Because CSCshave tumor-initiating capabilities in addition to a high metastatic potential(12), we hypothesized that hypoxia stimulated by administration ofantiangiogenic solutions might accelerate tumor growth and metastasisby increasing this CSC population. We demonstrate thatadministration of antiangiogenic agents like the VEGF receptortyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib and the anti-VEGF antibodybevacizumab increases this CSC population in breastcancer xenografts as a result of the generation of tumorhypoxia.
The increase in CSCs in response to hypoxia was mediatedthrough HIF-1ô± with the activation of the Wnt pathwayvia Akt/ô²-catenin signaling. ResultsTo ascertain whether antiangiogenic agents induce an increasein breast CSCs with vivo, we treated tumor-bearing mice with themultireceptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor sunitinib malate (Sutent; Pfizer). Past studies have demonstrated strong growth inhibitionof established prime tumors in mice taken care of with thisagent (13). We compared the effect of sunitinib on cancers usingboth early and late treatment times. MDA-MB-231 and SUM159human chest cancer cells were implanted in the mammary fatpads of non-obese diabetic/severe mixed immunodeficient(NOD/SCID) rats. Group A received car or truck control, and groupB received sunitinib treatment (sixty mg/kg daily) starting whentumors reached 4 mm within diameter (late treatment). Mice in groupCwere given continuous sunitinib therapy (60 mg/kg daily) startingthe day after tumor implantation (beginning treatment). A sustainedsunitinib therapy strategy of 60 mg/kg/d given continuously haspreviously been demonstrated to result in optimal tumor inhibitionwith low toxicity (14). Not surprisingly, significant inhibition oftumor increase was observed after sunitinib treatment of establishedtumors compared with controls (Fig. 1A).
Sustained sunitinibtherapy beginning 1 d after tumor implantation resulted ina delay inside onset of tumor formation as well as a decrease intumor size (Fig. 1A). Staining for the endothelial marker CD31revealed significantly fewer as well as in tumors from sunitinibtreatedmice compared with controls (Fig. 1B together with Fig. S1), whichwere smaller and less vascularized in comparison to the control tumors (Fig. 1C). We now have previously demonstrated that some sort of subpopulation ofcells that monitors stem cell properties may be isolated from normalhuman teat tissue and breast carcinomas, by virtue of their total increasedexpression of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity asassessed by way of the Aldefluor assay (15). Several breast cancer cell traces, including MDA-MB-231, SUM159, and MCF-7 cells, also containan Aldefluor+ populace that displays stem cellular properties in vitroand within NOD/SCID xenografts (12). We therefore determined theeffects of sunitinib treatment relating to the proportion of Aldefluor+ cellsin your mouse xenografts. Treatment with sunitinib for 35 d initiatedafter MDA-MB-231 tumors reached 4 mm in size significantlyincreased (P < 0. 01) the percentage of Aldefluor+ tumorcells, by 4. 8-fold. The portion of Aldefluor+ cellsfrom mice treated continuously beginning 1 d after implantationfor 75 debbie (group C) had been also significantly increased in comparison withthe control, by two. 4-fold (P < 0. 01).
Sunitinib treatment also resulted in growth inhibition of SUM159 xenografts (Fig. 1A). When cells from SUM159 tumors treated continuously for 55d were tested with the Aldefluor assay, there was a 4. 6-fold increase(K < 0. 05) in the proportion of Aldefluor+ skin cells. Although the increase inside ALDH+ cell population in sunitinib-treated tumors suggests that this drug increases teat CSCsapoptosis inhibitor,Belinostat HDAC inhibitor, 17-DMAG HSP-90 inhibitor, the ability of recurring cancer cells to trigger tumors upon reimplantationin secondary mice is a more definitive assay. We thereforeassayed the ability of serial dilutions involving cells isolated from theprimary tumors to generate tumors when implanted with secondaryNOD/SCID mice. Tumor cells isolated fromsunitinib-treated rats exhibited significantly increased tumor-initiatingcapacity and growth in secondary mice weighed against cellsisolated from control tumors. When 50, 000 cells were injected, tumors grew equally well from control and sunitinib-treated primarytumors. Nevertheless, when smaller numbers of cells were injectedinto 2nd animals, those from sunitinib-treated miceshowed a 2. 5-fold increase with regard to 5, 000 cells (P < 0. 05) and then a 6-foldincrease for 500 skin cells (P < 0. 05) in tumor size weighed against cellsfrom control animals. The final results from these Aldefluor assays andtumor regrowth experiments indicate that sunitinib increases theAldefluor+, tumorigenic population of tumor cells.
To further confirm that disruption of the VEGF pathway leadsto an increase in CSCs, we utilized bevacizumab, a humanized antibodyto VEGF, to help block angiogenesis in human breast cancerxenografts. MDA-MB-231 cells were implanted inside mammaryfat pads of NOD/SCID mice.
