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Parejo-Alonso B, Royo-García A, Espiau-Romera P, Courtois S, Curiel-García Á, Zagorac S, Villaoslada I, Olive KP, Heeschen C, Sancho P. Pharmacological targeting of the receptor ALK inhibits tumorigenicity and overcomes chemoresistance in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Biomed Pharmacother 2023; 158:114162. [PMID: 36571997 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2022.114162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 12/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an extremely aggressive disease characterized by its metastatic potential and chemoresistance. These traits are partially attributable to the highly tumorigenic pancreatic cancer stem cells (PaCSCs). Interestingly, these cells show unique features in order to sustain their identity and functionality, some of them amenable for therapeutic intervention. Screening of phospho-receptor tyrosine kinases revealed that PaCSCs harbored increased activation of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK). We subsequently demonstrated that oncogenic ALK signaling contributes to tumorigenicity in PDAC patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) by promoting stemness through ligand-dependent activation. Indeed, the ALK ligands midkine (MDK) or pleiotrophin (PTN) increased self-renewal, clonogenicity and CSC frequency in several in vitro local and metastatic PDX models. Conversely, treatment with the clinically-approved ALK inhibitors Crizotinib and Ensartinib decreased PaCSC content and functionality in vitro and in vivo, by inducing cell death. Strikingly, ALK inhibitors sensitized chemoresistant PaCSCs to Gemcitabine, as the most used chemotherapeutic agent for PDAC treatment. Consequently, ALK inhibition delayed tumor relapse after chemotherapy in vivo by effectively decreasing the content of PaCSCs. In summary, our results demonstrate that targeting the MDK/PTN-ALK axis with clinically-approved inhibitors impairs in vivo tumorigenicity and chemoresistance in PDAC suggesting a new treatment approach to improve the long-term survival of PDAC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beatriz Parejo-Alonso
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Alba Royo-García
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Pilar Espiau-Romera
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Sarah Courtois
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Álvaro Curiel-García
- Department of Medicine, Division of Digestive Liver Diseases and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sladjana Zagorac
- Center for Stem Cells in Cancer & Ageing (Barts Cancer Institute), London, UK
| | - Isabel Villaoslada
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain; Aragon Institute of Engineering Research, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Kenneth P Olive
- Department of Medicine, Division of Digestive Liver Diseases and Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Christopher Heeschen
- Center for Single-Cell Omics and Key Laboratory of Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China; Pancreatic Cancer Heterogeneity, Candiolo Cancer Institute - FPO - IRCCS, Candiolo (Torino), Italy
| | - Patricia Sancho
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain.
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Martín-Rubio P, Espiau-Romera P, Royo-García A, Caja L, Sancho P. Metabolic determinants of stemness in medulloblastoma. World J Stem Cells 2022; 14:587-598. [PMID: 36157911 PMCID: PMC9453267 DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v14.i8.587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2022] [Revised: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Medulloblastomas (MBs) are the most prevalent brain tumours in children. They are classified as grade IV, the highest in malignancy, with about 30% metastatic tumours at the time of diagnosis. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a small subset of tumour cells that can initiate and support tumour growth. In MB, CSCs contribute to tumour initiation, metastasis, and therapy resistance. Metabolic differences among the different MB groups have started to emerge. Sonic hedgehog tumours show enriched lipid and nucleic acid metabolism pathways, whereas Group 3 MBs upregulate glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, glutamine anabolism, and glutathione-mediated anti-oxidant pathways. Such differences impact the clinical behaviour of MB tumours and can be exploited therapeutically. In this review, we summarise the existing knowledge about metabolic rewiring in MB, with a particular focus on MB-CSCs. Finally, we highlight some of the emerging metabolism-based therapeutic strategies for MB.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Alba Royo-García
- Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, IIS Aragón, Zaragoza 50009, Spain
| | - Laia Caja
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology, Biomedical Center, Uppsala University, Uppsala SE-751, Sweden
| | - Patricia Sancho
- Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, IIS Aragón, Zaragoza 50009, Spain
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Royo-García A, Courtois S, Parejo-Alonso B, Espiau-Romera P, Sancho P. Lipid droplets as metabolic determinants for stemness and chemoresistance in cancer. World J Stem Cells 2021; 13:1307-1317. [PMID: 34630864 PMCID: PMC8474722 DOI: 10.4252/wjsc.v13.i9.1307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Revised: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Previously regarded as simple fat storage particles, new evidence suggests that lipid droplets (LDs) are dynamic and functional organelles involved in key cellular processes such as membrane biosynthesis, lipid metabolism, cell signalling and inflammation. Indeed, an increased LD content is one of the most apparent features resulting from lipid metabolism reprogramming necessary to support the basic functions of cancer cells. LDs have been associated to different cellular processes involved in cancer progression and aggressiveness, such as tumorigenicity, invasion and metastasis, as well as chemoresistance. Interestingly, all of these processes are controlled by a subpopulation of highly aggressive tumoral cells named cancer stem cells (CSCs), suggesting that LDs may be fundamental elements for stemness in cancer. Considering the key role of CSCs on chemoresistance and disease relapse, main factors of therapy failure, the design of novel therapeutic approaches targeting these cells may be the only chance for long-term survival in cancer patients. In this sense, their biology and functional properties render LDs excellent candidates for target discovery and design of combined therapeutic strategies. In this review, we summarise the current knowledge identifying LDs and CSCs as main contributors to cancer aggressiveness, metastasis and chemoresistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Royo-García
- Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, IIS Aragón, Zaragoza 50009, Spain
| | - Sarah Courtois
- Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, IIS Aragón, Zaragoza 50009, Spain
| | | | | | - Patricia Sancho
- Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, IIS Aragón, Zaragoza 50009, Spain
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