Searching across hundreds of databases

Our searching services are busy right now. Your search will reload in five seconds.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

X
Forgot Password

If you have forgotten your password you can enter your email here and get a temporary password sent to your email.

Hypoxia-driven paracrine osteopontin/integrin αvβ3 signaling promotes pancreatic cancer cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer stem cell-like properties by modulating forkhead box protein M1.

Molecular oncology | 2019

Pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs), a key component of the tumor microenvironment, contribute to tumor invasion, metastasis, and chemoresistance. Osteopontin (OPN), a phosphorylated glycoprotein, is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer. However, OPN expression in PSCs and its potential roles in tumor-stroma interactions remain unclear. The present study first showed that OPN is highly expressed and secreted in activated PSCs driven by hypoxia, and this process is in a ROS-dependent manner; in addition, OPN was shown to be involved in the PSC-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cancer stem cell (CSC)-like properties of pancreatic cancer cells (PCCs). Mechanistically, OPN from activated PSCs interacts with the transmembrane receptor integrin αvβ3 on PCCs to upregulate forkhead box protein M1 (FOXM1) expression and induce malignant phenotypes of PCCs. Moreover, the Akt and Erk pathways participate in OPN/integrin αvβ3 axis-induced FOXM1 expression of PCCs. Our further analysis showed that OPN and FOXM1 are significantly upregulated in pancreatic cancer tissues and are associated with poor clinical outcome, indicating that OPN and FOXM1 might be considered as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for patients with pancreatic cancer. In conclusion, we show here for the first time that OPN promotes the EMT and CSC-like properties of PCCs by activating the integrin αvβ3-Akt/Erk-FOXM1 cascade in a paracrine manner, suggesting that targeting the tumor microenvironment represents a promising therapeutic strategy in pancreatic cancer.

Pubmed ID: 30367545 RIS Download

Research resources used in this publication

None found

Antibodies used in this publication

None found

Associated grants

  • Agency: National Natural Scientific Foundation of China, International
    Id: 81502074
  • Agency: National Natural Scientific Foundation of China, International
    Id: 81572734
  • Agency: National Natural Scientific Foundation of China, International
    Id: 81672434
  • Agency: National Natural Scientific Foundation of China, International
    Id: 81702916

Publication data is provided by the National Library of Medicine ® and PubMed ®. Data is retrieved from PubMed ® on a weekly schedule. For terms and conditions see the National Library of Medicine Terms and Conditions.

This is a list of tools and resources that we have found mentioned in this publication.


SPSS (tool)

RRID:SCR_002865

Software package used for interactive, or batched, statistical analysis in social science, health sciences and marketing. Software platform offers advanced statistical analysis, a library of machine-learning algorithms, text analysis, open-source extensibility, integration with big data and deployment into applications.Versions that were produced by SPSS Inc. before the IBM acquisition (Versions 18 and earlier) would be given origin or publisher of SPSS Inc. in Chicago.

View all literature mentions

Millipore (tool)

RRID:SCR_008983

An Antibody supplier

View all literature mentions

BD Biosciences (tool)

RRID:SCR_013311

An Antibody supplier

View all literature mentions

Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (tool)

RRID:SCR_018294

Web server for cancer and normal gene expression profiling and interactive analyses. Interactive web server for analyzing RNA sequencing expression data of tumors and normal samples from TCGA and GTEx projects, using standard processing pipeline. Provides customizable functions such as tumor or normal differential expression analysis, profiling according to cancer types or pathological stages, patient survival analysis, similar gene detection, correlation analysis and dimensionality reduction analysis.

View all literature mentions