Transient alterations in the expression of protease and extracellular matrix genes during metastatic lung colonization by H-ras-transformed 10T1/2 fibroblasts.

TitleTransient alterations in the expression of protease and extracellular matrix genes during metastatic lung colonization by H-ras-transformed 10T1/2 fibroblasts.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1990
AuthorsGingras, M-C, Jarolim, L, Finch, J, Bowden, GT, Wright, JA, Greenberg, AH
JournalCancer Res
Volume50
Issue13
Pagination4061-6
Date Published1990 Jul 01
ISSN0008-5472
KeywordsAnimals, Cell Line, Cell Transformation, Neoplastic, Endopeptidases, Extracellular Matrix, Fibrosarcoma, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Genes, ras, Lung Neoplasms, Mice, Neoplasm Metastasis, Phenotype, Time Factors, Transfection
Abstract

It has been proposed that tumor progression is a selective process and that only a minority of tumor cells survive this selection because they possess the phenotypic traits necessary for metastasis and organ colonization. Both proteases and extracellular matrix proteins have been implicated in invasion and metastasis formation. To examine the nature of the selection process, we transformed 10T1/2 fibroblasts with T24 H-ras and the neoR gene and selected a clonal line expressing the mutant ras gene. After i.v. injection of this line into syngeneic C3H/HeN mice, tumor cells were recovered from lungs by enzymatic treatment and selective outgrowth in G418. Less than one of 10(3) cells survived in the lung 30 min after inoculation, and these exhibited a unique phenotype. This was characterized by a propensity to lodge in the lung on reinjection; markedly enhanced mRNA levels of procollagen alpha 2(I), procollagen alpha 1(III), and fibronectin; and decreased levels of laminin, major excreted protein (procathepsin L), transin, and H-ras. Between 1 and 9 days after tumor injection, the phenotype of the cells surviving in the lung changed dramatically and exhibited a pattern of gene expression with increased protease and low matrix protein mRNA levels. This coincided with a 26-fold increase in the ability to colonize lungs on i.v. injection. Both the phenotype characterized by its propensity to arrest in the lung and that showing enhanced metastatic ability were unstable on prolonged in vitro culture. We hypothesize that two selection events have occurred. The first is for lung arrest and implantation of variants of the injected tumor with high matrix protein and low protease levels. A second selection then occurs for tumor cells that carry a favorable phenotype for invasion and proliferation which is associated with low matrix protein and high protease gene expression. These two phenotypes are represented within a clonal population of recently transformed tumor cells.

Alternate JournalCancer Res
PubMed ID2191771

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