Regorafenib (Stivarga) pharmacologically targets epithelial-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer.

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is well-known to evoke cancer invasion/metastasis, leading to a high frequency of mortality in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase)-targeted therapy has been identified as a novel cancer therapeutic. Previously, we proved that sorafenib with anti-EMT potency prevents TGF-ß1-induced EMT/invasion by directly activating SH2-domain-containing phosphatase 1 (SHP-1)-dependent p-STAT3Tyr705 suppression in hepatocellular carcinoma. Regorafenib has a closely related chemical structure as sorafenib and is approved for the pharmacotherapy of mCRC. Herein, we evaluate whether regorafenib activates PTPase SHP-1 in the same way as sorafenib to abolish EMT-related invasion/metastasis in CRC. Notably, regorafenib exerted potent anti-EMT activity to curb TGF-ß1-induced EMT/invasion in vitro as well inhibited lung metastatic outgrowth of SW480 mesenchymal cells in vivo. Mechanistically, regorafenib-enhanced SHP-1 activity significantly impeded TGF-ß1-induced EMT/invasion via low p-STAT3Tyr705 level as proved by a SHP-1 inhibitor or siRNA-mediated SHP-1 depletion. Conversely, overexpression of SHP-1 further enhanced the inhibitory effects of regorafenib on TGF-ß1-induced p-STAT3Tyr705 and EMT/invasion. Regorafenib directly activates SHP-1 by potently relieving the autoinhibited N-SH2 domain of SHP-1 to inhibit TGF-ß1-induced p-STAT3Tyr705 and EMT/invasion. Importantly, the clinical evidence indicated that SHP-1 was positively correlated with E-cadherin and that significantly determined the overall survival of CRC patients. This result further confirms our in vitro data that SHP-1 is a negative regulatory PTPase in EMT regulation and serves as a pharmacological target for mCRC therapy. Collectively, activating PTPase SHP-1 by regorafenib focusing on its anti-EMT activity might be a useful pharmacotherapy for mCRC.

SPOCK1 Is a Novel Transforming Growth Factor-ß-Induced Myoepithelial Marker That Enhances Invasion and Correlates with Poor Prognosis in Breast Cancer.

In addition to contraction, myoepithelia have diverse paracrine effects, including a tumor suppression effect. However, certain myoepithelial markers have been shown to contribute to tumor progression. Transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) is involved in the transdifferentiation of fibroblasts to contractile myofibroblasts. We investigated whether TGF-ß can upregulate potential myoepithelial markers, which may have functional and clinicopathological significance in breast cancer. We found that TGF-ß induced SPOCK1 expression in MCF10A, MCF12A, and M10 breast cells and demonstrated SPOCK1 as a novel myoepithelial marker that was immunolocalized within or beneath myoepithelia lining ductolobular units. A functional study showed that overexpression of SPOCK1 enhanced invasiveness in mammary immortalized and cancer cells. To further determine the biological significance of SPOCK1 in breast cancer, we investigated the expression of SPOCK1 in 478 invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) cases through immunohistochemistry and correlated the expression with clinicopathological characteristics. SPOCK1 expression was significantly correlated with high pathological tumor size (P = 0.012), high histological grade (P = 0.013), the triple-negative phenotype (P = 0.022), and the basal-like phenotype (P = 0.026) and was correlated with a significantly poorer overall survival on univariate analysis (P = 0.001, log-rank test). Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that SPOCK1 expression maintained an independent poor prognostic factor of overall survival. Analysis of SPOCK1 expression on various non-IDC carcinoma subtypes showed an enrichment of SPOCK1 expression in metaplastic carcinoma, which is pathogenetically closely related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In conclusion, we identified SPOCK1 as a novel TGF-ß-induced myoepithelial marker and further demonstrated that SPOCK1 enhanced invasion in breast cancer cells and correlated with poor prognosis in breast cancer clinical samples. The enrichment of SPOCK1 expression in metaplastic carcinoma and the correlation between SPOCK1 expression and high histological grading and basal-like phenotypes in IDC evidence an association between SPOCK1 and EMT.

Pharmacological Targeting SHP-1-STAT3 Signaling Is a Promising Therapeutic Approach for the Treatment of Colorectal Cancer.

STAT3 activation is associated with poor prognosis in human colorectal cancer (CRC). Our previous data demonstrated that regorafenib (Stivarga) is a pharmacological agonist of SH2 domain-containing phosphatase 1 (SHP-1) that enhances SHP-1 activity and induces apoptosis by targeting STAT3 signals in CRC. This study aimed to find a therapeutic drug that is more effective than regorafenib for CRC treatment. Here, we showed that SC-43 was more effective than regorafenib at inducing apoptosis in vitro and suppressing tumorigenesis in vivo. SC-43 significantly increased SHP-1 activity, downregulated p-STAT3(Tyr705) level, and induced apoptosis in CRC cells. An SHP-1 inhibitor or knockdown of SHP-1 by siRNA both significantly rescued the SC-43-induced apoptosis and decreased p-STAT3(Tyr705) level. Conversely, SHP-1 overexpression increased the effects of SC-43 on apoptosis and p-STAT3(Tyr705) level. These data suggest that SC-43-induced apoptosis mediated through the loss of p-STAT3(Tyr705) was dependent on SHP-1 function. Importantly, SC-43-enhanced SHP-1 activity was because of the docking potential of SC-43, which relieved the autoinhibited N-SH2 domain of SHP-1 and inhibited p-STAT3(Tyr705) signals. Importantly, we observed that a significant negative correlation existed between SHP-1 and p-STAT3(Tyr705)expression in CRC patients (P = .038). Patients with strong SHP-1 and weak p-STAT3(Tyr705) expression had significantly higher overall survival compared with patients with weak SHP-1 and strong p-STAT3(Tyr705) expression (P = .029). In conclusion, SHP-1 is suitable to be a useful prognostic marker and a pharmacological target for CRC treatment. Targeting SHP-1-STAT3 signaling by SC-43 may serve as a promising pharmacotherapy for CRC.

SHP-1 is a target of regorafenib in colorectal cancer.

Regorafenib is an inhibitor of multiple protein kinases which exerts antitumor and antimetastatic activities in metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). SH2 domain-containing phosphatase 1 (SHP-1) is reported to have tumor suppressive potential because it acts as a negative regulator of p-STAT3(Tyr705) signaling. However, little is known about the mechanism regarding regorafenib affects SHP-1 tyrosine phosphatase activity and leads to apoptosis and tumor suppression in CRC. Here, we found that regorafenib triggered apoptotic cell death and significantly enhanced SHP-1 activity, which dramatically decreased the phosphorylated form of STAT3 at Tyr705 (p-STAT3(Tyr705)). Importantly, regorafenib augmented SHP-1 activity by direct disruption of the association between N-SH2 and catalytic PTP domain of SHP-1. Deletion of the N-SH2 domain (dN1) or point mutation (D61A) of SHP-1 blocked the effect of regorafenib-induced SHP-1 activity, growth inhibition and a decrease of p-STAT3(Tyr705) expression, suggesting that regorafenib triggers a conformational change in SHP-1 by relieving its autoinhibition. In vivo assay showed that regorafenib significantly inhibited xenograft growth and decreased p-STAT3(Tyr705) expression but induced higher SHP-1 activity. Collectively, regorafenib is a novel SHP-1 agonist exerts superior anti-tumor effects by enhancing SHP-1 activity that directly targets p-STAT3(Tyr705). Small molecule-enhancement of SHP-1 activity may be a promising therapeutic approach for CRC treatment.

Human papillomavirus up-regulates MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression and activity by inducing interleukin-8 in lung adenocarcinomas.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with non-smoking female lung cancer. Our previous report demonstrated that HPV 16 promotes lung tumor cell progression by up-regulating interleukin-17 (IL-17). IL-17 and its downstream signaling mediator, interleukin-8 (IL-8), have been implicated to modulate a variety of pro-angiogenic factors and play important roles in tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Accordingly, we hypothesized that HPV infection may potentiate tumorigenic and metastatic characteristics of the infected cells through IL-8. The goal of the present study was to determine whether HPV infection in lung adenocarcinoma cells can promote the expression of IL-8 and metalloproteinases (MMPs) to make the transformed cells equipped with angiogenic and metastatic characteristics. The expression of IL-8 and MMPs in HPV 16 E6-transfected H1299 cells was analyzed to examine the hypothesis. HPV 16 E6 up-regulates pro-angiogenic MMP-2 and MMP-9 through inducing IL-8 expression in lung cancer cells. The results indicate that, in addition to cell proliferation-related machinery, HPV infection promotes the expression and activities of angiogenic and metastatic molecules in lung adenocarcinoma cells. The cytokines induced by HPV infection may work together to confer the malignant and tumorigenic potentials on the infected cells by promoting machineries of growth, angiogenic and metastatic characteristics.

A novel interaction of nucleophosmin with BCL2-associated X protein regulating death evasion and drug sensitivity in human hepatoma cells.

UNLABELLED: Death evasion is crucial for both carcinogenesis and resistance to anticancer therapies. Recently, we identified nucleophosmin (NPM) as a key factor counteracting death stimuli in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. Here we report the identification of a novel NPM-BCL2-associated X protein (BAX) pathway orchestrating death evasion in human HCC cells. Silencing of NPM expression significantly sensitized HCC cells-particularly those bearing inactivated p53 gene (Huh7, Hep3B, and Mahlavu)-to ultraviolet irradiation, mitomycin C, doxorubicin, cisplatin, sorafenib, and lapatinib. This sensitizing effect was not changed further, as p53 expression had been simultaneously silenced. Following cell stress, NPM and BAX were induced and exported out of the nucleoli and nucleus, respectively. BAX was translocated to cytoplasm in cells with relatively high NPM level, or accumulated in the mitochondria in cells with relatively low NPM level and undergoing apoptosis. Subcellular fractionation revealed that silencing of NPM expression greatly enhanced mitochondrial translocation and oligomerization of BAX in Huh7 and Mahlavu cells. In situ proximity ligation assays and reciprocal co-immunoprecipitation revealed a direct interaction between NPM and BAX in the cytoplasm. Silencing of BAX expression abolished the sensitization effect exerted by silencing of NPM in HCC cells. Clinically, up-regulation of NPM was significantly associated with advanced tumor stage and poor prognosis. CONCLUSION: By directly blockading BAX mitochondrial translocation and activation, NPM helps human HCC cells evade death induction independently of p53-mediated cell death. Silencing of NPM significantly sensitized HCC cells to anticancer therapies. NPM is a potential cotarget in combination with other therapies for HCC, particularly those that harbor inactivated p53 gene. Our findings are of clinical significance because NPM up-regulation and p53 mutations are usually found in advanced human cancers, including HCC.