The vasculature is a prominent component of the subventricular zone neural stem cell niche. Although quiescent neural stem cells physically contact blood vessels at specialised endfeet, the significance of this interaction is not understood. In contrast, it is well established that vasculature-secreted soluble factors promote lineage progression of committed progenitors. Here we specifically investigated the role of cell-cell contact-dependent signalling in the vascular niche. Unexpectedly, we find that direct cell-cell interactions with endothelial cells enforces quiescence and promotes stem cell identity. Mechanistically, endothelial ephrinB2 and Jagged1 mediate these effects by suppressing cell-cycle entry downstream of mitogens and inducing stemness genes to jointly inhibit differentiation. In vivo, endothelial-specific ablation of either of the genes which encode these proteins, Efnb2 and Jag1 respectively, aberrantly activates quiescent stem cells, resulting in depletion. Thus, we identify the vasculature as a critical niche compartment for stem cell maintenance, furthering our understanding of how anchorage to the niche maintains stem cells within a pro-differentiative microenvironment.
Glioblastomas (GBM) are aggressive and therapy-resistant brain tumours, which contain a subpopulation of tumour-propagating glioblastoma stem-like cells (GSC) thought to drive progression and recurrence. Diffuse invasion of the brain parenchyma, including along preexisting blood vessels, is a leading cause of therapeutic resistance, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we show that ephrin-B2 mediates GSC perivascular invasion. Intravital imaging, coupled with mechanistic studies in murine GBM models and patient-derived GSC, revealed that endothelial ephrin-B2 compartmentalises non-tumourigenic cells. In contrast, upregulation of the same ephrin-B2 ligand in GSC enabled perivascular migration through homotypic forward signalling. Surprisingly, ephrin-B2 reverse signalling also promoted tumourigenesis cell-autonomously, by mediating anchorage-independent cytokinesis via RhoA. In human GSC-derived orthotopic xenografts, EFNB2 knock-down blocked tumour initiation and treatment of established tumours with ephrin-B2-blocking antibodies suppressed progression. Thus, our results indicate that targeting ephrin-B2 may be an effective strategy for the simultaneous inhibition of invasion and proliferation in GBM.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.14845.001
BackgroundNatural products are well recognized as sources of drugs in several human ailments. In the present work, we carried out a preliminary screening of six natural compounds, xanthone V1 (1); 2-acetylfuro-1,4-naphthoquinone (2); physcion (3); bisvismiaquinone (4); vismiaquinone (5); 1,8-dihydroxy-3-geranyloxy-6-methylanthraquinone (6) against MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic and CCRF-CEM leukemia cells and their multidrug-resistant subline, CEM/ADR5000. Compounds 1 and 2 were then tested in several other cancer cells and their possible mode of action were investigated.Methodology/FindingsThe tested compounds were previously isolated from the Cameroonian medicinal plants Vismia laurentii (1, 3, 4, 5 and 6) and Newbouldia laevis (2). The preliminary cytotoxicity results allowed the selection of xanthone V1 and 2-acetylfuro-1,4-naphthoquinone, which were then tested on a panel of cancer cell lines. The study was also extended to the analysis of cell cycle distribution, apoptosis induction, caspase 3/7 activation and the anti-angiogenic properties of xanthone V1 and 2-acetylfuro-1,4-naphthoquinone. IC50 values around or below 4 µg/ml were obtained on 64.29% and 78.57% of the tested cancer cell lines for xanthone V1 and 2-acetylfuro-1,4-naphthoquinone, respectively. The most sensitive cell lines (IC50<1 µg/ml) were breast MCF-7 (to xanthone V1), cervix HeLa and Caski (to xanthone V1 and 2-acetylfuro-1,4-naphthoquinone), leukemia PF-382 and melanoma colo-38 (to 2-acetylfuro-1,4-naphthoquinone). The two compounds showed respectively, 65.8% and 59.6% inhibition of the growth of blood capillaries on the chorioallantoic membrane of quail eggs in the anti-angiogenic assay. Upon treatment with two fold IC50 and after 72 h, the two compounds induced cell cycle arrest in S-phase, and also significant apoptosis in CCRF-CEM leukemia cells. Caspase 3/7 was activated by xanthone V1.Conclusions/SignificanceThe overall results of the present study provided evidence for the cytotoxicity of compounds xanthone V1 and 2-acetylfuro-1,4-naphthoquinone, and bring supportive data for future investigations that will lead to their use in cancer therapy.
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