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Evidence that cervical cancer cells cultured as tumorspheres maintain high CD73 expression and increase their protumor characteristics through TGF‐β production
Author(s) -
GarcíaRocha Rosario,
MonroyGarcía Alberto,
CarreraMartínez Monserrat,
HernándezMontes Jorge,
DonLópez Christian Azucena,
WeissSteider Benny,
MonroyMora Katia Alhelí,
PonceChavero María de los Ángeles,
MontesinosMontesinos Juan José,
EscobarSánchez María Luisa,
Castillo Gabriela Molina,
ChacónSalinas Rommel,
VallejoCastillo Luis,
PérezTapia Sonia Mayra,
MoraGarcía María de Lourdes
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
cell biochemistry and function
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1099-0844
pISSN - 0263-6484
DOI - 10.1002/cbf.3742
Subject(s) - sox2 , vimentin , cancer research , population , transforming growth factor , cancer cell , biology , chemistry , cancer , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , immunohistochemistry , gene , biochemistry , embryonic stem cell , genetics , environmental health
Recently, a link between the biological activity of CD73 and tumorigenicity in solid tumors has been proposed. We previously reported that the generation of adenosine (Ado) by the activity of CD73 in cervical cancer (CC) cells induces transforming growth factor‐beta 1 (TGF‐β1) production to maintain CD73 expression. In the present study, we analyzed the participation of TGF‐β1 in CD73 expression and the development of protumoral characteristics in CaSki CC cells cultured as tumorspheres (CaSki‐T) and in monolayers (CaSki‐M). Compared with those in CaSki‐M cells, CD73 expression and Ado generation ability were significantly increased in CaSki‐T cells. CaSki‐T cells exhibited enrichment in the CSC‐like phenotype due to increases in the expression levels of stem cell markers (CD49f, CK17, and P63; OCT4 and SOX2), greater sphere formation efficiency (SFE), and an increase in the percentage of side population (SP) cells. Interestingly, compared with CaSki‐M cells, CaSki‐T cells produced a greater amount of TGF‐β1 and presented a marked protumor phenotype characterized by a significant decrease in the expression of major histocompatibility complex class‐I (MHC‐I) molecules, an increase in the expression of multidrug resistance protein‐I (MRP‐I) and vimentin, and an increase in the protein expression levels of Snail‐1 and Twist, which was strongly reversed with TGF‐β1 inhibition. These results suggest that the presence of TGF‐β1−CD73–Ado feedback loop can promote protumoral characteristics in the CC tumor microenvironment.