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Control of Ocular Tumor Growth and Metastatic Spread by Soluble and Membrane Fas Ligand

¹ The Schepens Eye Research Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School and ² Department of Microbiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts

Requests for reprints: Bruce R. Ksander, Schepens Eye Research Institute, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114. Phone: 617-912-7443; E-mail: bruce.ksander{at}schepens.harvard.edu.

Fas ligand (FasL) can be either membrane bound, or cleaved by metalloproteinases (MMP) to produce a soluble protein. The two different forms of FasL are reported to have opposite functions—membrane-bound FasL (mFasL) is proinflammatory and soluble FasL (sFasL) is antiinflammatory. We previously showed that, within the immune-privileged eye, tumors expressing high levels of mFasL overcame the suppressive ocular environment, triggered an inflammatory response, and were subsequently rejected. By contrast, eye tumors expressing low levels of mFasL grew progressively. To evaluate the effect of sFasL on the tumor growth and metastatic potential of ocular FasL-expressing tumors, we compared tumor cell clones that expressed equal amounts of (low) mFasL in the presence or absence of sFasL. Tumor cells transfected with a modified FasL gene expressed only mFasL (noncleavable), grew progressively within the eye, and induced systemic protective immunity that prevented metastatic spread of tumor cells to the liver. Unexpectedly, tumors transfected with wild-type FasL (wtFasL; cleavable), which could produce both sFasL and mFasL, elicited considerably more inflammation and grew more slowly within the eye. However, the cleavable wtFasL eye tumors failed to trigger protective immunity and gave rise to liver metastases. Interestingly, exposure to the ocular environment was required for the wtFasL tumors to gain metastatic potential. We conclude that the fate of FasL-expressing tumors is determined by a combination of the following: (a) the relative proportion of membrane and sFasL, and (b) the local environment that determines the extent of FasL cleavage. [Cancer Res 2007;67(24):11951–58]