Summary Mechanotransduction, a key determinant of tissue homeostasis and tumor progression, is driven by intercellular adhesions, cell contractility and forces generated with the microenvironment, dependent on extracellular matrix composition, organization and compliance. Caveolin-1 (Cav1) favors cell elongation in 3D cultures and promotes Rho-and force-dependent contraction, matrix alignment and microenvironment stiffening through regulation of p190RhoGAP. In turn, microenvironment remodeling by Cav1-fibroblasts forces cell elongation. Cav1-deficient mice have disorganized stromal tissue architecture. Stroma associated with human carcinomas and melanoma metastases is enriched in Cav1-expressing carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Cav1 expression in breast CAFs correlates with low survival, and Cav1 depletion in CAFs decreases CAF contractility. Consistently, fibroblast expression of Cav1, through p190RhoGAP regulation, favors directional migration and invasiveness of carcinoma cells in vitro. In vivo, stromal Cav1 remodels peri- and intratumoral microenvironments to facilitate tumor invasion, correlating with increased metastatic potency. Thus, Cav1 modulates tissue responses through force-dependent architectural regulation of the microenvironment.

Macrophage activation comprises a continuum of functional states critically determined by cytokine microenvironment. Activated macrophages have been functionally grouped according to their response to pro-Th1/proinflammatory stimuli [lipopolysaccharide, IFNγ, granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF); M1] or pro-Th2/antiinflammatory stimuli [interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10, M-CSF; M2]. We report that folate receptor β (FRβ), encoded by the FOLR2 gene, is a marker for macrophages generated in the presence of M-CSF (M2), but not GM-CSF (M1), and whose expression correlates with increased folate uptake ability. The acquisition of folate uptake ability by macrophages is promoted by M-CSF, maintained by IL-4, prevented by GM-CSF, and reduced by IFNγ, indicating a link between FRβ expression and M2 polarization. In agreement with in vitro data, FRβ expression is detected in tumor-associated macrophages (TAM), which exhibit an M2-like functional profile and exert potent immunosuppressive functions within the tumor environment. FRβ is expressed, and mediates folate uptake, by CD163 + CD68 + CD14 + IL-10-producing TAM, and its expression is induced by tumorderived ascitic fluid and conditioned medium from fibroblasts and tumor cell lines in an M-CSF-dependent manner. These results establish FRβ as a marker for M2 regulatory macrophage polarization and indicate that folate conjugates of therapeutic drugs are a potential immunotherapy tool to target TAM. [Cancer Res 2009;69(24):9395-403]

Monocytes are versatile cells that can express different functional programs in response to microenvironmental signals. We show that primary blood monocytes secrete the CXCL12 chemokine, and express the CXCR4 and CXCR7 receptors, leading to an autocrine/paracrine loop that contribute to shape monocyte differentiation to a distinct type of macrophages, with an enhanced expression of CD4, CD14, and CD163, or dendritic cells, with a reduced functional ability to stimulate antigen-specific T-lymphocyte responses. The in vivo relevance of CXCL12 production by mononuclear phagocytes was studied in metastatic melanoma tissues by a thoroughly immunofluorescence phenotyping of CXCL12 high expressing cells, which were CD45 ؉ , coexpressed the macrophage antigens CD68, CD163, and CD209 and constituted the 60%-90% of tumor-associated macrophages. Microarray analysis of primary monocytes revealed that the vascular endothelial growth factor and the angiogenic chemokine CCL1 mRNA levels were up-regulated in response to CXCL12, leading to enhanced expression of both proteins. In addition, we found that CXCL12 autocrine/paracrine signaling down-regulates the expression of the transcription factor RUNX3 and contributes to maintain the longterm CD4 and CD14 expression in monocytes/macrophages. Together, these results suggest that autocrine CXCL12 production modulates differentiation of monocytes toward a distinct program with proangiogenic and immunosuppressive functions. (Blood. 2011;117(1): 88-97) IntroductionMonocytes are not fully differentiated cells, derived from the bone marrow, that circulate in blood during 1 to 3 days and enter peripheral tissues to give rise to a heterogeneous lineage of mononuclear phagocytes. Monocytes are highly recruited into foci of active inflammation, but they also enter into healthy tissues as part of the constitutive or steady-state trafficking to become resident tissue macrophages. 1 In response to inflammation or microbial products, such as the pro-Th1 stimuli interferon-␥ and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), blood monocytes differentiate to inflammatory macrophages (M1) and dendritic cells (DCs). In contrast, in response to pro-Th2/anti-inflammatory stimuli , IL-10 and M-CSF) monocytes become anti-inflammatory macrophages (M2). 2 In vitro, human monocytes can differentiate into DCs in response to GM-CSF and IL-4 or into GM-CSFderived macrophages (M1), or M-CSF-driven macrophages (M2). In the tumor microenvironment, incoming monocytes are influenced by tumor-derived growth factors, especially M-CSF, IL-10, IL-6, and transforming growth factor-␤ (TGF-␤), which switch monocyte differentiation toward M2 macrophages rather than M1 or DCs. 3,4 Thus, monocytes are versatile cells that can express different functional programs in response to environmental signals.Blood monocytes are recruited into tissues in response to chemoattractants, most of which belong to the chemokine family. 5 Chemokines are small (8-14 kDa) secreted proteins that regulat...

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL IntroductionB-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is characterized by the accumulation of monoclonal, slow-dividing CD5 ϩ B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. [1][2][3] In most cases, these cells progressively infiltrate the bone marrow and secondary lymphoid tissue, resulting in poor prognosis. 1-3 Extravasation of B-CLL cells and migration through endothelium are mainly directed by 3 chemokines: CCL21, which is expressed in high endothelial venules (HEVs), and CCL19 and CXCL12, which are produced by stromal cells of lymph nodes and bone marrow, respectively. 4,5 The corresponding receptors for these chemokines, CCR7 (for CCL21 and CCL19) and CXCR4 (for CXCL12), are highly expressed in B-CLL with widespread involvement of lymph nodes. 5,6 Other molecules such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and ␣L␤2/␣4␤1 integrins were also recently shown to be involved in B-CLL transendothelial migration in response to chemokines. 7 Moreover, high expression of ␣4␤1 (but not ␣L␤2) correlated with the presence of lymphadenopathy, 7 suggesting an important role for this integrin in B-CLL progression.Transendothelial migration and organ invasion of malignant cells also require proteolytic degradation of the vascular basement membrane and the extracellular matrix of lymphoid tissues. This can be accomplished by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), [8][9][10] in particular the gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9. MMPs also release matrix-bound growth factors that stimulate malignant cell expansion and angiogenesis. 11 Indeed angiogenesis is increased in the bone marrow of B-CLL patients, [12][13][14] and high levels of the angiogenic factors VEGF and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) have been detected in the urine and serum of these patients. 12,15,16 Previous studies have shown that early-stage B-CLL cells produce and secrete MMP-9, which can be detected in the serum of these patients and in B-CLL cell culture supernatants. 17 It was later demonstrated that B-CLL cells constitutively produce MMP-9 in various molecular forms and that elevated levels of intracellular MMP-9 correlate with advanced stage and poor patient survival. 18 Moreover, MMP-9 was highly expressed by B-CLL cells present in the bone marrow (with a diffused pattern) and in lymph nodes, and contributed to B-CLL migration through artificial basement membranes or endothelial cells. 18 The presence of other MMPs in B-CLL cells has not been reported. performed research; R.S. performed the confocal microscopy analyses; M.J.T. contributed with patient samples and data; J.A.G.-M. contributed patient samples and data; and A.G.-P. designed and supervised research and wrote the paper.The online version of this article contains a data supplement.Reprints: Á ngeles García-Pardo, Departamento de Inmunología, Centro de Investigaciones Bioló gicas, CSIC, Ramiro de Maeztu 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain; e-mail: agarciapardo@cib.csic.es.The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. Therefore, an...

Besides its role as a neurotransmitter, serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5HT) regulates inflammation and tissue repair via a set of receptors (5HT1–7) whose pattern of expression varies among cell lineages. Considering the importance of macrophage polarization plasticity for inflammatory responses and tissue repair, we evaluated whether 5HT modulates human macrophage polarization. 5HT inhibited the LPS-induced release of proinflammatory cytokines without affecting IL-10 production, upregulated the expression of M2 polarization–associated genes (SERPINB2, THBS1, STAB1, COL23A1), and reduced the expression of M1-associated genes (INHBA, CCR2, MMP12, SERPINE1, CD1B, ALDH1A2). Whereas only 5HT7 mediated the inhibitory action of 5HT on the release of proinflammatory cytokines, both 5HT2B and 5HT7 receptors mediated the pro-M2 skewing effect of 5HT. In fact, blockade of both receptors during in vitro monocyte-to-macrophage differentiation preferentially modulated the acquisition of M2 polarization markers. 5HT2B was found to be preferentially expressed by anti-inflammatory M2(M-CSF) macrophages and was detected in vivo in liver Kupffer cells and in tumor-associated macrophages. Therefore, 5HT modulates macrophage polarization and contributes to the maintenance of an anti-inflammatory state via 5HT2B and 5HT7, whose identification as functionally relevant markers for anti-inflammatory/homeostatic human M2 macrophages suggests their potential therapeutic value in inflammatory pathologies.

Melanoma cells express the chemokine receptor CXCR4, which confers invasive signals on binding to its ligand CXCL12. We show here that knocking down membrane-type matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) expression translates into a blockade of invasion across reconstituted basement membranes and type I collagen gels in response to CXCL12, which is the result of lack of MMP-2 activation. Interference with MMP-2 expression further confirms its important role during this invasion. Vav proteins are guanine-nucleotide exchange factors for Rho GTPases that regulate actin dynamics and gene expression. We show that melanoma cells express Vav1 and Vav2, which are activated by CXCL12 involving Jak activity. Blocking Vav expression by RNA interference results in impaired activation of Rac and Rho by CXCL12 and in a remarkable inhibition of CXCL12-promoted invasion. Importantly, up-regulation of MT1-MMP expression by CXCL12, a mechanism contributing to melanoma cell invasion, is blocked by knocking down Vav expression or by inhibiting Jak. Together, these data indicate that activation of Jak/Vav/ Rho GTPase pathway by CXCL12 is a key signaling event for MT1-MMP/MMP-2-dependent melanoma cell invasion.

Tumour cell dissemination through corporal fluids (blood, lymph and body cavity fluids) is a distinctive feature of the metastatic process. Tumour cell transition from fluid to adhesive conditions involves an early polarization event and major rearrangements of the submembrane cytoskeleton that remain poorly understood. As regulation of cortical actin-membrane binding might be important in this process, we investigated the role of ezrin and moesin, which are key crosslinking proteins of the ERM (ezrin, radixin, moesin) family. We used short interfering RNA (siRNA) to show that moesin is crucial for invasion by melanoma cells in 3D matrices and in early lung colonization. Using live imaging, we show that following initial adhesion to the endothelium or 3D matrices, moesin is redistributed away from the region of adhesion, thereby generating a polarized cortex: a stable cortical actin dome enriched in moesin and an invasive membrane domain full of blebs. Using Lifeact-GFP, a 17-amino-acid peptide that binds F-actin, we show the initial symmetry breaking of cortical actin cytoskeleton during early attachment of round cells. We also demonstrated that ezrin and moesin are differentially distributed during initial invasion of 3D matrices, and, specifically, that moesin controls adhesion-dependent activation of Rho and subsequent myosin II contractility. Our results reveal that polarized moesin plays a role in orienting Rho activation, myosin II contractility, and cortical actin stability, which is crucial for driving directional vertical migration instead of superficial spreading on the fluid-to-solid tissue interface. We propose that this mechanism of cortical polarization could sustain extravasation of fluid-borne tumour cells during the process of metastasis.

Novel amine- or ammonium-terminated carbosilane dendrimers of type nG-[Si{OCH2(C6H3)-3,5-(OCH2CH2NMe2)2}]x, nG-[Si{O(CH2)2N(Me)(CH2)2NMe2}]x and nG-[Si{(CH2)3NH2}]x or nG-[Si{OCH2(C6H3)-3,5-(OCH2CH2NMe3 +I-)2}]x, nG-[Si{O(CH2)2N(Me)(CH2)2NMe3 +I-}]x, and nG-[Si{(CH2)3NH3 +Cl-}]x have been synthesized and characterized up to the third generation by two strategies: 1) alcoholysis of Si--Cl bonds with amino alcohols and subsequent quaternization with MeI, and 2) hydrosilylation of allylamine with Si--H bonds of the dendritic systems and subsequent quaternization with HCl. Quaternized carbosilane dendrimers are soluble in water, although degradation is apparent due to hydrolysis of Si--O bonds. However, dendrimers containing Si--C bonds are water-stable. The biocompatibility of the second-generation dendrimers in primary cell cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and erythrocytes have been analyzed, and they show good toxicity profiles over extended periods. In addition, we describe a study on the interactions between the different carbosilane dendrimers and DNA oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) and plasmids along with a comparative analysis of their toxicity. They can form complexes with DNA ODNs and plasmids at biocompatible doses via electrostatic interaction. Also a preliminary transfection assay has been accomplished. These results demonstrate that the new ammonium-terminated carbosilane dendrimers are good base molecules to be considered for biomedical applications.