Cancer cells increase endothelial cell tube formation and survival by activating the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway.
Angiogenesis is a hallmark of cancer and plays a critical role in lung cancer progression, which involves interactions between cancer cells, endothelial cells and the surrounding microenvironment. However, the gene expression profiles and the changes in the biological phenotype of vascular endothelial cells after interactions with lung cancer cells remain unclear.



An indirect transwell co-culture system was used to survey the interaction between human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human lung adenocarcinoma CL1-5 cells, as well as to investigate the morphological and molecular changes of HUVECs. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in HUVECs after co-culture with cancer cells were identified by microarray. Moreover, a publicly available microarray dataset of 293 non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients was employed to evaluate the prognostic power of the gene signatures derived from HUVECs.



The interaction between HUVECs and lung cancer cells changes the morphology of HUVECs, causing them to have a mesenchymal-like morphology and alter their cytoskeleton organization. Furthermore, after co-culture with lung cancer cells, HUVECs showed increased cell motility and microvessel tube formation ability and a decreased apoptotic percentage. Transcriptomic profiling of HUVECs revealed that many survival-, apoptosis- and angiogenesis-related genes were differentially expressed after interactions with lung cancer cells. Further investigations showed that the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway and COX-2 are involved in endothelial tube formation under the stimulation of lung cancer cells. Moreover, Rac-1 activation might promote endothelial cell motility through the increased formation of lamellipodia and filopodia. The inhibitors of PI3K and COX-2 could reverse the increased tube formation and induce the apoptosis of HUVECs. In addition, the gene signatures derived from the DEGs in HUVECs could predict overall survival and disease-free survival in NSCLC patients and serve as an independent prognostic factor.



In this study, we found that cancer cells can promote endothelial cell tube formation and survival, at least in part, through the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway and thus change the microenvironment to benefit tumour growth. The gene signatures from HUVECs are associated with the clinical outcome of NSCLC patients.
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hao-Wei
HW
Cheng
Graduate Institute of Clinical Dentistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yi-Fang
YF
Chen
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.|Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Jau-Min
JM
Wong
Institute of Biomedical Sciences, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Chia-Wei
CW
Weng
Institute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
Hsuan-Yu
HY
Chen
Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Medical Biotechnology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Sung-Liang
SL
Yu
Graduate Institute of Toxicology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Huei-Wen
HW
Chen
Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. navyyuan@ntu.edu.tw.|Department of Emergency Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. navyyuan@ntu.edu.tw.
Ang
A
Yuan
Institute of Biomedical Sciences, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan. jwchen@dragon.nchu.edu.tw.|Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan. jwchen@dragon.nchu.edu.tw.
Jeremy J W
JJ
Chen
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics*; D000077192:Adenocarcinoma of Lung; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D018920:Coculture Techniques; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D061307:Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment
D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt
Angiogenesis; Apoptosis; Endothelial cell; Lung cancer; PI3K/Akt