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THE ROLES OF CHEMOKINES AND CHEMOKINE RECEPTORS IN TUMOR METASTASIS by Ahmad Suhail Khazali Bachelor of Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2010 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of School of Medicine in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2017 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF MEDICINE This dissertation was presented by Ahmad Suhail Khazali It was defended on July 17, 2017 and approved by Douglass Lansing Taylor, PhD., Computational and Systems Biology Zhou Wang, PhD., Department of Pathology Reza Zarnegar, PhD., Department of Pathology Committee Chair: Donna Beer Stolz, PhD. Department of Cell Biology Dissertation Advisor: Alan Wells, MD. DMSc, Department of Pathology ii Copyright © by Ahmad Suhail Khazali 2017 iii THE ROLES OF CHEMOKINES AND CHEMOKINE RECEPTORS IN TUMOR METASTASIS Ahmad Suhail Khazali, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2017 Metastasis is often a deadly disease but highly inefficient as it involves several complex sequential processes such as invasion, hematogenous dissemination and distant organ colonization. Tumor suppressor E-cadherin, which is the key biomarker for epithelial- mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET), plays essential roles in cancer invasion and colonization. Organ colonization has been proposed to be the rate- limiting step of metastasis as most cancer cells undergo apoptosis in these restrictive foreign microenvironments. However, some metastatic cells manage to evade apoptosis by undergoing cellular quiescence and later grow out to form deadly overt metastases. Herein, we investigated the roles of chemokines and chemokine receptors in mediating tumor phenotypic transition during cancer invasion and tumor escape from dormancy during liver colonization. Chemokine receptor CXCR3 mediates immune cell chemotaxis but inhibits adherent cell locomotion. These opposing effects on cellular motility are accomplished via two CXCR3 isoforms. We hypothesized that the anti-migratory isoform CXCR3B promoted E- cadherin expression to allow cancer cell seeding. CXCR3B overexpression induced E-cadherin expression and CXCR3B-knockdown reduced total and membranous E-cadherin. We also found that the correlation between CXCR3B and E-cadherin expression was significantly conserved in human prostate cancer liver metastasis in mice. iv Next, we utilized in vitro and ex vivo co-culture systems to uncover the soluble factors that mediate tumor emergence from dormancy. In vitro co-culture with hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) significantly elevated tumor growth. Protein analyses of primary liver non-parenchymal cells and immortalized HSCs revealed increased secretion of pro-inflammatory chemokines IL-8 and MCP-1. We further noted that IL-8, not MCP-1, directly augmented cancer cell growth and mediated tumor escape from dormancy, potentially through ERK activation. In summary, we establish novel functions for CXCR3 and IL-8 during tumor metastasis. CXCR3B can induce E-cadherin re-expression that may facilitate cancer cell seeding and protect the cells from drug-induced apoptosis. HSC-derived pro-inflammatory chemokine IL-8 can drive tumor escape from dormancy in the liver. These findings may have substantial implications on the management and treatment of metastatic disease. Targeting IL-8 or inflammation in general, may prove beneficial to curb cancer outgrowth at this rate-limiting step of metastasis. v TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ................................................................................................................................. XIII 1.0 OVERVIEW: CANCER AND METASTASIS ......................................................... 1 1.1 PRIMARY AND METASTATIC CANCERS: INCIDENCE, PREVALENCE AND MORTALITY RATE ..................................................................... 4 1.2 BREAST CANCER ............................................................................................. 5 1.2.1 Breast Cancer Pathogenesis ............................................................................ 5 1.2.2 Breast Cancer Recurrence and Metastasis ................................................... 7 1.2.3 Breast Cancer Treatment ............................................................................... 8 1.3 PROSTATE CANCER ...................................................................................... 12 1.3.1 Prostate Cancer Pathogenesis ....................................................................... 13 1.3.2 Prostate Cancer Recurrence and Metastasis .............................................. 15 1.3.3 Prostate Cancer Treatment .......................................................................... 16 1.4 CANCER METASTASIS ................................................................................. 17 1.4.1 Metastatic Sequence ...................................................................................... 17 1.4.2 Cancer Invasion: MMPs Secretion and EMT ............................................. 19 1.4.3 Cancer Circulation: Intra- and Extravasation and Evading Anoikis ...... 22 1.4.4 Cancer Colonization: MET........................................................................... 24 1.4.5 Cancer Survival and Proliferation in Distant Organs ............................... 25 vi 1.5 LIVER AS A METASTATIC SITE ................................................................. 27 1.5.1 Liver Physiology ............................................................................................ 28 1.5.2 Primary Liver Malignancy ........................................................................... 33 1.5.3 Liver Metastases ............................................................................................ 34 1.5.4 Modeling the Liver for Cancer Study and Drug Discovery....................... 37 1.5.5 Conclusions..................................................................................................... 41 2.0 THE ROLES OF CHEMOKINE RECEPTOR CXCR3 IN MESENCHYMAL- EPITHELIAL TRANSITION ................................................................................................... 44 2.1 CHEMOKINE RECEPTORS AND LIGANDS ............................................. 45 2.2 CXCR3 RECEPTORS AND LIGANDS ......................................................... 46 2.2.1 CXCR3 Isoforms............................................................................................ 46 2.2.2 CXCR3 Ligands ............................................................................................. 47 2.2.3 CXCR3 Signal Transductions ...................................................................... 49 2.2.4 CXCR3 Roles in Cancers .............................................................................. 50 2.2.4.1 CXCR3 in Prostate Cancer ................................................................ 51 2.2.4.2 CXCR3 in Breast Cancer ................................................................... 51 2.2.4.3 CXCR3 in Colorectal Cancer............................................................. 52 2.2.4.4 CXCR3 in Lung Cancer ..................................................................... 53 2.2.4.5 CXCR3 in Ovarian Cancer ................................................................ 54 2.2.4.6 CXCR3 in Renal Cancer .................................................................... 55 2.2.4.7 CXCR3 in Melanoma.......................................................................... 55 2.3 CXCR3B DRIVES E-CADHERIN RE-EXPRESSION TO FACILITATE PROSTATE CANCER LIVER METASTASIS .............................................................. 56 vii 2.3.1 CXCR3B Increases E-cadherin Protein Level ............................................ 58 2.3.2 CXCR3B is Elevated in DU145-Ecadherinhigh Cells ................................... 59 2.3.3 DU145 Cells Increase CXCR3B Expression in Liver Metastases ............. 62 2.3.4 CXCR3B Correlates with E-cadherin in DU145 and PC3 Cells In vivo... 63 2.3.5 CXCR3B Expression in Metastatic Liver Nodules Increases Chemoresistance. ........................................................................................................ 65 2.3.6 Elevated CXCR3B does not Promote Cancer Dormancy .......................... 67 2.3.7 Discussions and Conclusions......................................................................... 68 2.3.8 Future works .................................................................................................. 70 2.3.9 Conclusions..................................................................................................... 71 3.0 CANCER CELL SURVIVAL IN LIVER MICROENVIRONMENT .................. 72 3.1 CANCER CELL DEATH AND METASTATIC PROLIFERATION ......... 72 3.2 CANCER DORMANCY ................................................................................... 74 3.2.1 Dormancy: Definition .................................................................................... 74 3.2.2 Dormancy: Clinical and Experimental Evidence ....................................... 74 3.2.3 Dormancy: Mechanisms................................................................................ 75 3.2.4 Dormancy: Modeling Human Tumor Dormancy Ex vivo ......................... 77 3.2.5 Dormancy: Emergence .................................................................................. 78 3.3 STELLATE CELL-DERIVED IL8 PROMOTES CANCER ESCAPE FROM DORMANCY IN THE LIVER ............................................................................ 80 3.3.1 Hepatic