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AXL-associated tumor inflammation as a poor prognostic signature in chemotherapy-treated triple-negative breast cancer patients

Bottai, Giulia and Székely, Borbála and Győrffy, Balázs and Szász, Attila Marcell and Ács, Balázs and Tőkés, Tímea and Kulka, Janina and Santarpia, Libero (2016) AXL-associated tumor inflammation as a poor prognostic signature in chemotherapy-treated triple-negative breast cancer patients. NPJ Breast Cancer. ISSN ESSN: 2374-4677

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Abstract

A subgroup of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) shows epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) features, which are sustained by the interaction between cancer cells and tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). In this study, the clinical relevance of 30 EMT-related kinases and the potential cross-talk with TAMs were investigated in a cohort of 203 TNBC patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. The prognostic value of the evaluated markers was validated in two independent cohorts of TNBC patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy (N=95; N=137). In vitro, we investigated the potential synergism between cancer cells and TAMs. We found that the EMT-related kinase AXL showed the highest correlation with the frequency of CD163-positive macrophages (rS=0.503; P<0.0001). Relapsing TNBC patients presented high expression of AXL (P<0.0001) and CD163 (P<0.018), but only AXL retained independent prognostic significance in multivariate analysis (relapse-free survival, P=0.002; overall survival P=0.001). In vitro analysis demonstrated that AXL-expressing TNBC cells were able to polarize human macrophages towards an M2-like phenotype, and modulate a specific pattern of pro-tumor cytokines and chemokines. Selective AXL inhibition impaired the activity of M2-like macrophages, reducing cancer cell invasiveness, and restoring the sensitivity of breast cancer cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. These data suggest that the EMT-related kinase AXL overexpressed in cancer cells has prognostic significance, and contributes to the functional skewing of macrophage functions in TNBC. AXL inhibition may represent a novel strategy to target cancer cells, as well as tumor-promoting TAMs in TNBC.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: R Medicine / orvostudomány > R1 Medicine (General) / orvostudomány általában
R Medicine / orvostudomány > RC Internal medicine / belgyógyászat > RC0254 Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology (including Cancer) / daganatok, tumorok, onkológia
Depositing User: Dr. Attila Marcell Szasz
Date Deposited: 01 Oct 2018 14:23
Last Modified: 05 Apr 2023 07:47
URI: http://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/86355

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