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Lengrand J, Pastushenko I, Vanuytven S, Song Y, Venet D, Sarate RM, Bellina M, Moers V, Boinet A, Sifrim A, Rama N, Ducarouge B, Van Herck J, Dubois C, Scozzaro S, Lemaire S, Gieskes S, Bonni S, Collin A, Braissand N, Allard J, Zindy E, Decaestecker C, Sotiriou C, Salmon I, Mehlen P, Voet T, Bernet A, Blanpain C. Pharmacological targeting of netrin-1 inhibits EMT in cancer. Nature 2023; 620:402-408. [PMID: 37532929 PMCID: PMC7615210 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06372-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/04/2023]
Abstract
Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulates tumour initiation, progression, metastasis and resistance to anti-cancer therapy1-7. Although great progress has been made in understanding the role of EMT and its regulatory mechanisms in cancer, no therapeutic strategy to pharmacologically target EMT has been identified. Here we found that netrin-1 is upregulated in a primary mouse model of skin squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) exhibiting spontaneous EMT. Pharmacological inhibition of netrin-1 by administration of NP137, a netrin-1-blocking monoclonal antibody currently used in clinical trials in human cancer (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT02977195 ), decreased the proportion of EMT tumour cells in skin SCC, decreased the number of metastases and increased the sensitivity of tumour cells to chemotherapy. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed the presence of different EMT states, including epithelial, early and late hybrid EMT, and full EMT states, in control SCC. By contrast, administration of NP137 prevented the progression of cancer cells towards a late EMT state and sustained tumour epithelial states. Short hairpin RNA knockdown of netrin-1 and its receptor UNC5B in EPCAM+ tumour cells inhibited EMT in vitro in the absence of stromal cells and regulated a common gene signature that promotes tumour epithelial state and restricts EMT. To assess the relevance of these findings to human cancers, we treated mice transplanted with the A549 human cancer cell line-which undergoes EMT following TGFβ1 administration8,9-with NP137. Netrin-1 inhibition decreased EMT in these transplanted A549 cells. Together, our results identify a pharmacological strategy for targeting EMT in cancer, opening up novel therapeutic interventions for anti-cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justine Lengrand
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
- NETRIS Pharma, Lyon, France
- Laboratory Apoptosis, Cancer and Development, Equipe labellisee 'La Ligue', LabEx DEVweCAN, Institute PLAsCAN, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, INSERM U1052-CNRS UMR5286, Lyon, France
| | - Ievgenia Pastushenko
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sebastiaan Vanuytven
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Leuven, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Laboratory of Multi-omic Integrative Bioinformatics, Center for Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Yura Song
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - David Venet
- Laboratory of Breast Cancer Translational Research J.-C. Heuson, Institut Jules Bordet, Hôpital Universitaire de Bruxelles (H.U.B), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Rahul M Sarate
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Melanie Bellina
- NETRIS Pharma, Lyon, France
- Laboratory Apoptosis, Cancer and Development, Equipe labellisee 'La Ligue', LabEx DEVweCAN, Institute PLAsCAN, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, INSERM U1052-CNRS UMR5286, Lyon, France
| | - Virginie Moers
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Alice Boinet
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Alejandro Sifrim
- Laboratory of Multi-omic Integrative Bioinformatics, Center for Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- KU Leuven Institute for Single-cell Omics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Nicolas Rama
- Laboratory Apoptosis, Cancer and Development, Equipe labellisee 'La Ligue', LabEx DEVweCAN, Institute PLAsCAN, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, INSERM U1052-CNRS UMR5286, Lyon, France
| | | | - Jens Van Herck
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Leuven, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Christine Dubois
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Samuel Scozzaro
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sophie Lemaire
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sarah Gieskes
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Sophie Bonni
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Amandine Collin
- DIAPath, Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Jumet, Belgium
| | - Nicolas Braissand
- NETRIS Pharma, Lyon, France
- Laboratory Apoptosis, Cancer and Development, Equipe labellisee 'La Ligue', LabEx DEVweCAN, Institute PLAsCAN, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, INSERM U1052-CNRS UMR5286, Lyon, France
| | - Justine Allard
- DIAPath, Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Jumet, Belgium
| | - Egor Zindy
- DIAPath, Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Jumet, Belgium
| | - Christine Decaestecker
- DIAPath, Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Jumet, Belgium
- Laboratory of Image Synthesis and Analysis, Ecole Polytechnique-Université libre de Bruxelles (EPB-ULB), Gosselies, Belgium
| | - Christos Sotiriou
- Laboratory of Breast Cancer Translational Research J.-C. Heuson, Institut Jules Bordet, Hôpital Universitaire de Bruxelles (H.U.B), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Isabelle Salmon
- DIAPath, Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Jumet, Belgium
- Centre Universitaire Inter Régional d'Expertise en Anatomie pathologique Hospitalière (CurePath), Brussels, Belgium
- Department of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
| | - Patrick Mehlen
- NETRIS Pharma, Lyon, France.
- Laboratory Apoptosis, Cancer and Development, Equipe labellisee 'La Ligue', LabEx DEVweCAN, Institute PLAsCAN, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, INSERM U1052-CNRS UMR5286, Lyon, France.
| | - Thierry Voet
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Leuven, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- KU Leuven Institute for Single-cell Omics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Agnès Bernet
- NETRIS Pharma, Lyon, France.
- Laboratory Apoptosis, Cancer and Development, Equipe labellisee 'La Ligue', LabEx DEVweCAN, Institute PLAsCAN, Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, INSERM U1052-CNRS UMR5286, Lyon, France.
| | - Cédric Blanpain
- Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium.
- WEL (Wallon ExceLlence) Research Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium.
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