Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts Autophagy Enhances Progression of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Wang, Mengchuan Zhang, Jian Huang, Yizhe Ji, Shufeng Shao, Guoli Feng, Shaobo Chen, Danxun Zhao, Kankan Wang, Zixiang Wu, Aiguo
Copyright Year	2017
Abstract	BackgroundCancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key factors in malignant tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis. However, the effect of CAFs autophagy on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells is not clear. In this study, the growth effect of TNBC cells regulated by CAFs autophagy was evaluated.Material/MethodsCAFs were obtained from invasive TNBC tumors and identified by Western blot and immunofluorescence staining assay. CAFs were co-cultured with TNBC cells, and migration and invasion were evaluated by Matrigel-coated Transwell and Transwell inserts. TNBC cells growth was detected by MTT assay, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulated by CAFs was evaluated by Western blot assay.ResultsCAFs were identified by the high expression of α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) protein. Autophagy-relevant Beclin 1 and LC3-II/I protein conversion levels in CAFs were higher than those in NFs (P<0.05). TNBC cells migration, invasion, and proliferation levels were significantly improved in the CAFs-conditioned medium (CAFs-CM) group, compared with the other 3 groups (P<0.05). TNBC cells vimentin and N-cadherin protein levels were upregulated and E-cadherin protein level was downregulated in the CAFs-CM group compared with the control group (P<0.05). Further study indicated β-catenin and P-GSK-3β protein levels, which are the key proteins in the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, were upregulated in the CAFs-CM group compared with the control group (P<0.05).ConclusionsOur data demonstrated CAFs autophagy can enhance TNBC cell migration, invasion, and proliferation, and CAFs autophagy can induce TNBC cells to engage in the EMT process through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.
ISSN	12341010
Journal	Medical Science Monitor : International Medical Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research
Volume Number	23
PubMed Central reference number	PMC5565237
PubMed reference number	28802099
e-ISSN	16433750
DOI	10.12659/msm.902870
Language	English
Publisher	International Scientific Literature, Inc.
Publisher Date	2017-08-12
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	This work is licensed under Creative Common Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) © Med Sci Monit, 2017
Subject Keyword	Autophagy Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Medicine