Autocrine human growth hormone stimulates the tumor initiating capacity and metastasis of estrogen receptor-negative mammary carcinoma cells

Yi-Jun Chen; Xiao Zhang; Zheng-Sheng Wu; Jing-Jing Wang; Amy Yong-Chen Lau; Tao Zhu; Peter E Lobie

doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2015.05.031

Autocrine human growth hormone stimulates the tumor initiating capacity and metastasis of estrogen receptor-negative mammary carcinoma cells

Cancer Lett. 2015 Sep 1;365(2):182-9. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2015.05.031. Epub 2015 Jun 9.

Authors

Yi-Jun Chen¹, Xiao Zhang², Zheng-Sheng Wu³, Jing-Jing Wang¹, Amy Yong-Chen Lau¹, Tao Zhu⁴, Peter E Lobie⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
² The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027.
³ Department of Pathology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China.
⁴ The CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027; Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China. Electronic address: zhut@ustc.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore, Singapore; Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: csipel@nus.edu.sg.

PMID: 26070963
DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2015.05.031

Abstract

The oncogenic effects of autocrine human growth hormone (hGH) have been intensively investigated in estrogen receptor-positive mammary carcinoma (ER + MC) cells. We demonstrated herein that autocrine hGH promoted cancer stem cell (CSC)-like properties of estrogen receptor-negative mammary carcinoma (ER-MC) cells in vitro. In xenograft studies, autocrine hGH increased the tumor initiating capacity of ER-MC cells. We also observed that autocrine hGH promoted migration and invasion of ER-MC cells in vitro, and metastasis in vivo. Thus, inhibition of hGH is a potential therapeutic strategy to prevent tumor initiation and metastasis of ER-MC.

Keywords: Cancer stem cell; Human growth hormone; Mammary carcinoma; Metastasis; Tumor initiation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family
Animals
Autocrine Communication
Breast Neoplasms / pathology*
Cell Movement / genetics
Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / pathology*
Female
Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
Human Growth Hormone / biosynthesis
Human Growth Hormone / genetics
Human Growth Hormone / metabolism*
Humans
Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / biosynthesis
Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / genetics
Isoenzymes / biosynthesis
Liver Neoplasms / secondary
Lung Neoplasms / secondary
Mice
Mice, Inbred BALB C
Mice, Nude
Neoplasm Invasiveness / genetics
Neoplasm Invasiveness / pathology
Neoplasm Transplantation
Neoplastic Stem Cells / pathology*
RNA, Messenger / biosynthesis
Receptors, Estrogen / metabolism*
Retinal Dehydrogenase / biosynthesis
Spheroids, Cellular
Transplantation, Heterologous
Tumor Cells, Cultured

Substances

Isoenzymes
RNA, Messenger
Receptors, Estrogen
Human Growth Hormone
Insulin-Like Growth Factor I
Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 Family
ALDH1A1 protein, human
ALDH1A1 protein, mouse
Retinal Dehydrogenase