBC migration and proliferation were assessed in response to native or selectin-depleted lung-CM. A 3D ex vivo pulmonary metastasis assay (PuMA) was used to assess the metastatic progression of TNBC in the lungs of wild-type versus triple-selectin (ELP-/-) knockout mice. We observed that individual lung-derived selectins enhance in vitro migration (p ≤ 0.05), but not the proliferation of TNBC cells, and that ex vivo metastatic progression is reduced in the lungs of ELP-/- mice compared to wild-type mice (p ≤ 0.05). Treatment with the pan-selectin inhibitor bimosiamose reduced in vitro lung-specific TNBC migration and proliferation (p ≤ 0.05). Taken together, these results suggest that lung-derived selectins may present a potential therapeutic target against TNBC metastasis. Future studies are aimed at elucidating the pro-metastatic mechanisms of lung-derived selectins and developing a lung-directed therapeutic approach.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Oct 30, 2021
Source ID
10.3390/biomedicines9111580

Entities

People

  • Alison L. Allan
  • David Goodale
  • Gabriella Schoettle
  • Sami U. Khan
  • Ying Xia

Organizations

  • Breast Cancer Society of Canada
  • United States Department of Defense

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Immunology and Pathology
  • Oncology (Cancer Research).