title: Association between the expression of chemokine receptors CCR7 and CXCR3, and lymph node metastatic potential in lung adenocarcinoma.
abstract: Chemokines and their receptors are essential for leukocyte trafficking, and are also involved in cancer metastasis to specific organs. Although the migration of tumor cells into the lymph nodes is an important aspect of cancer, the processes involved are poorly understood. Chemokine receptors CCR7 and CXCR3 have been shown to play an important role in tumor cell migration and lymph node metastasis. Therefore, the assessment of chemokine receptor expression on lung adenocarcinomas may improve the prediction of the spread of this carcinoma to the lymph nodes. In this study, we examined the expression and function of these two chemokine receptors (CCR7 and CXCR3) in lung adenocarcinoma. By using flow cytometry, they were detected in all of the lung adenocarcinoma cell lines examined. In the chemotaxis assays, A549 cells exhibited CCL21-induced migration, which was significantly suppressed by neutralizing anti-CCR7 antibody. The CXCL10-induced migration of A549 cells was also significantly suppressed by neutralizing anti-CXCR3 antibody. In clinical lung adenocarcinoma samples, we found the expression of CCR7 and CXCR3 in 65 and 90% cases, respectively, most of which had lymph node metastasis. Importantly, the expression of CCR7 was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis, although the expression of CXCR3 was not. These results suggest that the activation of CCR7 and CXCR3 with their ligands preferentially stimulates lung adenocarcinoma metastasis to the draining lymph nodes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan. nwnkr090@ybb.ne.jp
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maekawa
authors.forename: Akinori
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shirakusa
authors.forename: Takehito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yanagisawa
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Hirotomo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shibaguchi
authors.forename: Testushi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kinugasa
authors.forename: Motomu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuroki
authors.forename: Masahide
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuroki
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000556:secondary; D054421:Chemokine CCL21 / Q000378:metabolism; D002633:Chemotaxis; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D011379:Prognosis; D054400:Receptors, CCR7 / Q000378:metabolism*; D054367:Receptors, CXCR3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: C515370:CCR7 protein, human; C515187:CXCR3 protein, human; D054421:Chemokine CCL21; D054400:Receptors, CCR7; D054367:Receptors, CXCR3