Abstract

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) constitute a major component of inflammatory cells in the glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumor microenvironment. TAMs have been implicated in GBM angiogenesis, invasion, local tumor recurrence, and immunosuppression. Coagulation factor X (FX) is a vitamin K-dependent plasma protein that plays a role in the regulation of blood coagulation. In this study, we first found that FX was highly expressed and positively correlated with TAM density in human GBM. FX exhibited a potent chemotactic capacity to recruit macrophages and promoted macrophages toward M2 subtype polarization, accelerating GBM growth. FX bound to extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK)1/2 and inhibited p-ERK1/2 in GBM cells. FX was secreted in the tumor microenvironment and increased the phosphorylation and activation of ERK1/2 and AKT in macrophages, which may have been responsible for the M2 subtype macrophage polarization. Moreover, although the lncRNA CASC2c has been verified to function as a miR-101 competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to promote miR-101 target genes in GBM cells, we first confirmed that CASC2c did not function as a miR-338-3p ceRNA to promote FX expression, and that FX was a target gene of miR-338-3p. CASC2c interacted with and reciprocally repressed miR-338-3p. Both CASC2c and miR-388-3p bound to FX and commonly inhibited its expression and secretion. CASC2c repressed M2 subtype macrophage polarization. Taken together, our findings revealed a novel mechanism highlighting CASC2c and FX as potential therapeutic targets to improve GBM patients by altering the GBM microenvironment.

Highlights

  • Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common type of primary brain tumor in adults and is associated with poor prognosis [1, 2]

  • We further investigated whether factor X (FX) mediate macrophage polarization through ERK1/2 and AKT. p-extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) and p-AKT were decreased when THP-1 cells were treated with cell culture supernatants from G1124 cells in which FX was knocked down, while when THP-1 cells were treated with cell culture supernatants from U251 cells which FX was overexpressed, p-ERK1/2 and p-AKT were increased (Figure 5G). p-ERK1/2 and p-AKT increased when THP-1 cells were treated with recombinant FX (rFX) protein in a concentration-dependent manner (Figure 5H)

  • Flow cytometry showed that the proportion of cluster of differentiation molecule 11b (CD11b)+Cd80+ M1 macrophages increased and CD11b+CD206+ M2 macrophages decreased when THP-1 treated with supernatants from G1124 cells transfected with CASC2c compared with control vector (Figures 7L,M)

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Summary

Introduction

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common type of primary brain tumor in adults and is associated with poor prognosis [1, 2]. FX Recruited M2 TAMs in GBM grades and poor prognosis in many cancers, including GBM [4]. Abundant macrophages infiltrate GBM and promote tumor progression in multiple aspects. TAMs secrete cytokines, including interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-10 (IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interferon-γ, which have been shown to promote tumor cell growth [5]. TAMs could facilitate angiogenesis by releasing vascular endothelial growth factor-α and associating with adjacent endothelial tip cells, facilitating vascular anastomosis [6]. TAMs secrete various cytokines and chemokines that suppress CD4+ and CD8+ T cell effector function directly or indirectly by recruiting regulatory T cells to the tumor microenvironment [8]

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