1. Activation of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor by Kynurenine Impairs Progression and Metastasis of Neuroblastoma
- Author
-
Kuan-Hung Lin, Yu-Tzu Chang, Wei Min Chen, Shiu-Feng Huang, Mati Kargren, Yueh-Chien Lin, Chi-Hao Chang, Hsinyu Lee, I-Shing Yu, Ya-Yun Chan, Tzu-Hsuan Tseng, Yen Lin Liu, Tang-Long Shen, Yung-Feng Liao, Chien-Chin Chen, Yu-Ling Tai, Wen-Ming Hsu, Bo-Jeng Wang, Pei-Yi Wu, and Hsueh Fen Juan
- Subjects
Male ,0301 basic medicine ,Cancer Research ,Cellular differentiation ,Metastasis ,Mice ,Neuroblastoma ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,Cell Movement ,Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors ,Medicine ,Genes, Tumor Suppressor ,Child ,Kynurenine ,Kisspeptins ,Mice, Inbred BALB C ,N-Myc Proto-Oncogene Protein ,biology ,Cell Differentiation ,respiratory system ,Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ,Oncology ,Child, Preschool ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Disease Progression ,Female ,Childhood Neuroblastoma ,Mice, Nude ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cell Line, Tumor ,Animals ,Humans ,Metastasis suppressor ,neoplasms ,Cell Proliferation ,business.industry ,Cell growth ,Gene Amplification ,Infant, Newborn ,Infant ,Aryl hydrocarbon receptor ,medicine.disease ,respiratory tract diseases ,030104 developmental biology ,Receptors, Aryl Hydrocarbon ,chemistry ,biology.protein ,Cancer research ,business - Abstract
Neuroblastoma is the most common malignant disease of infancy, and amplification of the MYCN oncogene is closely associated with poor prognosis. Recently, expression of MYCN was shown to be inversely correlated with aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) expression in neuroblastoma, and overexpression of AHR downregulated MYCN expression, promoting cell differentiation. Therefore, we further investigated the potential of AHR to serve as a prognostic indicator or a therapeutic target in neuroblastoma. First, the clinical significance of AHR in neuroblastoma was examined. Positive AHR immunostaining strongly correlated with differentiated histology of neuroblastoma and predicted better survival for patients. The mouse xenograft model showed that overexpression of AHR significantly suppressed neuroblastoma tumor growth. In addition, activation of AHR by the endogenous ligand kynurenine inhibited cell proliferation and promoted cell differentiation in vitro and in vivo. kynurenine treatment also upregulated the expression of KISS1, a tumor metastasis suppressor, and attenuated metastasis in the xenograft model. Finally, analysis of KISS1 levels in neuroblastoma patient tumors using the R2: Genomics Analysis and Visualization Platform revealed that KISS1 expression positively correlated with AHR, and high KISS1 expression predicted better survival for patients. In conclusion, our results indicate that AHR is a novel prognostic biomarker for neuroblastoma, and that overexpression or activation of AHR offers a new therapeutic possibility for patients with neuroblastoma. Significance: These findings show that AHR may function as a tumor suppressor in childhood neuroblastoma, potentially influencing the aetiologic and therapeutic targeting of the disease.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF