Concomitant attenuation of HMGCR expression and activity enhances the growth inhibitory effect of atorvastatin on TGF-β-treated epithelial cancer cells

Abstract Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in primary tumor cells is a key prerequisite for metastasis initiation. Statins, cholesterol-lowering drugs, can delay metastasis formation in vivo and attenuate the growth and proliferation of tumor cells in vitro. The latter effect is stronger in tu...

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Autores principales: Katsuhiko Warita, Takuro Ishikawa, Akihiro Sugiura, Jiro Tashiro, Hiroaki Shimakura, Yoshinao Z. Hosaka, Ken-ichi Ohta, Tomoko Warita, Zoltán N. Oltvai
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/a650d544c42a44f6a90b04ef570211af
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Sumario:Abstract Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in primary tumor cells is a key prerequisite for metastasis initiation. Statins, cholesterol-lowering drugs, can delay metastasis formation in vivo and attenuate the growth and proliferation of tumor cells in vitro. The latter effect is stronger in tumor cells with a mesenchymal-like phenotype than in those with an epithelial one. However, the effect of statins on epithelial cancer cells treated with EMT-inducing growth factors such as transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) remains unclear. Here, we examined the effect of atorvastatin on two epithelial cancer cell lines following TGF-β treatment. Atorvastatin-induced growth inhibition was stronger in TGF-β-treated cells than in cells not thusly treated. Moreover, treatment of cells with atorvastatin prior to TGF-β treatment enhanced this effect, which was further potentiated by the simultaneous reduction in the expression of the statin target enzyme, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR). Dual pharmacological targeting of HMGCR can thus strongly inhibit the growth and proliferation of epithelial cancer cells treated with TGF-β and may also improve statin therapy-mediated attenuation of metastasis formation in vivo.