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Bladder cancer is one of the most common and aggressive cancers and, regardless of the treatment, often recurs and metastasizes. Thus, a better understanding of the mechanisms regulating urothelial tumorigenesis is critical for the design and implementation of rational therapeutic strategies. We previously discovered that the IGF-IR axis is critical for bladder cancer cell motility and invasion, suggesting a possible role in bladder cancer progression. However, IGF-IR depletion in metastatic bladder cancer cells only partially inhibited anchorage-independent growth. Significantly, metastatic bladder cancer cells have decreased IGF-IR levels but overexpressed the insulin receptor isoform A (IR-A), suggesting that the latter may play a more prevalent role than the IGF-IR in bladder tumor progression. The collagen receptor DDR1 cross-talks with both the IGF-IR and IR in breast cancer, and previous data suggest a role of DDR1 in bladder cancer. Here, we show that DDR1 is expressed in invasive and metastatic, but not in papillary, non-invasive bladder cancer cells. DDR1 is phosphorylated upon stimulation with IGF-I, IGF-II, and insulin, co-precipitates with the IGF-IR, and the IR-A and transient DDR1 depletion severely inhibits IGF-I-induced motility. We further demonstrate that DDR1 interacts with Pyk2 and non-muscle myosin IIA in ligands-dependent fashion, suggesting that it may link the IGF-IR and IR-A to the regulation of F-actin cytoskeleton dynamics. Similarly to the IGF-IR, DDR1 is upregulated in bladder cancer tissues compared to healthy tissue controls. Thus, our findings provide the first characterization of the molecular cross-talk between DDR1 and the IGF-I system and could lead to the identification of novel targets for therapeutic intervention in bladder cancer. Moreover, the expression profiles of IGF-IR, IR-A, DDR1, and downstream effectors could serve as a novel biomarker signature with diagnostic and prognostic significance.

The growth factor progranulin has emerged in recent years as a critical regulator of transformation in several cancer models, including breast cancer, glioblastomas, leukemias and hepatocellular carcinomas. Several laboratories, including ours, have also demonstrated an important role of progranulin in several genitourinary cancers, including ovarian, endometrial, cervical, prostate and bladder tumors, where progranulin acts as an autocrine growth factor thereby modulating motility and invasion of transformed cells.In this review we will focus on the mechanisms of action and regulation of progranulin signaling in genitourinary cancers with a special emphasis on prostate and bladder tumors.

The insulin-like growth factor receptor I (IGF-IR) plays an essential role in transformation by promoting cell growth and protecting cancer cells from apoptosis. We have recently demonstrated that the IGF-IR is overexpressed in invasive bladder cancer tissues and promotes motility and invasion of urothelial carcinoma cells. These effects require IGF-I-induced Akt- and MAPK-dependent activation of paxillin. The latter co-localizes with focal adhesion kinases (FAK) at dynamic focal adhesions and is critical for promoting motility of urothelial cancer cells. FAK and its homolog Proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2) modulate paxillin activation; however, their role in regulating IGF-IR-dependent signaling and motility in bladder cancer has not been established. In this study we demonstrate that FAK was not required for IGF-IR-dependent signaling and motility of invasive urothelial carcinoma cells. On the contrary, Pyk2, which was strongly activated by IGF-I, was critical for IGF-IR-dependent motility and invasion and regulated IGF-I-dependent activation of the Akt and MAPK pathways. Using immunofluorescence and AQUA analysis we further discovered that Pyk2 was overexpressed in bladder cancer tissues as compared to normal tissue controls. Significantly, in urothelial carcinoma tissues there was increased Pyk2 localization in the nuclei as compared to normal tissue controls. These results provide the first evidence of a specific Pyk2 activity in regulating IGF-IR-dependent motility and invasion of bladder cancer cells suggesting that Pyk2 and the IGF-IR may play a critical role in the invasive phenotype in urothelial neoplasia. In addition, Pyk2 and the IGF-IR may serve as novel biomarkers with diagnostic and prognostic significance in bladder cancer.

The growth factor progranulin has emerged in recent years as a critical regulator of transformation in several cancer models, including breast cancer, glioblastomas, leukemias, and hepatocellular carcinomas. Several laboratories, including ours, have also demonstrated an important role of progranulin in several genitourinary cancers, including ovarian, endometrial, cervical, prostate, and bladder tumors, where progranulin acts as an autocrine growth factor thereby modulating motility and invasion of transformed cells. In this review, we will focus on the mechanisms of action and regulation of progranulin signaling in genitourinary cancers with a special emphasis on prostate and bladder tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insulin-like growth factor receptor I (IGF-IR) plays an essential role in transformation by promoting cell growth and protecting cancer cells from apoptosis. We have recently demonstrated that the IGF-IR is overexpressed in invasive bladder cancer tissues and promotes motility and invasion of urothelial carcinoma cells. These effects require IGF-I-induced Akt- and MAPK-dependent activation of paxillin. The latter co-localizes with focal adhesion kinases (FAK) at dynamic focal adhesions and is critical for promoting motility of urothelial cancer cells. FAK and its homolog Proline-rich tyrosine kinase 2 (Pyk2) modulate paxillin activation; however, their role in regulating IGF-IR-dependent signaling and motility in bladder cancer has not been established. In this study we demonstrate that FAK was not required for IGF-IR-dependent signaling and motility of invasive urothelial carcinoma cells. On the contrary, Pyk2, which was strongly activated by IGF-I, was critical for IGF-IRdependent motility and invasion and regulated IGF-I-dependent activation of the Akt and MAPK pathways. Using immunofluorescence and AQUA analysis we further discovered that Pyk2 was overexpressed in bladder cancer tissues as compared to normal tissue controls. Significantly, in urothelial carcinoma tissues there was increased Pyk2 localization in the nuclei as compared to normal tissue controls. These results provide the first evidence of a specific Pyk2 activity in regulating IGF-IR-dependent motility and invasion of bladder cancer cells suggesting that Pyk2 and the IGF-IR may play a critical role in the invasive phenotype in urothelial neoplasia. In addition, Pyk2 and the IGF-IR may serve as novel biomarkers with diagnostic and prognostic significance in bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNA 145 (miR145) has been proposed as a tumor suppressor. It was previously shown that miR145 targets the 3′ UTR of the insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) and dramatically inhibits the growth of colon cancer cells. miR145 also targets the type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-IR). We show here that an IRS-1 lacking its 3′ UTR is no longer down-regulated by miR145 and rescues colon cancer cells from miR145-induced inhibition of growth. An IGF-IR resistant to miR145 (again by elimination of its 3′ UTR) is not down-regulated by miR145 but fails to rescue colon cancer cells from growth inhibition. These and other results, taken together, indicate that down-regulation of IRS-1 plays a significant role in the tumor suppressor activity of miR145. J. Cell. Physiol. 220: 485–491, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adiponectin is a protein secreted from adipocytes that exhibits salutary effects in the vascular endothelium by signaling mechanisms that are not well understood. In obesity-related disease states and type 2 diabetes, circulating substances, including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) and high glucose, activate IκB kinase (IKK)β and reduce the abundance of its substrate, inhibitor of κB (IκB)α, leading to nuclear translocation of the transcription factor NF-κB and stimulation of an inflammatory signaling cascade closely associated with endothelial dysfunction. The present study demonstrates that the globular domain of adiponectin (gAd) potently suppresses the activation of IKKβ by either TNFα or high glucose in human umbilical vein endothelial cells and ameliorates the associated loss of IκBα protein. Interestingly, activation of AMP kinase was substantially more effective than cAMP signaling in suppressing high glucose-induced IKKβ activity, whereas both pathways were comparably active in suppressing the TNFα-induced increase in IKKβ. Both cAMP/protein kinase A signaling and activation of the AMP kinase pathway played a role in the suppression by gAd of TNFα- and high glucose-mediated IKKβ activation. These findings support an important role for adiponectin in anti-inflammatory signaling in the endothelium and also imply that multiple pathways are involved in the cellular effects of adiponectin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adiponectin (Ad) elicits salutary vascular signaling effects in endothelial cells. In states of obesity and insulin resistance, increased levels of AngII and TNFα impair endothelial integrity and increase the permeability of the endothelial barrier. Using a permeable filter culture system (Transwell), we monitored TransEndothelial Electrical Resistance (TEER; as ω/cm² membrane surface area) and measured the transmembrane diffusion of albumin (as % of control) to examine the effect of Ad on the permeability of a human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) monolayer after treatment with AngII (100 nM) or TNFα (5 ng/ml) over a time course of 45 min. Prior incubation with the recombinant globular domain of human adiponectin (gAd, 3 µg/ml) for 16 hrs significantly abrogated the effect of both TNFα (-35 vs. -12 ω/cm² at 45 min, p< 0.05) and AngII (-25 vs. -5 ω/cm² at 45 min, p< 0.01) on the measured TEER values. Evaluation of permeability by measurement of the transmonolayer diffusion of albumin also showed that gAd significantly abrogated the increase in albumin diffusion induced by AngII (40% vs. 10% change, p< 0.05) and TNFα (40% vs. 20% change, p< 0.05). The recombinant adiponectin globular domain (gAd) as well as full-length recombinant adiponectin purified from a eukaryotic expression system exhibited similar dose-response curves for suppression of HUVEC monolayer permeability perturbed by AngII. Importantly, the effect of Ad on endothelial monolayer permeability was abrogated by inhibition of adenylyl cyclase with 2',5 '- dideoxyadenosine (ddAdo; 100 µM) or by blocking cAMP-dependent protein kinase with Rp-adenosine 3',5'-cyclic mono-phosphorothioate (10 µM). AngII-induced endothelial hyperpermeability also correlated with increased actin stress fiber development, intercellular gap formation and β-tubulin disassembly 1-hr post-treatment. These alterations in cellular structure were prevented by incubation with Ad for 4 hrs prior to challenge with angII. These results suggest that Ad may protect the endothelial monolayer from the adverse effects of AngII or TNFα by modulating microtubule and cytoskeleton stability via a cAMP/PKA signaling cascade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have recently discovered that the insulin-like growth factor receptor I (IGF-IR) is up-regulated in human invasive bladder cancer and promotes migration and invasion of transformed urothelial cells. The proteoglycan decorin, a key component of the tumor stroma, can positively regulate the IGF-IR system in normal cells. However, there are no available data on the role of decorin in modulating IGF-IR activity in transformed cells or in tumor models. Here we show that the expression of decorin inversely correlated with IGF-IR expression in low and high grade bladder cancers (n = 20 each). Decorin bound with high affinity IGF-IR and IGF-I at distinct sites and negatively regulated IGF-IR activity in urothelial cancer cells. Nanomolar concentrations of decorin promoted down-regulation of IRS-1, one of the critical proteins of the IGF-IR pathway, and attenuated IGF-I-dependent activation of Akt and MAPK. This led to decorin-evoked inhibition of migration and invasion upon IGF-I stimulation. Notably, decorin did not cause down-regulation of the IGF-IR in bladder, breast, and squamous carcinoma cells. This indicates that decorin action on the IGF-IR differs from its known activity on other receptor tyrosine kinases such as the EGF receptor and Met. Our results provide a novel mechanism for decorin in negatively modulating both IGF-I and its receptor. Thus, decorin loss may contribute to increased IGF-IR activity in the progression of bladder cancer and perhaps other forms of cancer where IGF-IR plays a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]