p38MAPK builds a hyaluronan cancer niche to drive lung tumorigenesis.
Genes Dev 2017;
30:2623-2636. [PMID:
28007785 PMCID:
PMC5204354 DOI:
10.1101/gad.290346.116]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2016] [Accepted: 11/22/2016] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Brichkina et al. show that lung cancer growth depends on short-distance cues produced by the cancer niche and identify fibroblast-specific hyaluronan synthesis at the center of p38-driven tumorigenesis. This in turn regulates early stromal fibroblast activation, the conversion to carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), and cancer cell proliferation.
Expansion of neoplastic lesions generates the initial signal that instigates the creation of a tumor niche. Nontransformed cell types within the microenvironment continuously coevolve with tumor cells to promote tumorigenesis. Here, we identify p38MAPK as a key component of human lung cancer, and specifically stromal interactomes, which provides an early, protumorigenic signal in the tissue microenvironment. We found that lung cancer growth depends on short-distance cues produced by the cancer niche in a p38-dependent manner. We identified fibroblast-specific hyaluronan synthesis at the center of p38-driven tumorigenesis, which regulates early stromal fibroblast activation, the conversion to carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), and cancer cell proliferation. Systemic down-regulation of p38MAPK signaling in a knock-in model with substitution of activating Tyr182 to phenylalanine or conditional ablation of p38 in fibroblasts has a significant tumor-suppressive effect on K-ras lung tumorigenesis. Furthermore, both Kras-driven mouse lung tumors and orthotopically grown primary human lung cancers show a significant sensitivity to both a chemical p38 inhibitor and an over-the-counter inhibitor of hyaluronan synthesis. We propose that p38MAPK–hyaluronan-dependent reprogramming of the tumor microenvironment plays a critical role in driving lung tumorigenesis, while blocking this process could have far-reaching therapeutic implications.
Collapse