Non-canonical ALK7 pathways promote pancreatic cancer metastasis through β-catenin/MMP-mediated basement membrane breakdown and intravasation
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PROVIDER: PRJNA1226265 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
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Project description:Breaching the vascular barrier is a critical step in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) metastasis, yet the mechanisms enabling this process to remain incompletely understood. This study identifies two distinct but interconnected ALK7-driven non-canonical pathways that promote PDAC dissemination. The ALK7–β-catenin–EMT axis enhances intrinsic tumor cell motility, driving epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cytoskeletal remodeling. In parallel, the ALK7–β-catenin–MMP axis facilitates metastatic invasion by upregulating MMP production, leading to ECM degradation and invadosome formation, which promote vascular barrier breakdown. An orthotopic PDAC metastasis model reveals that both pharmacological and genetic ALK7 inhibition suppresses lung metastasis, emphasizing its role in facilitating tumor invasion. A 3D microfluidic vessel-on-chip platform further demonstrates that ALK7 inhibition preserves basement membrane (BM) integrity, limiting intravasation without affecting extravasation. While MMP inhibition effectively blocks BM breakdown and intravasation, extravasation remains unaffected, highlighting distinct molecular requirements for different metastatic stages. These findings establish ALK7 as a dual-function pro-metastatic regulator that orchestrates both tumor cell plasticity and ECM remodeling, positioning ALK7 inhibition as a promising strategy to target early metastatic dissemination in PDAC.
2025-07-16 | GSE290145 | GEO
Project description:Invasive cancers employ pericellular proteolysis to breach the extracellular matrix and basement membrane barriers and invade the surrounding tissue. Pro-invasive, pro-tumorigenic MT1-MMP is the primary mediator of proteolytic events on the cancer cell surface. Cellular MT1-MMP is synthesized as a latent zymogen. The latency of MT1-MMP is maintained by its N-terminal inhibitory prodomain. Our study reveals a critical mechanism underlying the activation pathway and subsequent execution of the tumor-promoting function of MT1-MMP. Evidence suggests that the prodomain undergoes intradomain cleavage at the PGD↓L50 cleavage site followed by the release of the degraded prodomain by furin cleavage of the R108RKR111↓Y112 site. These events, only if combined, cause the activation of MT1-MMP. The significance of these molecular events to the pro-tumorigenic function of MT1-MMP in malignancy remained, however, unidentified. To identify the functional importance of the PGD↓L50 intradomain cleavage in the activation and tumorigenic program of MT1-MMP, our current studies employed the cells which expressed the wild-type prodomain-based fluorescent biosensor and the mutant biosensor with the inactivated PGD↓L50 cleavage site (L50D mutant) and also the cells with the enforced expression the wild-type and mutant MT1-MMP. Using cell-based tests and orthotopic breast cancer xenografts in mice, we demonstrated that the intradomain cleavage of the PGD↓L50 sequence of the prodomain is essential for the pro-tumorigenic function of MT1-MMP. Our study contributes to the growing consensus for the design of selective, precisely focused MT1-MMP inhibitors in cancer. Analysis of global gene expression in orthotopic tumor and cultured breast cancer cells expressing wild-type and mutant Mt1-MMP forms
2011-06-01 | E-GEOD-28655 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Macrophages dominate inflammatory environments where they modify the extracellular matrix by mobilizing complex repertoires of proteolytic enzymes. Nevertheless, the dominant proteinases used by macrophage as they confront physiologic tissue barriers remain undefined. Herein, we have characterized the molecular mechanisms that define human macrophage-extracellular matrix interactions ex vivo. Resting and immune-polarized macrophages are shown to proteolytically remodel basement membranes while infiltrating the underlying interstitial matrix. In an unbiased screen to identify key proteases, we find that the macrophage metalloproteinase, MT1-MMP, is the dominant effector of basement membrane degradation and invasion. These studies not only identify MT1-MMP as a key proteolytic effector of extracellular matrix remodeling by human macrophages, but also define the invasive strategies used by macrophages to traverse physiologic tissue barriers.
2019-05-01 | GSE122823 | GEO
Project description:Invasive cancers employ pericellular proteolysis to breach the extracellular matrix and basement membrane barriers and invade the surrounding tissue. Pro-invasive, pro-tumorigenic MT1-MMP is the primary mediator of proteolytic events on the cancer cell surface. Cellular MT1-MMP is synthesized as a latent zymogen. The latency of MT1-MMP is maintained by its N-terminal inhibitory prodomain. Our study reveals a critical mechanism underlying the activation pathway and subsequent execution of the tumor-promoting function of MT1-MMP. Evidence suggests that the prodomain undergoes intradomain cleavage at the PGD↓L50 cleavage site followed by the release of the degraded prodomain by furin cleavage of the R108RKR111↓Y112 site. These events, only if combined, cause the activation of MT1-MMP. The significance of these molecular events to the pro-tumorigenic function of MT1-MMP in malignancy remained, however, unidentified. To identify the functional importance of the PGD↓L50 intradomain cleavage in the activation and tumorigenic program of MT1-MMP, our current studies employed the cells which expressed the wild-type prodomain-based fluorescent biosensor and the mutant biosensor with the inactivated PGD↓L50 cleavage site (L50D mutant) and also the cells with the enforced expression the wild-type and mutant MT1-MMP. Using cell-based tests and orthotopic breast cancer xenografts in mice, we demonstrated that the intradomain cleavage of the PGD↓L50 sequence of the prodomain is essential for the pro-tumorigenic function of MT1-MMP. Our study contributes to the growing consensus for the design of selective, precisely focused MT1-MMP inhibitors in cancer.
2011-06-01 | GSE28655 | GEO
Project description:Cell invasion through basement membrane is crucial for development and immune cell trafficking, and is misregulated in many human diseases, such as cancer. Understanding the gene expression profile of invading cells is challening, because cell invasion events are often stochastic and rare. Thus, it has been difficult to isolate cells during the act of basement membrane invasion. Here, we have taken advantage of the stereotyped timing of anchor cell invasion in C. elegans, along with synchronized animal culturing, Fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), and RNA-Seq and identified the gene expression profile of an invasive cell at the time of basement membrane breaching.
2023-04-13 | GSE228962 | GEO
Project description:Macrophages dominate inflammatory environments where they modify the extracellular matrix by mobilizing complex repertoires of proteolytic enzymes. Nevertheless, the dominant proteinases used by macrophage as they confront physiologic tissue barriers remain undefined. Herein, we have characterized the molecular mechanisms that define human macrophage-extracellular matrix interactions ex vivo. Resting and immune-polarized macrophages are shown to proteolytically remodel basement membranes while infiltrating the underlying interstitial matrix. In an unbiased screen to identify key proteases, we find that the macrophage metalloproteinase, MT1-MMP, is the dominant effector of basement membrane degradation and invasion. Unexpectedly, macrophages can alternatively use actomyosin-dependent forces to transmigrate native basement membrane pores that provide cells with proteinase-independent access to the interstitial matrix. These studies not only identify MT1-MMP as a key proteolytic effector of extracellular matrix remodeling by human macrophages, but also define the invasive strategies used by macrophages to traverse physiologic tissue barriers.
2019-05-01 | GSE122824 | GEO
Project description:Expression data from rat with anti-glomerular basement membrane nephritis (anti-GBM). We used microarrays to analyze the transcriptome of kidney from anti-GBM model rat with or without drug treatment
2015-07-14 | GSE46295 | GEO
Project description:Expression data from rat with anti-glomerular basement membrane nephritis (anti-GBM). We used microarrays to analyze the transcriptome of kidney from anti-GBM model rat with or without drug treatment RNA from whole kidneys was extracted and processed for hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays.
2015-07-14 | E-GEOD-46295 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Background: The farnesoid X receptor (FXR) is a leading therapeutic target for MASH-related fibrosis. INT-767, a potent FXR agonist, has shown promise in preclinical models. We aimed to define the mechanisms of INT-767 activity in experimental MASH and dissect cellular and molecular targets of FXR agonism in human disease. Methods: Leptin-deficient ob/ob mice were fed a MASH-inducing diet for 15 weeks prior to study start. After baseline liver biopsy and stratification, mice were allocated to INT-767 (10 mg/kg/day) or vehicle treatment for 8 weeks, either alongside ongoing MASH diet (progression) or following conversion to normal chow (reversal). Effects on extracellular matrix remodelling were analyzed histologically and by RNA-sequencing. Serum fibrosis biomarkers were measured longitudinally. Human liver samples were investigated using bulk and single-cell RNA-sequencing, histology, and cell culture assays. Results: INT-767 treatment was antifibrotic during MASH progression but not reversal, attenuating accumulation of type I collagen and basement membrane proteins (type IV collagen, laminin). Circulating levels of PRO-C4, a type IV collagen formation marker, were reduced by INT-767 treatment and correlated with fibrosis. Expression of basement membrane constituents also correlated with fibrosis severity and adverse clinical outcomes in human MASH. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis of mouse and human livers, and immunofluorescence staining colocalized FXR and basement membrane expression to myofibroblasts within the fibrotic niche. Treatment of culture-activated primary human hepatic stellate cells with INT-767 decreased expression of basement membrane components. Conclusion: These findings highlight the importance of basement membrane remodelling in MASH pathobiology and as a source of circulating biomarkers. Basement membrane deposition by activated hepatic stellate cells is abrogated by INT-767 treatment and measurement of basement membrane molecules should be included when determining the therapeutic efficacy of FXR agonists.
2025-08-19 | GSE275813 | GEO
Project description:The kidney microenvironment influences macrophage response and basement membrane homeostasis
| PRJEB51479 | ENA