Pre-clinical studies provide compelling evidence that Eph family receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and ligands promote cancer growth, neovascularization, invasion, and metastasis. Tumor suppressive roles have also been reported for the receptors, however, creating a potential barrier for clinical application. Determining how these observations relate to clinical outcome is a crucial step for translating the biological and mechanistic data into new molecularly targeted therapies. We investigated eph and ephrin expression in human breast cancer relative to endpoints of overall and/or recurrence-free survival in large microarray datasets. We also investigated protein expression in commercial human breast tissue microarrays (TMA) and Stage I prognostic TMAs linked to recurrence outcome data. We found significant correlations between ephA2, ephA4, ephA7, ephB4, and ephB6 and overall and/or recurrence-free survival in large microarray datasets. Protein expression in TMAs supported these trends. While observed no correlation between ephrin ligand expression and clinical outcome in microarray datasets, ephrin-A1 and EphA2 protein co-expression was significantly associated with recurrence in Stage I prognostic breast cancer TMAs. Our data suggest that several Eph family members are clinically relevant and tractable targets for intervention in human breast cancer. Moreover, profiling Eph receptor expression patterns in the context of relevant ligands and in the context of stage may be valuable in terms of diagnostics and treatment.

Angiogenic remodeling during embryonic development and in adult tissue homeostasis is orchestrated by cooperative signaling between several distinct molecular pathways, which are often exploited by tumors. Indeed, tumors upregulate pro-angiogenic molecules while simultaneously suppressing angiostatic pathways in order to recruit blood vessels for growth, survival, and metastatic spread. Understanding how cancers exploit pro- and anti-angiogenic signals is a key step in developing new, molecularly targeted anti-angiogenic therapies. While EphA2, a receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK), is required for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced angiogenesis, the mechanism through which these pathways intersect remains unclear. Slit2 expression is elevated in EphA2-deficient endothelium, and here it is reported that inhibiting Slit activity rescues VEGF-induced angiogenesis in cell culture and in vivo, as well as VEGF-dependent tumor angiogenesis, in EphA2-deficient endothelial cells and animals. Moreover, blocking Slit activity or Slit2 expression in EphA2-deficient endothelial cells restores VEGF-induced activation of Src and Rac, both of which are required for VEGF-mediated angiogenesis. These data suggest that EphA2 suppression of Slit2 expression and Slit angiostatic activity enables VEGF-induced angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo, providing a plausible mechanism for impaired endothelial responses to VEGF in the absence of EphA2 function.

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The hepatitis B virus core antigen (HBcAg) tolerates insertion of foreign epitopes and maintains its ability to self-assemble into virus-like particles (VLPs). We constructed a ΔHBcAg-based VLP vaccine expressing three predicted severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) B and T cell epitopes and determined its immunogenicity and protective efficacy. The recombinant ΔHBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 protein was expressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and shown to form VLPs. K18-hACE2 transgenic C57BL/6 mice were immunized intramuscularly with ΔHBcAg VLP control (n = 15) or ΔHBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 VLP vaccine (n = 15). One week after the 2nd booster and before virus challenge, five ΔHBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 vaccinated mice were euthanized to evaluate epitope-specific immune responses. There is a statistically significant increase in epitope-specific Immunoglobulin G (IgG) response, and statistically higher interleukin 6 (IL-6) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) expression levels in ΔHBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 VLP-vaccinated mice compared to ΔHBcAg VLP controls. While not statistically significant, the ΔHBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 VLP mice had numerically more memory CD8+ T-cells, and 3/5 mice also had numerically higher levels of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). After challenge with SARS-CoV-2, ΔHBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 immunized mice had numerically lower viral RNA loads in the lung, and slightly higher survival, but the differences are not statistically significant. These results indicate that the ΔHBcAg-SARS-CoV-2 VLP vaccine elicits epitope-specific humoral and cell-mediated immune responses but they were insufficient against SARS-CoV-2 infection.