Title
Flt-1-dependent survival characterizes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of colonic organoids
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Cancer Biology
Publication Date
10-3-2003
Document Type
Article
Subjects
Apoptosis; Cell Survival; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; DNA Primers; Epithelium; Extracellular Matrix Proteins; Genetic Vectors; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Organoids; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Signal Transduction; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Up-Regulation; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors
Disciplines
Cancer Biology | Neoplasms
Abstract
Aberrant cell survival and resistance to apoptosis are hallmarks of tumor invasion and progression to metastatic disease, but the mechanisms involved are poorly understood. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a process that facilitates progression to invasive cancer, provides a superb model for studying such survival mechanisms. Here, we used a unique spheroid culture system that recapitulates the structure of the colonic epithelium and undergoes an EMT in response to cytokine stimulation to study this problem. Our data reveal that the EMT results in the increased expression of both VEGF and Flt-1, a tyrosine kinase VEGF receptor, and that the survival of these cells depends on a VEGF/Flt-1 autocrine pathway. Perturbation of Flt-1 function by either a blocking antibody or adenoviral expression of soluble Flt-1, which acts in a dominant-negative fashion, caused massive apoptosis only in cells that underwent EMT. This pathway was critical for the survival of other invasive colon carcinoma cell lines, and we observed a correlative upregulation of Flt-1 expression linked to in vivo human cancer progression. A role for Flt-1 in cell survival is unprecedented and has significant implications for Flt-1 function in tumor progression, as well as in other biological processes, including angiogenesis and development.
Source
Curr Biol. 2003 Sep 30;13(19):1721-7.
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Current biology : CB
Related Resources
PubMed ID
14521839
Repository Citation
Bates, Richard C.; Goldsmith, Jeffrey D.; Bachelder, Robin E.; Brown, Courtney; Shibuya, Masabumi; Oettgen, Peter; and Mercurio, Arthur M., "Flt-1-dependent survival characterizes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of colonic organoids" (2003). Cancer Biology Publications and Presentations. 168.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/cancerbiology_pp/168