1. Monocytes as Endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPCs), Another Brick in the Wall to Disentangle Tumor Angiogenesis
- Author
-
Antonio Almeida, Nuno Lopes, Filipa Lopes-Coelho, Sofia A. Pereira, Germana Domingues, Carmo Martins, Sofia Gouveia-Fernandes, Fernanda Silva, Jacinta Serpa, Catarina Brito, Centro de Estudos de Doenças Crónicas (CEDOC), NOVA Medical School|Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (NMS|FCM), and Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier (ITQB)
- Subjects
CD31 ,Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ,endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) ,Angiogenesis ,CD14 ,Context (language use) ,Mice, SCID ,Models, Biological ,Article ,angiogenesis ,SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being ,In vivo ,Cell Line, Tumor ,Neoplasms ,medicine ,Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells ,Animals ,Humans ,cancer ,Progenitor cell ,lcsh:QH301-705.5 ,Aorta ,Endothelial Progenitor Cells ,Tumor microenvironment ,Mice, Inbred BALB C ,Neovascularization, Pathologic ,Chemistry ,Cell Differentiation ,General Medicine ,Tumor Burden ,endothelial cells (ECs) ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,lcsh:Biology (General) ,Cancer research ,cardiovascular system ,Female ,Bone marrow ,Reactive Oxygen Species ,monocytes - Abstract
The project was funded by IPOLFG, EPE, by iNOVA4Health (UID/Multi/04462/2019) a program financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia/Ministério da Educação e Ciência, through national funds and co-funded by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement and by Fundação para a Ciência eTecnologia (PhD student fellowship: PD/BD/128337/2017). Bone marrow contains endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) that, upon pro-angiogenic stimuli, migrate and differentiate into endothelial cells (ECs) and contribute to re-endothelialization and neo-vascularization. There are currently no reliable markers to characterize EPCs, leading to their inaccurate identification. In the past, we showed that, in a panel of tumors, some cells on the vessel wall co-expressed CD14 (monocytic marker) and CD31 (EC marker), indicating a putative differentiation route of monocytes into ECs. Herein, we disclosed monocytes as potential EPCs, using in vitro and in vivo models, and also addressed the cancer context. Monocytes acquired the capacity to express ECs markers and were able to be incorporated into blood vessels, contributing to cancer progression, by being incorporated in tumor neo-vasculature. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) push monocytes to EC differentiation, and this phenotype is reverted by cysteine (a scavenger and precursor of glutathione), which indicates that angiogenesis is controlled by the interplay between the oxidative stress and the scavenging capacity of the tumor microenvironment. publishersversion published
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF