Molecular cross-talk between head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts

• Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are one of the main components of the tumor stroma and are known to increase tumor growth and stimulate  invasion and metastasis. Increasing evidence suggests that CAFs may also be an important determinant of the response to various treatments. In this study we aimed to characterize the molecular cross-talk between CAFs and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cells.HNSCC cell lines were co-cultured with their patient-matched CAFs for seven days, after which the gene expression of tumor cells was investigated by Affymetrix microarray. 58 protein coding genes were found to be differentially expressed (Q≤0.05) in tumor cells cocultured with CAFs when compared to tumor cells cultured alone. The top functions of these genes were cancer, cellular movement, and embryonic development as analyzed by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Nine genes were upregulated by ≥1.5-fold while the expression of 35 genes was found to be reduced by ≤ 0.67-fold. Several of the differentially expressed genes have been associated with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The change in the expression of POSTN, GREM1, COL1A2, VIM, and MMP7 was verified by qPCR analysis. Moreover, the influence of CAFs on the proliferation, migration and cetuximab sensitivity of tumor cells was investigated, and was found to vary among the tumor cell-CAF pairs.In conclusion, we demonstrate that CAF-derived signals cause changes in the expression of multiple genes, several of which are associated with an EMT phenotype of tumor cells. Furthermore, CAFs modulate the proliferation, migration and cetuximab treatment response of tumor cells.

Nyckelord

Head and neck cancer; Tongue cancer; Erbitux; EGFR ligands; treatment response

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