1. Synergic Interactions Between Hepatic Stellate Cells and Uveal Melanoma in Metastatic Growth
- Author
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Solange Landreville, Julie Bérubé, Peter R. A. Gerges, Léo Piquet, Martial Millet, Francois Bordeleau, Louise Dewit, and Nathan Schoonjans
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Cancer Research ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,medicine.medical_treatment ,lcsh:RC254-282 ,Article ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Trichrome ,metastatic uveal melanoma ,medicine ,Trichrome stain ,biology ,business.industry ,histopathological growth patterns ,Melanoma ,medicine.disease ,lcsh:Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology. Including cancer and carcinogens ,fibrogenesis ,quantitative polarization microscopy ,030104 developmental biology ,xenografts ,Oncology ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Hepatic stellate cell ,biology.protein ,Hepatectomy ,Antibody ,hepatic stellate cells ,business ,Immunostaining ,Ex vivo - Abstract
Uveal melanoma (UM) is a malignant intraocular tumor that spreads to the liver in half of the cases. Since hepatic cells could play a role in the therapeutic resistance of metastatic UM, the purpose of our study was to investigate the pro-invasive role of hepatic stellate cells (HSteCs) in metastatic UM at the micro- and macro-metastatic stages. We first performed an immunostaining with the alpha-smooth muscle actin (&alpha, SMA) to localize activated HSteCs in UM liver macro-metastases from four patients. Their accumulation of collagen was assessed with Masson&rsquo, s Trichrome stain. Next, we inoculated metastatic UM cells alone or with human HSteCs in triple-immunodeficient mice, in order to determine if HSteCs are recruited as early as the micro-metastatic stage. The growth of metastatic foci was imaged in the liver by ex vivo fluorescence imaging. Histological analyses were performed with Masson&rsquo, s Trichrome and Picrosirius Red stains, and antibodies against Melan-A and &alpha, SMA. The collagen content was measured in xenografts by quantitative polarization microscopy. In patient hepatectomy samples, activated HSteCs and their pathological matrix were localized surrounding the malignant lesions. In the mouse xenograft model, the number of hepatic metastases was increased when human HSteCs were co-inoculated. Histological analyses revealed a significant recruitment of HSteCs near the micro/macrolesions, and an increase in fibrillar collagen production. Our results show that HSteCs can provide a permissive microenvironment and might increase the therapeutic resistance of metastatic UM.
- Published
- 2019
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