Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) respond robustly to α-chemokine stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1) gradients and blockage of CXCR4, a seven-transmembrane-spanning GαI protein-coupled SDF-1 receptor, mobilizes HSPCs into peripheral blood (PB). While the SDF-1–CXCR4 axis plays an unquestionably important role in the retention of HSPCs in bone marrow (BM), new evidence shows that, in addition to SDF-1, the migration of HSPCs is directed by gradients of the bioactive lipids sphingosine-1 phosphate (S1P) and ceramide 1-phosphate (C1P). Furthermore, the SDF-1 gradient may be positively primed/modulated by cationic peptides (C3a anaphylatoxin and cathelicidin) and, as previously demonstrated, HSPCs respond robustly, even to very low SDF-1 gradients in the presence of priming factors. In this review, we discuss the role of bioactive lipids in stem cell trafficking and the consequences of HSPC priming by cationic peptides. Together, these phenomena support a picture in which the SDF-1–CXCR4 axis modulates homing, BM-retention, and mobilization of HSPCs in a more complex way than previously envisioned.

We observed that sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) and ceramide-1-phosphate (C1P) strongly enhance in vitro motility and adhesion of human rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) cells. This effect was observed at physiological concentrations of both bioactive lipids, which are present in biological fluids, and is much stronger than the effects observed in response to known RMS pro-metastatic factors such as stromal derived factors-1 (SDF-1) or hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF). We also present novel evidence that the levels of S1P and C1P increase in several organs after γ-irradiation or chemotherapy, which indicates induction of an unwanted pro-metastatic environment related to treatment. Most importantly, we found that the metastasis of RMS cells in response to S1P can be effectively inhibited in vivo with the S1P-specific binder NOX-S93 that is based on a high affinity Spiegelmer. We propose that bioactive lipids play a previously underappreciated role in dissemination of RMS and the unwanted side effects of radio/chemotherapy by creating a pro-metastatic microenvironment. Therefore, an anti-metastatic treatment with specific S1P-binding scavenger such as NOX-S93 could become a part of standard radio/chemotherapy.

S100A6 is a member of the S100 subfamily of Ca2+ binding EF-hand proteins that has been shown to interact with calcyclin binding protein/Siah-1 interacting protein (CacyBP/SIP; SIP), a subunit of an SCF-like E3 ligase complex (SCF-TBL1) formed under genotoxic stress. SIP serves as a scaffold in this complex, linking the E2-recruiting module Siah-1 to the substrate-recruiting module Skp1-TBL1. A cell-based functional assay suggests that S100A6 modulates the activity of SCF-TBL1. The results from the cell-based experiments could be enhanced if it were possible to selectively inhibit S100A6-SIP interactions without perturbing any other functions of the two proteins. To this end, the structure of the S100A6-SIP complex was determined in solution by NMR and the strength of the interaction was characterized by isothermal titration calorimetry. In an initial step, the minimal binding region in SIP for S100A6 was mapped to a 31 residue fragment (Ser189-Arg219) in the C-terminal domain. The structure of the S100A6-SIP(189–219) complex revealed that SIP(189–219) forms two helices, the first of which (Met193-Tyr200) interacts with S100A6 in a canonical binding mode. The second helix (Met207-Val216) lies over the S100A6 dimer interface, a mode of binding to S100A6 that has not previously been observed for any target bound to an S100 protein. A series of structure-based SIP mutations showed reduced S100A6 binding affinity, setting the stage for direct functional analysis of S100A6-SIP interactions.

Ceramide-1-phosphate (C1P) is a bioactive lipid that, in contrast to ceramide, is an anti-apoptotic molecule released from cells that are damaged and “leaky”. As reported recently, C1P promotes migration of hematopoietic cells. In the current paper, we tested the hypothesis that C1P released upon tissue damage may play an underappreciated role in chemoattraction of various types of stem cells and endothelial cells involved in tissue/organ regeneration. We show for a first time that C1P is upregulated in damaged tissues and chemoattracts BM-derived multipotent stroma cells (MSCs), endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), and very small embryonic-like stem cells (VSELs). Furthermore, compared to other bioactive lipids, C1P more potently chemoattracted human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and stimulated tube formation by these cells. C1P also promoted in vivo vascularization of Matrigel implants and stimulated secretion of stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1) from BM-derived fibroblasts. Thus, our data demonstrate, for the first time, that C1P is a potent bioactive lipid released from damaged cells that potentially plays an important and novel role in recruitment of stem/progenitor cells to damaged organs and may promote their vascularization.

Hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) reside in the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment and are retained there by the interaction of membrane lipid raft-associated receptors, such as the α-chemokine receptor CXCR4 and the α4β1-integrin (VLA-4, very late antigen 4 receptor) receptor, with their respective specific ligands, stromal-derived factor 1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, expressed in BM stem cell niches. The integrity of the lipid rafts containing these receptors is maintained by the glycolipid glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor (GPI-A). It has been reported that a cleavage fragment of the fifth component of the activated complement cascade, C5a, has an important role in mobilizing HSPCs into the peripheral blood (PB) by (i) inducing degranulation of BM-residing granulocytes and (ii) promoting their egress from the BM into the PB so that they permeabilize the endothelial barrier for subsequent egress of HSPCs. We report here that hematopoietic cell-specific phospholipase C-β2 (PLC-β2) has a crucial role in pharmacological mobilization of HSPCs. On the one hand, when released during degranulation of granulocytes, it digests GPI-A, thereby disrupting membrane lipid rafts and impairing retention of HSPCs in BM niches. On the other hand, it is an intracellular enzyme required for degranulation of granulocytes and their egress from BM. In support of this dual role, we demonstrate that PLC-β2-knockout mice are poor mobilizers and provide, for the first time, evidence for the involvement of this lipolytic enzyme in the mobilization of HSPCs.

There are well-known side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy that are mainly related to the toxicity and impaired function of vital organs; however, the induction by these therapies of expression of several pro-metastatic factors in various tissues and organs that in toto create a pro-metastatic microenvironment is still, surprisingly, not widely acknowledged. In this review, we support the novel concept that toxic damage in various organs leads to upregulation in “bystander” tissues of several factors such as chemokines, growth factors, alarmines, and bioactive phosphosphingolipids, which attract circulating normal stem cells for regeneration but unfortunately also provide chemotactic signals to cancer cells that survived the initial treatment. We propose that this mechanism plays an important role in the metastasis of cancer cells to organs such as bones, lungs, and liver, which are highly susceptible to chemotherapeutic agents as well as ionizing irradiation. This problem indicates the need to develop efficient anti-metastatic drugs that will work in combination with, or follow, standard therapies in order to prevent the possibility of therapy-induced spread of tumor cells.

Bioactive lipids are fundamental mediators of a number of critical biological processes such as inflammation, proliferation, and apoptosis. Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is common in adolescence with histological subtypes that favor metastasis. However, the factors that influence metastasis are not well appreciated. Here, it is shown that lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and its derivative, lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), strongly enhance motility and adhesion of human RMS cells. Importantly, these metastatic-associated phenotypes were observed at physiological concentrations of these lipids which naturally occur in biological fluids. Moreover, the effects of these bioactive lipids were much stronger as compared to known peptide-based pro-metastatic factors in RMS, such as stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1) or hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor (HGF/SF). Finally, both LPC and LPA levels were increased in several organs after g-irradiation or chemotherapy, supporting the hypothesis that radio/chemotherapy induces an unwanted pro-metastatic environment in these organs. Implications LPC and LPA play a previously underappreciated role in dissemination of RMS, and suggest that anti-metastatic treatment with specific molecules blocking LPC/LPA activity should be part of standard radio/chemotherapy arsenal.

BackgroundOne of the challenging problems of current radio-chemotherapy is recurrence and metastasis of cancer cells that survive initial treatment. We propose that one of the unwanted effects of radiochemotherapy is the release from damaged (“leaky”) cells of nucleotides such as ATP and UTP that exert pro-metastatic functions and can directly stimulate chemotaxis of cancer cells.MethodsTo address this problem in a model of human lung cancer (LC), we employed several complementary in vitro and in vivo approaches to demonstrate the role of extracellular nucleotides (EXNs) in LC cell line metastasis and tumor progression. We measured concentrations of EXNs in several organs before and after radiochemotherapy. The purinergic receptor agonists and antagonists, inhibiting all or selected subtypes of receptors, were employed in in vitro and in vivo pro-metastatic assays.ResultsWe found that EXNs accumulate in several organs in response to radiochemotherapy, and RT-PCR analysis revealed that most of the P1 and P2 receptor subtypes are expressed in human LC cells. EXNs were found to induce chemotaxis and adhesion of LC cells, and an autocrine loop was identified that promotes the proliferation of LC cells. Most importantly, metastasis of these cells could be inhibited in immunodeficient mice in the presence of specific small molecule inhibitors of purinergic receptors.ConclusionsBased on this result, EXNs are novel pro-metastatic factors released particularly during radiochemotherapy, and inhibition of their pro-metastatic effects via purinergic signaling could become an important part of anti-metastatic treatment.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12943-015-0469-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.