Background
Despite the recent progress in hormone and targeted therapy, breast cancer still remains the second cause of cancer-related death in women. Most of breast cancer death is due to metastasis [
1]. Therefore, it is important to determine how the metastasis process is regulated and to identify potential targets for repressing cancer metastasis. Breast cancers can be classified into luminal (A and B), Her2, and basal-like/triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) based on the expression status of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and Her2/neu [
2].
Increased collagen expression and deposition are associated with cancer progression and poor prognosis in breast cancer patients [
3]. For instance, type I collagen has been identified as a prognosis marker and is associated with cancer recurrence in human breast cancer patients [
4]. Collagen VI knockout mice have reduced primary tumor formation and growth [
5]. Importantly, the transgenic mice with increased collagen deposition in mammary tissue have a three-fold increase in tumor formation. These mice also have three times more lung metastases [
6]. In addition, aligned collagen fibers can facilitate cell migration and metastasis [
7,
8]. These results suggest that increased collagen deposition can transform cells into a malignant phenotype and promote cancer metastasis [
9]. Dense breast is a risk factor for breast cancer [
10], and the increased breast density is due in part to increased deposition of collagen proteins [
11]. In addition, the extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding a breast tumor is more dense or stiff from increased collagen deposition and crosslink [
12]. These researches indicate that increased collagen expression and deposition promotes breast cancer development and progression by enhancing tumor growth and invasion.
The collagen family can be divided into several groups based on the protein structure and localization [
13]. One group of collagen, including collagen XIII, collagen XXIII, and collagen XXV, is a type II transmembrane protein [
14‐
17]. Collagen XIII protein is 90 to 100 kDa and folds in an opposite fashion to the fibrillar collagens. It has a membrane spanning region near the NC1 domain, which results in a large extracellular region with a short intracellular portion [
17]. The function of collagen XIII at the molecular level has largely remained unclear; however, it is thought to have a role in cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions [
18]. The extracellular domain binds integrin [
19], and can be cleaved from the cell resulting in possible paracrine activity in the cellular microenvironment. When the ectodomain is shed, the pericellular surrounding is less supportive of cell adhesion, migration and proliferation [
20]. The function of the short intracellular portion after cleavage is unclear but has been shown to feedback and increase collagen XIII production [
21,
22]. Collagen XIII mRNA has been shown to be expressed in higher levels in epithelial tumors, such as tumors from the colon, cervix, bladder, endometrium and ovary [
23,
24]. Increased collagen XIII protein expression is also detected in invasive foci of bladder cancer [
24,
25]. However, the function of collagen XIII in breast cancer progression has not been determined.
Integrin is one of the cell membrane receptors that mediate the cell-collagen interaction [
26,
27]. Binding of integrin to collagen induces activation of downstream signaling, and subsequently modulates cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and cell migration [
28‐
31]. Expression of β1 integrin is required for the epithelial integrity and plays a crucial role in the proliferation of mammary epithelial cells [
32]. Treatment with a β1 integrin functional blocking antibody can reverse breast cancer cells back to the normal phenotype in 3D culture [
33]. It has been shown in a mouse mammary tumor model that disruption of β1 integrin function inhibits tumor development at the initial stages of mammary tumor formation [
34]. These results suggest that β1 integrin is a key mediator of collagen-induced cancer development and progression.
In this study, we showed that expression of collagen XIII is higher in breast cancer tissue compared with normal mammary gland, and that the increased mRNA level of collagen XIII in cancer tissue is associated with poor prognosis and cancer metastasis. We also demonstrate that collagen XIII expression enhanced cancer stemness and invasive tumor growth through β1 integrin. Importantly, silencing collagen XIII in breast cancer cells significantly reduced cancer metastasis. These results identified a novel function of membrane associated collagen in breast cancer progression.
Methods
Cell lines and culture conditions
MDA-MB-231 (ATCC) were maintained in DMEM/F12 with 10% FBS and 1% Pen/Strep. BT549 (ATCC) cells were maintained in RPMI-1640 with 10% FBS and 1% Pen/Strep. MCF-10A cells were kind gifts from Michael W. Kilgore, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. MCF10A cells were cultured as previously described [
35]. Hs-578 T cells (ATCC) were kept as previously described [
36]. S1 and T4–2 cells are kind gifts from Dr. Mina J Bissell, and they were cultured as previously described [
37]. All the cells were tested for mycoplasma contamination every two months.
Antibodies and reagents
Anti-flag M2 (Sigma, F1804, 1:1000 for WB, 1:500 for IF). Anti-human β1 integrins,active (Millipore, MAB2079Z, 1:500 for IF). Anti-human Collagen XIII α1 (R&D systems, AF6346, 1:200 for WB). Anti-smad2/3 (BD Transduction Laboratories, 610842, 1:1000 for WB). Anti-p-smad2 (cell signaling, 130D4, 1:1000 for WB). Anti-tubulin (Cell Signaling, 2148, 1:5000). Anti-Integrin β1 subunit (AIIB2) (DSHB, 528306, 80 μg/ml for block assay). Anti-rat IgG1 (Santa Cruz Biotechology, sc-3882, 1:1000). Anti-PARP (Cell Signaling, 9542, 1:1000). Bovine Collagen Solution, Type I (Advanced BioMatrix, 5005).
Dual-luciferase reporter assay system (Promega, E1960). Click-It EdU Alexa Fluor 488 Imaging kit (Invitrogen, C10337). Growth Factor Reduced BD Matrigel™ (BD Biosciences, 354230). Annexin V (Thermo, A13201). LentiCRISPR v2 (Addgene, 52961), pCDH-EF1-MCS-T2A-Puro (System Biosciences, CD520A-1), p3TP-lux (Addgene, 306281), pGL4.10 (Addgene, 66128).
Plasmid construction
Mouse Collagen XIII (NM_007731.3) were amplified from constructs pCMV-SPORT6-COL13a1 (Transomic, BC034164), and cloned into pCDH-EF1-MCS-T2A-Puro (System Biosciences, CD520A-1) with the primers of
Forward: 5’ AATTGAATTCGCCACCATGGTGGCGGAGCGCACCCGC 3′;
Reverse: 5’ACTGGCGGCCGCCTTATCGTCGTCATCCTTGTAATCCTGCCCTCCAGGCCTGCTTCT3’.
Human Collagen XIII (NM_001130103.1) was amplified from an expression construct described by Dennis et al. [
38], and cloned into FLAG-tagged pCDH-EF1-MCS-T2A-Puro with the primers of
Forward: 5’AATTGCTAGCGCCACCATGGTAGCGGAGCGCACCCAC 3′;
Reverse: 5’ACTGGAATTCCTTGTTCCAGCAGCCTTGGAC 3′.
3D culture
Three-dimensional (3D) IrECM on-top culture was performed as previous described [
39]. Briefly, Growth Factor Reduced BD Matrigel™ was plated on the bottom of the cell culture dish. MDA-MB-231 and MCF10A cells were seeded on the top of the matrigel layer, and additional medium containing 10% Matrigel was added on the top.
CRISPR-Cas9 deletion of collagen XIII in MDA-MB-231 and T4–2 cells
CRISPR-Cas9 plasmid for collagen XIII (NM_001130103.1) deletion was constructed with gDNA primers: 5’ CACCGCAGCTCGGCCGTCCGAAAGT 3′ (Forward) and 5’AAACACTTTCGGACGGCCGAGCTGC 3′ (Reverse). MDA-MB-231 cells were infected with the lentivirus containing the CRISPR-Cas9 construct, and monoclones were selected and verified by genomic DNA sequencing and western blot. The collagen XIII-knockout luciferase-expressing or GFP-expressing MDA-MB-231 cells were pooled together for the mouse experiments.
Western blot and luciferase reporter assay
Protein samples were harvested by using 2% SDS in PBS with protease inhibitor cocktail and NaF (2.5 mM), NaVO4 (2 mM). SDS gel electrophoresis, immunoblot and a LI-COR Odyssey Infrared Imaging System were employed for detecting the target protein as previously described [
39]. The Image Studio Lite software was used for quantification.
The Dual-luciferase reporter assay was performed as previously described [
40]. Briefly, MDA-MB-231cells or MCF10A cells were seeded into a 24-well plate at the density of 0.1 × 10
6/well. 24 h later the cells will reach 80% confluence. Then 0.5 μg p3TP-lux and 0.025 μg renilla plasmids were transfected into the cells using Fugene HD Transfection Reagent. The cells were starved before 5 ng/ml TGF-β was added. The relative luciferase activity was defined as firefly luciferase activity normalized by renilla luciferase activity. The final results were normalized by the relative luciferase activity of the control vector pGL4.10.
Transwell invasion and single cell migration assay
The Transwell invasion assay was performed as previously described [
41]. As for the single cell migration assay, MCF-10A and MDA-MB-231 cells were seeded into a 4 chamber glass bottom dish (Invitro Scientific, D35C4–20-1-N) at the density of 2000 cell/cm
2. About 4 h after seeding, the single cell migration was monitored by Nikon BioStation (Nikon, IMQ) every 10 min for 10 h [
41]. In some experiments, the cells were pre-incubated with β1 integrin blocking antibody AIIB2 with the final concentration of 80 μg/ml for 30 min, and then the Transwell invasion and single cell migration assay were performed in the presence of the blocking antibody.
Mammosphere/Tumorsphere assay
Cells were seeded in poly-HEMA (12 mg/ml in 95% ethanol) pre-coat regular plastic culture dish [
42] and cultured in tumorsphere medium [DMEM/F12 medium supplemented with B27 (1:50), EGF (20 ng/ml), bFGF (20 ng/ml), insulin (5 μg/ml), hydrocortisone (0.5 ng/ml), Gentamicin (10 μg/ml)] for 5 days without moving or disturbing the plates. The phase images of mammosphere/tumorsphere were taken by Nikon eclipse 80i microscope. Mammosphere or tumorspheres forming efficiency (%) was calculated as follows: (Number of mammosphere or tumorspheres per well / number of cells seeded per well) × 100.
Flow cytometry analysis apoptosis
Poly-HEMA (12 mg/ml in 95% ethanol) pre-coated dishes were used for detachment cell culture [
42]. MCF-10A and MDA-MB-231 cells were cultured in regular media with 0.5% methyl cellulose in suspension at a density of 30,000 cells per cm
2 [
42]. Cells were cultured in suspended condition for 24 h. And then were collected for annexin V analysis as manufacturer’s instructions.
Immunofluorescence staining
For immunofluorescence staining, cells were cultured in a chamber slide (Nalge Nunc International, 154526). The cells were fixed with Methanol/Acetone (1:1) or formalin and permeabilized with 0.5% Triton X-100. The slides were blocked by 10% goat serum at room temperature for 60 min, and incubated with the primary antibodies (anti-flag/anti-active-β1 integrin/anti-caspase 3) at 4 °C overnight. The slides were incubated with secondary antibodies at room temperature for 60 min. Images were taken with Nikon Eclipse 80i fluorescence microscope and Nikon eclipse Ti2 confocal microscope.
Cell proliferation assay
Cell proliferation was performed per the instructions of the Click-It EdU Alexa Fluor 488 Imaging kit and assessed by quantification of the proportion of cells with EdU-positive staining. The number of nuclei positive for EdU was counted and divided by the total number of nuclei (DAPI).
Xenograft experiment and in vivo colonization experiments
For the xenograft experiment, 6-week old female SCID mice were randomly grouped and injected with 2 × 106 control or collagen XIII-silenced MDA-MB-231-luc-D3H2LN cells at 4th mammary fat pad. Tumors were measured with a caliper every other day. Tumor volume (mm3) was estimated using the formula [volume = π × (width)2 × (length) / 6]. Twenty five days after tumor cell implantation, the primary tumors are removed by surgery. To detect lung metastasis, bioluminescent images were taken at 3 weeks after primary tumor removal with in vivo imaging system (IVIS).
For lung colonization experiment, 6-week old female SCID mice were randomly grouped and injected with 0.5 × 106 (in 200 μl PBS) control or collagen XIII-silenced MDA-MB-231-luc-D3H2LN cells via tail vein. To detect lung metastasis, bioluminescent images were taken once a week begining 4 weeks after the injection of cancer cells with IVIS. At the experimental endpoint, lung tissues were harvested and fixed with 4% PFA for paraffin-embedded section. H&E staining was performed in lung tissue sections, and images were taken by a Nikon microscope. Metastasized tumors in the lung were quantified by counting three sections per lung sample. For the intracardiac inoculation experiment, 6-week old female nude mice were randomly grouped. 0.2 × 106 (in 100 μl PBS) control, collagen XIII-silenced MDA-MB-231-luc-D3H2LN cells or collagen XIII-silenced MDA-MB-231-GFP cells were injected into left cardiac ventricle. Bioluminescent images were taken once a week to detect lung and bone metastasis. Illumatool was used to detect GFP labeled cells metastasis.
Statistical analysis
To address the clinical relevance of increased collagen XIII expression, we assessed the association between mRNA levels of Col13A1 and recurrence or distant recurrence free survival using the published microarray dataset generated from 3554 human breast cancer tissue samples [
43] (2014 version). Patients were equally grouped into low and high Col13A1 expression based on the mRNA levels. Significant differences in recurrence or distant recurrence survival time were assessed with the Cox proportional hazard (log-rank) test.
All experiments were conducted by three independent experiments. Data were reported as mean ± s.e.m.. Student’s t-test (two groups) or one-way ANOVA (three or more groups) were used to determine the significant differences between means. Statistical analysis was performed with Graph Pad Prism 5 and IBM SPSS Statistics 22. p < 0.05 represents statistical significance and p < 0.01 represents sufficiently statistical significance. All reported p values were from two-sided tests.
Discussion
Roles of interstitial collagen and BM collagen in mammary tumor development have been determined [
61‐
63]. However, function of membrane-associated collagens in breast cancer is not well studied. We identified increased collagen XIII expression in breast cancer tissue, especially in triple negative breast cancers. Using the orthotopic mammary tumor model and lung colonization assay, we showed for the first time that collagen XIII expression is required for breast cancer cell metastasis. These results identified a novel function of membrane associated collagen in cancer progression.
Stromal cells, such as cancer-associated fibroblasts, are considered the major source of ECM protein in cancer tissue. It has been shown that collagen XIII is highly expressed in fibroblasts and localizes in the focal adhesion [
24]. Interestingly, we found that collagen XIII is expressed in TNBC cell lines and tissues. The metastatic MDA-MB-231 cell line contains the highest level of collagen XIII compared to non-metastatic or non-malignant cell lines. A recent study shows that collagen XIII is expressed in the invasive bladder cancer cell line and the infiltrative bladder cancer tissue. Collagen XIII enhances cancer cell invasion in these cell lines [
25]. We further show that the increased expression of collagen XIII promotes cancer cell migration and invasion through β1 integrin. Collagen I, collagen IV, laminin, and fibronectin are also produced by cancer cells and deposited in cancer tissue [
36,
64‐
66]. These results indicate that cancer cells produce a significant amount of ECM proteins. Importantly, we demonstrate that collagen XIII is crucial for cancer cell stemness and metastasis, which provide additional insights about the cancer cell produced ECM.
Results from lung colonization experiments suggest that collagen XIII expression is crucial for cancer cell survival in circulation and colonization at distant organs. It has been shown that tumor initiating cells are the driver of cancer metastasis and initiate the colonization at distal sites [
67,
68]. Silencing collagen XIII reduced tumorsphere formation in breast cancer cells, suggesting that the collagen XIII expression enhances cancer cell stemness. Cancer cells also need to acquire anoikis resistance to survive in circulation during cancer metastasis. We found that collagen XIII induces anoikis resistance in mammary epithelial cells. These results suggest that collagen XIII derived from cancer cells promotes cancer metastasis by enhancing cancer cell stemness and by inducing anoikis resistance.
Collagen XIII expression is detected in the invasion front of bladder cancer [
24,
25]. Consistent with these results we show that collagen XIII is required for the invasive growth of MDA-MB-231 cells in 3D culture. Therefore, membrane protein collagen XIII may promote cancer cell metastasis at multiple stages, including dissemination from the primary tumor and colonization at the distant organs. Interestingly, collagen XIII is also involved in the inflammatory process and regulation of the immune system. It has been identified as a favorable prognostic factor in B-cell lymphoma [
69]. In addition, mice expressing a mutant collagen XIII develop clonal mature B cell lineage lymphomas [
70]. These results suggest that function of collagen XIII in the development of solid tumors and lymphoma may be different.
We found that collagen XIII expression induced the activation of β1 integrin. Inhibition of β1 integrin activation blocks collagen XIII-induced tumorsphere formation and TGF-β signaling, suggesting that β1 integrin is a crucial downstream target of collagen XIII in promoting cancer progression. It has been shown that integrin α1β1 mediates CHO cell spreading on collagen XIII [
19]. The solid phase assay confirms the binding of europium-labeled αI domains to the collagen XIII. Our co-culture experiments suggest that collagen XIII binds to the integrin on the same cell and enhance cell invasion and tumorsphere formation in the cell-autonomous manner. Discoidin domain receptors (DDRs) are a family membrane proteins that bind to collagen separated from the integrin-β1 pathway [
71,
72]. DDRs are tyrosine kinase receptors that are activated when bound to collagen, subsequently regulating cell proliferation, differentiation, survival, and migration [
73]. Therefore, it is important to investigate if collagen XIII also regulates DDR activation in the future.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the assistance of the following Markey Cancer Center Shared Resource Facilities, all of which are supported by the grant P30 CA177558: the Biospecimen and Tissue Procurement Shared Resource Facility for assistance in tissue fixation and section; the Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Core Facility for performing FACS analysis. The authors also thank the First Hospital of Jilin University support an Overseas Research Plan to H.Z..