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Background  Hypoxia induced by antiangiogenic agents is linked to the generation of cancer stem cells (CSCs) and treatment failure through unknown mechanisms. The generation of endothelial cell-independent microcirculation in malignant tumors is defined as tumor cell vasculogenic mimicry (VM). In the present study, we analyzed the effects of an antiangiogenic agent on VM in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).    Methods  Microcirculation patterns were detected in patients with TNBC and non-TNBC. Tientsin Albino 2 (TA2) mice engrafted with mouse TNBC cells and nude mice engrafted with human breast cancer cell lines with TNBC or non-TNBC phenotypes were administered sunitinib and analyzed to determine tumor progression, survival, microcirculation, and oxygen concentration. Further, we evaluated the effects of hypoxia induced with CoCl 2  and the expression levels of the transcription factor Twist1, in the presence or absence of a Twist siRNA, on the population of CD133 +  cells and VM in TNBC and non-TNBC cells.    Results  VM was detected in 35.8 and 17.8% of patients with TNBC or with non-TNBC, respectively. The growth of tumors in TNBC and non-TNBC-bearing mice was inhibited by sunitinib. The tumors in TA2 mice engrafted with mouse TNBCs and in mice engrafted a human TNBC cell line (MDA-MB-231) regrew after terminating sunitinib administration. However, this effect was not observed in mice engrafted with a non-TNBC tumor cell line. Tumor metastases in sunitinib-treated TA2 mice was accelerated, and the survival of these mice decreased when sunitinib was withdrawn. VM was the major component of the microcirculation in sunitinib-treated mice with TNBC tumors, and the population of CD133 +  cells increased in hypoxic areas. Hypoxia also induced MDA-MB-231 cells to express Twist1, and CD133 +  cells present in the MDA-MB-231 cell population induced VM after reoxygenation. Moreover, hypoxia did not induce MDA-MB-231 cells transfected with an sh-Twist1 siRNA cell to form VM and generate CD133 +  cells. Conversely, hypoxia induced MCF-7 cells transfected with Twist to form VM and generate CD133 +  cells.    Conclusions  Sunitinib induced hypoxia in TNBCs, and Twist1 expression induced by hypoxia accelerated VM by increasing population of CD133 +  cells. VM was responsible for the regrowth of TNBCs sunitinib administration was terminated.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1476-4598-13-207) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

molecular cancer

Twist1 expression induced by sunitinib accelerates tumor cell vasculogenic mimicry by increasing the population of CD133+ cells in triple-negative breast cancer