@article{746801783d21443b88af9b2c83fce3b1,
title = "Pericyte depletion results in hypoxia-associated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and metastasis mediated by met signaling pathway",
abstract = "The functional role of pericytes in cancer progression remains unknown. Clinical studies suggest that low numbers of vessel-associated pericytes correlated with a drop in overall survival of patients with invasive breast cancer. Using genetic mouse models or pharmacological inhibitors, pericyte depletion suppressed tumor growth but enhanced metastasis. Pericyte depletion was further associated with increased hypoxia, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and Met receptor activation. Silencing of Twist or use of a Met inhibitor suppressed hypoxia and EMT/Met-driven metastasis. In addition, poor pericyte coverage coupled with high Met expression in cancer cells speculates the worst prognosis for patients with invasive breast cancer. Collectively, our study suggests that pericytes within the primary tumor microenvironment likely serve as important gatekeepers against cancer progression and metastasis.",
author = "Cooke, {Vesselina G.} and LeBleu, {Valerie S.} and Doruk Keskin and Zainab Khan and O'Connell, {Joyce T.} and Yingqi Teng and Duncan, {Michael B.} and Liang Xie and Genta Maeda and Sylvia Vong and Hikaru Sugimoto and Rocha, {Rafael M.} and Aline Damascena and Brentani, {Ricardo R.} and Raghu Kalluri",
note = "Funding Information: This work was primarily supported by funds from NIH Grants CA125550, CA155370, CA151925, DK81576, CA163191, and DK55001. R.K. is funded by the Champalimaud metastasis programme and is a Champalimaud investigator. V.G.C. is funded by NRSA F32 Ruth Kirschstein Post-doctoral Fellowship from NIH/NIDDK (5F32DK082119-02). V.S.L. is funded from the NIH Research Training Grant in Gastroenterology (2T32DK007760-11), M.B.D. was funded by the NIH Research Training Grant in Cancer Biology (5T32CA081156-08), a NIH supplemental grant (CA125550) to support diversity, and the United Negro College Fund–Merck Postdoctoral Science Research Fellowship, H.S. is funded by the NIH Research Training Grant in Cardiovascular Medicine (5T32HL007374-30), J.T.O. is funded by the DoD Breast Cancer Research Predoctoral Traineeship Award (W81XWH-09-1-0008). We wish to thank J. Christensen of Pfizer, Inc. for providing us PF2341066. ",
year = "2012",
month = jan,
day = "17",
doi = "10.1016/j.ccr.2011.11.024",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "21",
pages = "66--81",
journal = "Cancer Cell",
issn = "1535-6108",
publisher = "Cell Press",
number = "1",
}
