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ELA/APELA precursor cleaved by furin displays tumor suppressor function in renal cell carcinoma through mTORC1 activation
Fabienne Soulet, Clement Bodineau, Katarzyna B. Hooks, Jean Descarpentrie, Isabel Alves, Marielle Dubreuil, Amandine Mouchard, Malaurie Eugenie, Jean-Luc Hoepffner, Jose J. López, Juan A. Rosado, Isabelle Soubeyran, Mercedes Tomé, Raúl V. Durán, Macha Nikolski, Bruno O. Villoutreix, Serge Evrard, Geraldine Siegfried, Abdel-Majid Khatib
Fabienne Soulet, Clement Bodineau, Katarzyna B. Hooks, Jean Descarpentrie, Isabel Alves, Marielle Dubreuil, Amandine Mouchard, Malaurie Eugenie, Jean-Luc Hoepffner, Jose J. López, Juan A. Rosado, Isabelle Soubeyran, Mercedes Tomé, Raúl V. Durán, Macha Nikolski, Bruno O. Villoutreix, Serge Evrard, Geraldine Siegfried, Abdel-Majid Khatib
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Research Article Nephrology

ELA/APELA precursor cleaved by furin displays tumor suppressor function in renal cell carcinoma through mTORC1 activation

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Abstract

Apelin is a well-established mediator of survival and mitogenic signaling through the apelin receptor (Aplnr) and has been implicated in various cancers; however, little is known regarding Elabela (ELA/APELA) signaling, also mediated by Aplnr, and its role and the role of the conversion of its precursor proELA into mature ELA in cancer are unknown. Here, we identified a function of mTORC1 signaling as an essential mediator of ELA that repressed kidney tumor cell growth, migration, and survival. Moreover, sunitinib and ELA showed a synergistic effect in repressing tumor growth and angiogenesis in mice. The use of site-directed mutagenesis and pharmacological experiments provided evidence that the alteration of the cleavage site of proELA by furin induced improved ELA antitumorigenic activity. Finally, a cohort of tumors and public data sets revealed that ELA was only repressed in the main human kidney cancer subtypes, namely clear cell, papillary, and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma. Aplnr was expressed by various kidney cells, whereas ELA was generally expressed by epithelial cells. Collectively, these results showed the tumor-suppressive role of mTORC1 signaling mediated by ELA and established the potential use of ELA or derivatives in kidney cancer treatment.

Authors

Fabienne Soulet, Clement Bodineau, Katarzyna B. Hooks, Jean Descarpentrie, Isabel Alves, Marielle Dubreuil, Amandine Mouchard, Malaurie Eugenie, Jean-Luc Hoepffner, Jose J. López, Juan A. Rosado, Isabelle Soubeyran, Mercedes Tomé, Raúl V. Durán, Macha Nikolski, Bruno O. Villoutreix, Serge Evrard, Geraldine Siegfried, Abdel-Majid Khatib

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Figure 7

Synergistic effect between mut ELA and sunitinib on tumor growth and angiogenesis repression.

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Synergistic effect between mut ELA and sunitinib on tumor growth and ang...
(A) Capillaries of vehicle (control) and ELA peptide– and mut ELA peptide–treated CAMs (100 nM). (B) Quantification of vascularized area relative to control untreated CAMs assigned 100% (n = 6–8). Scale bar represents 2.5 mm for the upper panel and 200 μm for the lower panel. (C) Representative images of untreated (control) and ELA peptide– and mut ELA peptide–treated aortic rings (100 nM). Scale bar indicates 250 μm for the upper panel and 50 μm for the lower panel. (D) Quantification of aortic ring vascular sprout surface per aortic ring relative to control untreated aorta (100%) (n = 6–7). (E) Progression of subcutaneous tumors induced by Renca control cells and ELA- or mut ELA– expressing cells in syngeneic BALB/c mice (n = 7 per group). (F) Developed tumors shown in E were analyzed for angiogenesis using an anti-mouse CD31 monoclonal antibody. (G) Quantification of vascularized area relative to control tumors assigned 100% (n = 6). (H) Analyses of tube-like structure formation in the presence of media derived from Renca control cells and ELA- and mut ELA–expressing cells. (I) Quantification of tube formation via determining the number of cell cluster connections (tube number, n = 6). Scale bar: 200 μm. (J) Confocal images of sections from mice with developed ACHN tumors injected with FITC-dextran. (K) Quantification of vascular permeability to FITC-dextran relative to control tumors assigned 100% (n = 3). (L) Mice were injected subcutaneously with control Renca cells or the same cells stably expressing mut ELA (2 × 105 cells) (n = 7 per group). One week after tumor cell injection, vehicle or sunitinib was administered every 2 days by oral gavage. Tumor size (L) and angiogenesis (M and N) were determined at the end of the experiments. All results shown are representative of at least 3 independent experiments. The mean ± SEM values are shown. One- or 2-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple-comparisons test were used to analyze the data. **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.

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