Endovascular progenitors infiltrate melanomas and differentiate towards a variety of vascular beds promoting tumor metastasis.

Tumor vascularization is a hallmark of cancer central to disease progression and metastasis. Current anti-angiogenic therapies have limited success prompting the need to better understand the cellular origin of tumor vessels. Using fate-mapping analysis of endothelial cell populations in melanoma, we report the very early infiltration of endovascular progenitors (EVP) in growing tumors.

Compartment-Specific Biosensors Reveal a Complementary Subcellular Distribution of Bioactive Furin and PC7.

Furin trafficking, and that of related proprotein convertases (PCs), may regulate which substrates are accessible for endoproteolysis, but tools to directly test this hypothesis have been lacking. Here, we develop targeted biosensors that indicate Furin activity in endosomes is 10-fold less inhibited by decanoyl-RVKR-chloromethylketone and enriched >3-fold in endosomes compared to the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Endogenous PC7, which resists this inhibitor, was active in distinct vesicles.

Paracrine Activin-A Signaling Promotes Melanoma Growth and Metastasis through Immune Evasion.

The secreted growth factor Activin-A of the transforming growth factor β family and its receptors can promote or inhibit several cancer hallmarks including tumor cell proliferation and differentiation, vascularization, lymphangiogenesis and inflammation. However, a role in immune evasion and its relationship with tumor-induced muscle wasting and tumor vascularization, and the relative contributions of autocrine versus paracrine Activin signaling remain to be evaluated. To address this, we compared the effects of truncated soluble Activin receptor IIB as a ligand trap, or constitutively active mutant type IB receptor versus secreted Activin-A or the related ligand Nodal in mouse and human melanoma cell lines and tumor grafts.

Priming of endothelial colony-forming cells in a mesenchymal niche improves engraftment and vasculogenic potential by initiating mesenchymal transition orchestrated by NOTCH signaling.

The prospect of using endothelial progenitors is currently hampered by their low engraftment upon transplantation. We report that mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs), independent of source and age, improve the engraftment of endothelial colony forming cells (ECFCs). MSC coculture altered ECFC appearance to an elongated mesenchymal morphology with reduced proliferation.

Functional Definition of Progenitors Versus Mature Endothelial Cells Reveals Key SoxF-Dependent Differentiation Process.

Background: During adult life, blood vessel formation is thought to occur via angiogenic processes involving branching from existing vessels. An alternate proposal suggests that neovessels form from endothelial progenitors able to assemble the intimal layers. We here aimed to define vessel-resident endothelial progenitors in vivo in a variety of tissues in physiological and pathological situations such as normal aorta, lungs, and wound healing, tumors, and placenta, as well.

Concise Review: Functional Definition of Endothelial Progenitor Cells: A Molecular Perspective.

Unlabelled: : Since the discovery of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) almost 2 decades ago, there has been great hope in their use in treating chronic ischemic disease. Unfortunately, to date, many of the clinical trials using EPCs have been hampered by the lack of clear definition of this cell population. Attributes of a progenitor population are self-renewal and multipotentiality.

Hyperdiploid tumor cells increase phenotypic heterogeneity within Glioblastoma tumors.

Here we report the identification of a proliferative, viable, and hyperdiploid tumor cell subpopulation present within Glioblastoma (GB) patient tumors. Using xenograft tumor models, we demonstrate that hyperdiploid cell populations are maintained in xenograft tumors and that clonally expanded hyperdiploid cells support tumor formation and progression in vivo. In some patient tumorsphere lines, hyperdiploidy is maintained during long-term culture and in vivo within xenograft tumor models, suggesting that hyperdiploidy can be a stable cell state.

Nedd4 and Nedd4-2: ubiquitin ligases at work in the neuron.

Ubiquitination of proteins by the Nedd4 family of ubiquitin ligases is a significant mechanism in protein trafficking and degradation and provides for tight spatiotemporal regulation. Ubiquitination is gaining increasing recognition as a central mechanism underpinning the regulation of neuronal development and homeostasis in the brain. This review will focus on the Nedd4 and Nedd4-2 E3 ubiquitin ligases that are implicated in an increasing number of neuronal protein-protein interactions.