TY - JOUR
T1 - The murine metastatic microenvironment of experimental brain metastases of breast cancer differs by host age in vivo
T2 - a proteomic study
AU - Hunt, Allison L.
AU - Khan, Imran
AU - Wu, Alex M.L.
AU - Makohon-Moore, Sasha C.
AU - Hood, Brian L.
AU - Conrads, Kelly A.
AU - Abulez, Tamara
AU - Ogata, Jonathan
AU - Mitchell, Dave
AU - Gist, Glenn
AU - Oliver, Julie
AU - Wei, Debbie
AU - Chung, Monika A.
AU - Rahman, Samiur
AU - Bateman, Nicholas W.
AU - Zhang, Wei
AU - Conrads, Thomas P.
AU - Steeg, Patricia S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply 2023.
PY - 2024/6
Y1 - 2024/6
N2 - Breast cancer in young patients is known to exhibit more aggressive biological behavior and is associated with a less favorable prognosis than the same disease in older patients, owing in part to an increased incidence of brain metastases. The mechanistic explanations behind these findings remain poorly understood. We recently reported that young mice, in comparison to older mice, developed significantly greater brain metastases in four mouse models of triple-negative and luminal B breast cancer. Here we have performed a quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis to identify proteins potentially contributing to age-related disparities in the development of breast cancer brain metastases. Using a mouse hematogenous model of brain-tropic triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231BR), we harvested subpopulations of tumor metastases, the tumor-adjacent metastatic microenvironment, and uninvolved brain tissues via laser microdissection followed by quantitative proteomic analysis using high resolution mass spectrometry to characterize differentially abundant proteins potentially contributing to age-dependent rates of brain metastasis. Pathway analysis revealed significant alterations in signaling pathways, particularly in the metastatic microenvironment, modulating tumorigenesis, metabolic processes, inflammation, and neuronal signaling. Tenascin C (TNC) was significantly elevated in all laser microdissection (LMD) enriched compartments harvested from young mice relative to older hosts, which was validated and confirmed by immunoblot analysis of whole brain lysates. Additional in vitro studies including migration and wound-healing assays demonstrated TNC as a positive regulator of tumor cell migration. These results provide important new insights regarding microenvironmental factors, including TNC, as mechanisms contributing to the increased brain cancer metastatic phenotype observed in young breast cancer patients.
AB - Breast cancer in young patients is known to exhibit more aggressive biological behavior and is associated with a less favorable prognosis than the same disease in older patients, owing in part to an increased incidence of brain metastases. The mechanistic explanations behind these findings remain poorly understood. We recently reported that young mice, in comparison to older mice, developed significantly greater brain metastases in four mouse models of triple-negative and luminal B breast cancer. Here we have performed a quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis to identify proteins potentially contributing to age-related disparities in the development of breast cancer brain metastases. Using a mouse hematogenous model of brain-tropic triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231BR), we harvested subpopulations of tumor metastases, the tumor-adjacent metastatic microenvironment, and uninvolved brain tissues via laser microdissection followed by quantitative proteomic analysis using high resolution mass spectrometry to characterize differentially abundant proteins potentially contributing to age-dependent rates of brain metastasis. Pathway analysis revealed significant alterations in signaling pathways, particularly in the metastatic microenvironment, modulating tumorigenesis, metabolic processes, inflammation, and neuronal signaling. Tenascin C (TNC) was significantly elevated in all laser microdissection (LMD) enriched compartments harvested from young mice relative to older hosts, which was validated and confirmed by immunoblot analysis of whole brain lysates. Additional in vitro studies including migration and wound-healing assays demonstrated TNC as a positive regulator of tumor cell migration. These results provide important new insights regarding microenvironmental factors, including TNC, as mechanisms contributing to the increased brain cancer metastatic phenotype observed in young breast cancer patients.
KW - Age
KW - Brain metastasis
KW - Breast cancer
KW - Mass spectrometry
KW - Proteomics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85175641917&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10585-023-10233-7
DO - 10.1007/s10585-023-10233-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 37917186
AN - SCOPUS:85175641917
SN - 0262-0898
VL - 41
SP - 229
EP - 249
JO - Clinical and Experimental Metastasis
JF - Clinical and Experimental Metastasis
IS - 3
ER -