Key Points• ATX stored in a-granules of resting platelets is secreted upon tumor cell-induced aggregation leading to prometastatic LPA production.• Nontumoral ATX promotes early bone colonization by breast cancer cells and contributes to the progression of skeletal metastases.Autotaxin (ATX), through its lysophospholipase D activity controls physiological levels of lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) in blood. ATX is overexpressed in multiple types of cancers, and together with LPA generated during platelet activation promotes skeletal metastasis of breast cancer. However, the pathophysiological sequelae of regulated interactions between circulating LPA, ATX, and platelets remain undefined in cancer. In this study, we show that ATX is stored in a-granules of resting human platelets and released upon tumor cell-induced platelet aggregation, leading to the production of LPA.

LPA (lysophosphatidic acid, 1-acyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphate), is a growth factor-like lipid mediator that regulates many cellular functions, many of which are unique to malignantly transformed cells. The simple chemical structure of LPA and its profound effects in cancer cells has attracted the attention of the cancer therapeutics field and drives the development of therapeutics based on the LPA scaffold. In biological fluids, LPA is generated by ATX (autotaxin), a lysophospholipase D that cleaves the choline/serine headgroup from lysophosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylserine to generate LPA. In the present article, we review some of the key findings that make the ATX–LPA signalling axis an emerging target for cancer therapy.

Autotaxin (ENPP2/ATX) and lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) receptors represent two key players in regulating cancer progression. The present study sought to understand the mechanistic role of LPA G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), not only in the tumor cells but also in stromal cells of the tumor microenvironment. B16F10 melanoma cells predominantly express LPA5 and LPA2 receptors but lack LPA1. LPA dose-dependently inhibited invasion of cells across a Matrigel layer. RNAi-mediated knockdown of LPA5 relieved the inhibitory effect of LPA on invasion without affecting basal invasion. This suggests that LPA5 exerts an anti-invasive action in melanoma cells in response to LPA. In addition, both siRNA-mediated knockdown and pharmacological inhibition of LPA2 reduced the basal rate invasion. Unexpectedly, when probing the role of this GPCR in host tissues, it was found that the incidence of melanoma-derived lung metastasis was greatly reduced in LPA5 knockout (KO) mice compared to wild-type (WT) mice. LPA1- but not LPA2-KO mice also showed diminished melanoma-derived lung metastasis, suggesting that host LPA1 and LPA5 receptors play critical roles in the seeding of metastasis. The decrease in tumor cell residence in the lungs of LPA1- and LPA5-KO animals was apparent 24 h after injection. However, KO of LPA1, LPA2 or LPA5 did not affect the subcutaneous growth of melanoma tumors. Implications These findings suggest that tumor- and stromal-LPA receptors, in particular LPA1 and LPA5, play different roles in invasion and the seeding of metastasis.

Pharmacological mitigation of injuries caused by high-dose ionizing radiation is an unsolved medical problem. A specific nonlipid agonists of the type 2 GPCR for lysophosphatidic acid (LPA2) 2-[4-(1,3-Dioxo-1H,3H-benzoisoquinolin-2-yl)butylsulfamoyl]benzoic acid (DBIBB) when administered with a postirradiation delay up to 72 hours reduced mortality of C57BL/6 mice but not in LPA2 KO mice. DBIBB mitigated the gastrointestinal radiation syndrome, increased intestinal crypt survival and enterocyte proliferation, and reduced apoptosis. DBIBB enhanced DNA repair by augmenting the resolution of γ–H2AX foci, increased clonogenic survival of irradiated IEC-6 cells, attenuated the radiation-induced death of human CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors and enhanced the survival of the granulocyte/macrophage lineage. DBIBB also increased the survival of mice suffering of the hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome after total body irradiation. DBIBB represents the first drug candidate capable of mitigating acute radiation syndrome caused by high-dose γ-radiation to the hematopoietic and gastrointestinal system.

Ovarian cancer presents therapeutic challenges due to its typically late detection, aggressive metastasis, and therapeutic resistance. The transcription factor Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) has been implicated in human cancers as a tumor suppressor or oncogene, although its role depends greatly on the cellular context. The role of KLF4 in ovarian cancer has not been elucidated in mechanistic detail. In this study, we investigated the role of KLF4 in ovarian cancer cells by transducing the ovarian cancer cell lines SKOV3 and OVCAR3 with a doxycycline-inducible KLF4 lentiviral vector. Overexpression of KLF4 reduced cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. The epithelial cell marker gene E-cadherin was significantly upregulated, whereas the mesenchymal cell marker genes vimentin, twist1and snail2 (slug) were downregulated in both KLF4-expressing SKOV3 and OVCAR3 cells. KLF4 inhibited the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ)-induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in ovarian cancer cells. Taken together, our data demonstrate that KLF4 functions as a tumor suppressor gene in ovarian cancer cells by inhibiting TGFβ-induced EMT.