Project description:The placental growth factor (PlGF) is member of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-family known to stimulate endothelial cell growth, migration and survival, attract angiocompetent macrophages and bone marrow progenitor cells and determine the metastatic niche. Unlike VEGF, genetic studies have shown that PlGF is specifically involved in the pathologic angiogenesis, thus its inhibition would not affect healthy blood vessels, providing an attractive drug candidate with a good safety profile. In this study, we assess whether inhibition of PlGF could be used as a potential therapy against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), by using PlGF-knock out mice and monoclonal antibodies targeting PlGF in an orthotopic model for HCC. In addition, the effect of PlGF-antibodies is compared to that of Sorafenib, as well as the combination of both therapies. In our study we have found that both in a transgenic knock out model as in a treatment model, silencing or inhibition of PlGF significantly decreased tumour burden, not only by inhibiting the vascularisation, but also by decreasing hepatic macrophage recruitment and by normalizing the remaining blood vessels, thereby decreasing hypoxia and thus, reducing the pro-metastatic potential of HCC. Conclusion: considering its favourable safety profile and its pleiotropic effect on vascularisation, metastasis and inflammation, targeting PlGF could become a valuable therapeutic strategy against HCC.
Project description:The placental growth factor (PlGF) is member of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-family known to stimulate endothelial cell growth, migration and survival, attract angiocompetent macrophages and bone marrow progenitor cells and determine the metastatic niche. Unlike VEGF, genetic studies have shown that PlGF is specifically involved in the pathologic angiogenesis, thus its inhibition would not affect healthy blood vessels, providing an attractive drug candidate with a good safety profile. In this study, we assess whether inhibition of PlGF could be used as a potential therapy against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), by using PlGF-knock out mice and monoclonal antibodies targeting PlGF in an orthotopic model for HCC. In addition, the effect of PlGF-antibodies is compared to that of Sorafenib, as well as the combination of both therapies. In our study we have found that both in a transgenic knock out model as in a treatment model, silencing or inhibition of PlGF significantly decreased tumour burden, not only by inhibiting the vascularisation, but also by decreasing hepatic macrophage recruitment and by normalizing the remaining blood vessels, thereby decreasing hypoxia and thus, reducing the pro-metastatic potential of HCC. Conclusion: considering its favourable safety profile and its pleiotropic effect on vascularisation, metastasis and inflammation, targeting PlGF could become a valuable therapeutic strategy against HCC. Hybridisation on the Mouse Gene Expression Microarray (Agilent) was performed in a single sample per chip and in a monocolore mode, using cyanine-3 (Cy3) labeling. Following conditions were assessed: 25W DEN + 5W αPlGF tumour tissue (n = 5), 25W DEN + 5W αPlGF surrounding tissue (n = 4), 25W DEN + 5W IgG tumour tissue (n = 5), 25W DEN + 5W IgG surrounding tissue (n = 4), 25W saline + 5W αPlGF (n = 3) and 25W saline + 5W IgG (n = 3).
Project description:Metastasis is a major factor for mortality in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Thus, there is a need for predictive biomarker(s) for detecting the tipping point before metastasis, so as to prevent further deterioration. To discover early warning signals of pulmonary metastasis in HCC, we analysed time-series gene expression data in the spontaneous pulmonary metastasis mouse HCCLM3-RFP model with our novel dynamic network biomarker (DNB) method. To simulate tumour growth and metastasis in patient livers, we used the spontaneous pulmonary metastasis mouse model, HCCLM3-RFP, which involves the orthotopic transplanted human HCCLM3 cell line labelled with a stable fluorescent protein.We observed that, hepatic tumours in orthotopic xenograft HCCLM3-RFP mice grew gradually from the second to the fifth week after orthotopic implantation in the primary liver tissue, whereas spontaneous pulmonary metastasis occurredonly at the last time point (the fifth week after orthotopic implantation).Thus, we chose the second, third, fourth, and fifth weeks after orthotopic implantation as observation points to collect liver tumours of five orthotopic xenograft mice at each time point and to assess the whole-genome expression.
Project description:The goal of this experiment was to identify possible genes affected directly or indirectly by anti-miR-191. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a fatal disease with currently very limited beneficial therapies. MicroRNAs (miRs), which are considered to be master regulators of gene expression, have significant influence on cellular pathways and phenotype, and are de-regulated in HCC, and hence are thought to be of great therapeutic potential as novel targets. We identified hsa-miR-191 as a potential target for HCC therapy. Inhibition of this miR causes decreased cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis in vitro as well as a significant reduction of tumor mass in vivo in an orthotopic liver xenograft model. This miR was also found to be up-regulated by a dioxin, a known liver carcinogen, and was found to be a key regulator of cancer related pathways. HCC cell line treated with anti-miR-191, and treated with negative control anti-miR. Treatment was done twice (duplicates) but in independent studies.