Tumor cell-derived angiopoietin-2 promotes metastasis in melanoma

Source: MDLinx, April 2020

Given that the role of the Angiopoietin (Angpt)-TIE signaling pathway is to control vascular maturation as well as to maintain the quiescent phenotype of resting vasculature, and scattered reports have shown tumor cells as a source of ANGPT2, researchers performed in situ hybridization-based detection of ANGPT2 and identified that a subset of melanoma patients exhibited a strong tumor cell expression of ANGPT2. A higher fraction of ANGPT2-expressing tumor cells in metastatic compared with primary sites was found in a comparative study of biopsies. Experts noted that for primary tumor growth, tumor cell-expressed Angpt2 was dispensable, but enhanced intratumoral necrosis was shown, in an in-depth analysis of primary tumors, upon silencing of tumor cell Angpt2 expression in the absence of significant immune and vascular changes. Overall, tumor cell-expressed ANGPT2 was recognized as an autocrine positive regulator of metastatic colonization, as well as validated as a treatment target for a well-defined subset of melanoma patients.

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