Abstract
We previously showed that the cell adhesion molecule Nectin- 4 is overexpressed in ovarian cancer tumors, and its cleaved extracellular domain can be detected in the serum of ovarian cancer patients. The ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase) proteases are involved in ectodomain cleavage of transmembrane proteins, and ADAM17 is known to cleave Nectin-4 in breast cancer. However, the mechanism of Nectin-4 cleavage in ovarian cancer has not yet been determined. Analysis of ovarian cancer gene microarray data showed that higher expression of Nectin-4, ADAM10, and ADAM17 is associated with significantly decreased progression-free survival. We quantified Nectin-4 shedding from the surface of ovarian cancer cells after stimulation with lysophosphatidic acid. We report that ADAM17 and ADAM10 cleave Nectin-4 and release soluble Nectin-4 (sN4). Small molecule inhibitors and siRNA knockdown of both ADAM proteases confirmed these results. In matched samples from 11 high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients, we detected 2-20-fold more sN4 in ascites fluid than serum. Co-incubation of ovarian cancer cells with ascites fluid significantly increased sN4 shedding, which could be blocked using a dual inhibitor of ADAM10 and ADAM17. Furthermore, we detected RNA for Nectin-4, ADAM10, and ADAM17 in primary ovarian carcinoma tumors, secondary omental metastases, and ascites cells isolated from serous ovarian cancer patients. In a signaling pathway screen, lysophosphatidic acid increased phosphorylation of AKT, EGF receptor, ERK1/2, JNK1/2/3, and c-Jun. Understanding the function of Nectin-4 shedding in ovarian cancer progression is critical to facilitate its development as both a serum biomarker and a therapeutic target for ovarian cancer.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 6339-6351 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Journal of Biological Chemistry |
| Volume | 292 |
| Issue number | 15 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 14 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by funds from the Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance (to A. P. N. S.), by National Institutes of Health Grant R01 CA203348 (to B. W.), and in part by National Institutes of Health Grant P30 CA77598 for use of the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center's Flow Cytometry Shared Resource. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with the contents of this article. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily
