| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Tumor Biology |
Group of Radiation Biology and Tumor Physiology, Department of Biophysics, Institute for Cancer Research, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Montebello, N-0310 Oslo, Norway
Clinical studies have shown that metastatic spread is associated with hypoxia in the primary tumor. The mechanism behind this association has not been identified and, in fact, it has not been established whether hypoxia induces metastasis or whether the most metastatic cell phenotypes develop the most hypoxic tumors. The present study demonstrates that hypoxia promotes spontaneous lymph node metastasis in R-18 human melanoma xenografts by up-regulating the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR). Pimonidazole was used as a hypoxia marker, and hypoxia and uPAR expression were detected by immunohistochemistry. R-18 cells were capable of up-regulating uPAR under hypoxic conditions in vitro, as revealed by Western and Northern blot analyses, and uPAR-positive regions showed a high degree of colocalization with hypoxic regions in R-18 tumors. There was a strong correlation between uPAR-positive fraction and hypoxic fraction in individual tumors (P < 0.00001). Incidence of metastases, hypoxic fraction, and uPAR-positive fraction increased with the size of the primary tumor with similar kinetics. Metastatic tumors showed
1.5-fold higher hypoxic fraction (P = 0.00004) and
1.4-fold higher uPAR-positive fraction (P = 0.0003) than nonmetastatic tumors of the same size. Moreover, treatment with neutralizing antibody against uPAR prevented metastasis almost completely. Only 1 of 30 treated mice developed metastases, whereas 14 of 30 control mice were metastasis positive, suggesting that functional uPAR is a prerequisite for lymph node metastasis in R-18 tumors. The study reported here suggests that metastatic spread may be promoted by hypoxia in the primary tumor and identifies the plasminogen activation system as an important target for the treatment of malignant melanoma.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
Q.-T. Le, J. Harris, A. M. Magliocco, C. S. Kong, R. Diaz, B. Shin, H. Cao, A. Trotti, J. T. Erler, C. H. Chung, et al. Validation of Lysyl Oxidase As a Prognostic Marker for Metastasis and Survival in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Radiation Therapy Oncology Group Trial 90-03 J. Clin. Oncol., September 10, 2009; 27(26): 4281 - 4286. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C.A. Stein, S. Wu, A. M. Voskresenskiy, J.-F. Zhou, J. Shin, P. Miller, N. Souleimanian, and L. Benimetskaya G3139, an Anti-Bcl-2 Antisense Oligomer That Binds Heparin-Binding Growth Factors and Collagen I, Alters In vitro Endothelial Cell Growth and Tubular Morphogenesis Clin. Cancer Res., April 15, 2009; 15(8): 2797 - 2807. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
F. He, X. Deng, B. Wen, Y. Liu, X. Sun, L. Xing, A. Minami, Y. Huang, Q. Chen, P. B. Zanzonico, et al. Noninvasive Molecular Imaging of Hypoxia in Human Xenografts: Comparing Hypoxia-Induced Gene Expression with Endogenous and Exogenous Hypoxia Markers Cancer Res., October 15, 2008; 68(20): 8597 - 8606. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Y. Monnier, P. Farmer, G. Bieler, N. Imaizumi, T. Sengstag, G. C. Alghisi, J.-C. Stehle, L. Ciarloni, S. Andrejevic-Blant, R. Moeckli, et al. CYR61 and {alpha}V{beta}5 Integrin Cooperate to Promote Invasion and Metastasis of Tumors Growing in Preirradiated Stroma Cancer Res., September 15, 2008; 68(18): 7323 - 7331. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
W. R Wilson, K. O Hicks, F. B Pruijn, and A. V Patterson Targeting Tumor Hypoxia with Prodrugs: Challenges and Opportunities Am. Assoc. Cancer Res. Educ. Book, April 12, 2008; 2008(1): 293 - 310. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. D. Lester, M. Jo, V. Montel, S. Takimoto, and S. L. Gonias uPAR induces epithelial mesenchymal transition in hypoxic breast cancer cells J. Cell Biol., July 24, 2007; 178(3): 425 - 436. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Wouters, B. Pauwels, F. Lardon, and J. B. Vermorken Review: Implications of In Vitro Research on the Effect of Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy Under Hypoxic Conditions Oncologist, June 1, 2007; 12(6): 690 - 712. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
N. Chaudary and R. P. Hill Hypoxia and Metastasis Clin. Cancer Res., April 1, 2007; 13(7): 1947 - 1949. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. K. Rofstad, K. Galappathi, B. Mathiesen, and E.-B. M. Ruud Fluctuating and Diffusion-Limited Hypoxia in Hypoxia-Induced Metastasis Clin. Cancer Res., April 1, 2007; 13(7): 1971 - 1978. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L.-M. Postovit, E. A. Seftor, R. E.B. Seftor, and M. J.C. Hendrix Influence of the Microenvironment on Melanoma Cell Fate Determination and Phenotype Cancer Res., August 15, 2006; 66(16): 7833 - 7836. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. K. Rofstad, B. Mathiesen, K. Kindem, and K. Galappathi Acidic Extracellular pH Promotes Experimental Metastasis of Human Melanoma Cells in Athymic Nude Mice. Cancer Res., July 1, 2006; 66(13): 6699 - 6707. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
V. Cristini, H. B. Frieboes, R. Gatenby, S. Caserta, M. Ferrari, and J. Sinek Morphologic Instability and Cancer Invasion Clin. Cancer Res., October 1, 2005; 11(19): 6772 - 6779. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. K. Rofstad, B. Mathiesen, K. Henriksen, K. Kindem, and K. Galappathi The Tumor Bed Effect: Increased Metastatic Dissemination from Hypoxia-Induced Up-regulation of Metastasis-Promoting Gene Products Cancer Res., March 15, 2005; 65(6): 2387 - 2396. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. Okami, D. M. Simeone, and C. D. Logsdon Silencing of the Hypoxia-Inducible Cell Death Protein BNIP3 in Pancreatic Cancer Cancer Res., August 1, 2004; 64(15): 5338 - 5346. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
P. Laakkonen, M. E. Akerman, H. Biliran, M. Yang, F. Ferrer, T. Karpanen, R. M. Hoffman, and E. Ruoslahti Antitumor activity of a homing peptide that targets tumor lymphatics and tumor cells PNAS, June 22, 2004; 101(25): 9381 - 9386. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
X. He, P. E. C. Brenchley, G. C. Jayson, L. Hampson, J. Davies, and I. N. Hampson Hypoxia Increases Heparanase-Dependent Tumor Cell Invasion, Which Can Be Inhibited by Antiheparanase Antibodies Cancer Res., June 1, 2004; 64(11): 3928 - 3933. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. A. Cairns and R. P. Hill Acute Hypoxia Enhances Spontaneous Lymph Node Metastasis in an Orthotopic Murine Model of Human Cervical Carcinoma Cancer Res., March 15, 2004; 64(6): 2054 - 2061. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. K. Rofstad, B. Mathiesen, and K. Galappathi Increased Metastatic Dissemination in Human Melanoma Xenografts after Subcurative Radiation Treatment: Radiation-induced Increase in Fraction of Hypoxic Cells and Hypoxia-induced Up-Regulation of Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor Cancer Res., January 1, 2004; 64(1): 13 - 18. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
N Raghunand, R A Gatenby, and R J Gillies Microenvironmental and cellular consequences of altered blood flow in tumours Br. J. Radiol., December 1, 2003; 76(suppl_1): S11 - S22. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L.-M. Postovit, M. A. Adams, G. E. Lash, J. P. Heaton, and C. H. Graham Oxygen-mediated Regulation of Tumor Cell Invasiveness. INVOLVEMENT OF A NITRIC OXIDE SIGNALING PATHWAY J. Biol. Chem., September 13, 2002; 277(38): 35730 - 35737. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Cancer Research | Clinical Cancer Research |
| Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention | Molecular Cancer Therapeutics |
| Molecular Cancer Research | Cancer Prevention Research |
| Cancer Prevention Journals Portal | Cancer Reviews Online |
| Annual Meeting Education Book | Meeting Abstracts Online |