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Studies have indicated that the aggregation of activated platelets with cancer cells facilitates tumor metastasis; the adhesion molecule P-selectin may be an important mediator of this process, but the detailed mechanism is unclear. In the current study, we established a B16F10 (B16) cell metastatic model in P-selectin knockout (P-sel−/−) mice to determine the effect of P-selectin-mediated platelet adhesion on metastasis. Compared with C57 mice, P-sel−/− mice developed fewer metastatic foci, and cell proliferation within the metastatic tumors was inhibited by P-selectin deficiency. The platelet refusion assay demonstrated that mice with P-sel−/− platelets developed fewer lung metastatic foci (P<0.01) with a lower microvascular density (MVD) than mice with wild-type platelets. A co-culture model of platelets and B16 cells was utilized to determine the difference in VEGF concentration in the supernatants. The results demonstrated that the supernatant from the P-sel−/− platelet/B16 co-culture had a lower concentration of VEGF. Therefore, our findings indicated that P-selectin deficiency inhibited the metastasis of B16 cells and that wild-type platelet refusion reversed this inhibition. The P-selectin-mediated interaction between platelets and B16 cells promoted angiogenesis by up-regulating VEGF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Deletion of 3p is one of the most frequent genetic alterations in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), suggesting the existence of one or more tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) within these regions. In this study, one TSG, CACNA2D3 at 3p21.1, was characterized. Methods: Expression of CACNA2D3 in ESCCs was tested by quantitative real-time PCR and tissue microarray. The mechanism of CACNA2D3 downregulation was investigated by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR). The tumor suppressive function of CACNA2D3 was characterized by both in vitro and in vivo tumorigenic assays, cell migration and invasion assays. Results: CACNA2D3 was frequently downregulated in ESCCs (24/48, 50%), which was significantly associated with promoter methylation and allele loss (P<0.05). Tissue microarray result showed that downregulation of CACNA2D3 was detected in (127/224, 56.7%) ESCCs, which was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.01), TNM staging (P = 0.003) and poor outcome of ESCC patients (P<0.05). Functional studies demonstrated that CACNA2D3 could inhibit tumorigenicity, cell motility and induce apoptosis. Mechanism study found that CACNA2D3 could arrest cell cycle at G1/S checkpoint by increasing expressions of p21 and p53 and decreasing expression of CDK2. In addition, CACNA2D3 could upregulate intracellular free cytosolic Ca2+ and subsequently induce apoptosis. Conclusion: CACNA2D3 is a novel TSG responsible to the 3p21 deletion event and plays a critical suppressing role in the development and progression of ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]