Background
Salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) mainly occurs in the salivary duct, accounting for 24% of malignant salivary gland tumors. SACC exhibits certain unique characteristics, such as neurotropic, infiltrative growth and distant metastasis [
1-
3]. For SACC patients, distant metastasis is a crucial prognostic factor [
4,
5]. Therefore, determining the mechanisms that govern the perineural invasion and metastasis of SACCs is essential for the development of novel therapeutic strategies to improve patient survival.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs (~22 nucleotides in length) that are endogenously expressed in mammalian cells. miRNAs regulate gene expression by repressing mRNA translation or cleaving target mRNAs. miRNAs may function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors by modulating multiple cellular pathways, including cell proliferation [
6], differentiation [
7,
8], apoptosis [
9,
10], and invasion [
11-
13]. There are significant differences in the miRNA expression profiles of a variety of human cancers, including colon, breast, lung, and stomach cancer, as well as lymphoma and leukemia, compared with the corresponding normal tissues [
6,
7,
14]. Recently, a study found that 19 miRNAs were upregulated and 36 miRNAs were downregulated in primary SACC specimens, compared with matched normal samples [
15]. However, the mechanisms by which miRNAs regulate the biological characteristics of SACC remains unclear.
Integrins are a family of transmembrane receptors that mediate the attachment between a cell and its surroundings, such as other cells or the extracellular matrix (ECM), and play important roles in signal transduction [
16-
19]. Integrins regulate cell proliferation, survival and migration mainly through FAK (focal adhesion kinase) and Src kinase family members [
20,
21]. Functional integrins are heterodimers containing two distinct subunits, α and β. There are 18 α subunits and 8 β subunits found in mammals. Heterodimers formed between different subunits have different structures and functions [
17,
18]. It has been reported in breast, colorectal cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma that dysfunctions in microRNA-regulated integrin signaling were involved in tumor metastasis and apoptosis [
10,
22,
23].
In the present study, we screened for differentially expressed miRNAs in high lung metastatic SACC cells compared with their corresponding low metastatic cells and identified miR-320a as a metastatic repressor. We then explored the mechanism by which miR-320a regulates the invasiveness of SACC cells and the metastasis of SACC xenografts and identified its functional target as integrin beta 3 (ITGB3). Finally, we found significant correlations between miR-320a expression and the clinicopathological status and prognosis of SACC patients in two independent sets. These findings have advanced our knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of SACC metastasis and provided potential markers and therapeutic targets for the diagnosis and treatment of SACC.
Discussion
Dysregulation of miRNAs has been well documented in nearly all types of human malignancies, and numerous miRNAs are involved in tumor formation and progression by regulating the expression and action of many oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. Previously, miR-320a was shown to be downregulated in colon cancer tissues and cancer cell lines, and ectopic expression of miR-320a suppressed the growth of colon cancer cells by directly targeting β-catenin [
24]. In leukemia cells, enforced miR-320a expression suppresses transferrin receptor 1 expression and cell proliferation [
25]. Furthermore, the miR-320a expression levels were significantly decreased in liver metastasis tissues compared with matched primary colorectal cancer tissues [
26]. In our study, CCK8 assays and Annexin V/PI assays demonstrated that miR-320a expression did not influence the proliferation and apoptosis of SACC cells (data not shown).
In vivo experiments also illustrated that miR-320a did not regulate tumor growth in ACC xenografts. However, reduced miR-320a expression is critical for the invasiveness of SACC cells, and ectopic miR-320a expression represses SACC tumor metastasis by silencing
ITGB3. These results indicate that miR-320a primarily regulates the metastasis of SACCs. In addition, our study suggested that miR-320a exerts its anti-metastatic function by targeting
ITGB3, a previously unidentified miR-320a target. This might explain the various functions of miR-320a among different cancer types while also suggesting that distinct features of SACC cells require careful consideration when developing a therapeutic strategy.
Local invasion and distant metastasis are the main causes of death in SACC patients. Therefore, determining the mechanisms that govern the metastasis of SACCs is essential for the development of novel therapeutic strategies to improve patient survival. In the present study, we found that ectopic miR-320a expression represses the invasiveness of SACC cells and the metastasis of SACC xenograft tumors, suggesting that miR-320a may be an effective therapeutic target. In contrast to artificially synthetic siRNAs, microRNAs are endogenous molecules that exist in normal cells, which may minimize their unexpected off-target silencing effects [
27,
28]. In addition, because a microRNA molecule targets a set of coding genes rather than a single gene, therapies based on microRNA interference could enable more potent cancer treatments by targeting multiple molecular pathways.
In routine clinical practice, the TNM staging system is the key prognostic determinant for patients with salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma. However, large variations in the clinical outcomes of patients with the same cancer stage have been reported, suggesting that the present staging system is not adequate for prognosis. Here, we developed a miRNA signature that was predictive of metastasis in SACC patients, independent of TNM stage. TNM staging is performed mainly on the basis of anatomical information; conversely, the miRNA signature could show the biological characteristics of the SACCs. Identifying miRNAs in patients using quantitative RT-PCR might be a straightforward and clinically applicable procedure. Furthermore, microRNAs are relatively stable compared with other biological macromolecules. miRNAs can be well preserved in tissue samples, even after formalin-fixation and paraffin-embedding, and they can be efficiently extracted and evaluated [
29]. Moreover, microRNAs released from tumor cells are protected in membrane-derived exosomes and are thus stable in various bodily fluids, including serum and plasma. Alterations to the microRNA profile in many types of bodily fluids may reflect potential physiological and/or pathological conditions [
30,
31]. All specimens in our study were obtained from patients in China, and additional sets of independent samples from non-Asian patients will be needed to confirm our findings.
Methods
Cell culture
The human salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma cell lines ACC2 and ACCM were purchased from the Type Culture Collection of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai, China). SACC-83 and SACC-LM were purchased from Peking University (Beijing, China). ACCM and SACC-LM are highly metastatic cells derived from lung metastases of ACC2 and SACC-83 xenografts, respectively [
32,
33]. All cells were cultivated in RPMI-1640 medium (Gibco, Rockville, MD) supplemented with 10% FBS (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA).
MiRNA microarray analysis
Microarray analyses were performed in ACC2 and ACCM cells as described previously [
34]. A heat map demonstrating the average levels of microRNAs, which are differentially expressed in ACCM vs. ACC2, was created using DMVS 2.0 software (Chipscreen Biosciences, Shenzhen, China). The differentially expressed microRNAs are listed in Supplementary Table
1.
Transfection
All miRNA mimics and antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) for miRNA were obtained from GenePharma (Shanghai, China). Cells were transfected with 30 nM miRNA mimics or ASOs using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen). The EmGFP-miR-320a plasmid was also obtained from GenePharma, and blasticidin (Sigma, St Louis, MO) was used to select transfected ACCM cells. ITGB3 cDNA carrying a wild-type 3′-UTR or a 3′-UTR containing mutated seed sequence for miR-320a (ITGB3 mut) were cloned into pcDNA 3.1 for “rescue” experiments.
Quantitative RT-PCR
Real-time PCR was performed using a LightCycler 480 (Roche, Basel, Switzerland). Reactions were run in triplicate in three independent experiments. qRT-PCR for miRNA was performed using the Real-time PCR Universal Reagent (GenePharma). U6 was used as an internal control.
Western blot analysis
Protein extracts were resolved via 8% SDS-PAGE, transferred onto polyvinylidene difluoride membranes (BioRad, Berkeley, CA), probed with antibodies against human integrin β3 (Abcam, Cambridge, UK), p-FAK (Y397), FAK, p-Src (Y416), Src (Cell signaling, Boston, MA) or β-actin (Proteintech, Chicago, IL) followed by a peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody (Proteintech), and then visualized by chemiluminescence (ImageQuant RT ECL, GE, Fairfield, CT).
Adhesion assay
Fibronectin-coated 24-well plates (Corning, New York, NY) were seeded with, 1 × 10
4 cells/well and incubated for 15 min, after which the non-adherent cells were washed away and the adherent cells were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, stained with crystal violet and counted (5 random 100× fields per well). Three independent experiments were performed, and the data are presented as the average ± SD [
35].
Transwell assay
A total of 1 × 105 cells were seeded into the upper chamber of a polycarbonate transwell filter chamber (Corning) and incubated for 22 h. For the invasion assays, the upper chamber was coated with Basement Membrane (R&D, Minneapolis, MN). Cells on the lower membrane surface were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde, stained with crystal violet and counted (5 random 100× fields per well). Three independent experiments were performed and the data are presented as the average ± SD.
Luciferase reporter assay
We cloned the miR-320a response element (wild type or mutant) of the 3′-UTR of ITGB3 into the pMIR-REPORT plasmid downstream of the luciferase reporter gene. Luciferase activity was assayed using a luciferase assay kit (Promega, Madison, WI), and the target effect was expressed as the relative luciferase activity of the reporter vector with the target sequence over that of the vector without the target sequence.
Immunofluorescence staining
Cells were stained for immunofluorescence on coverslips. After fixation and permeabilization, the cells were incubated with primary antibodies against integrin β3 or FITC-phalloidin (Sigma) and then incubated with Alex 555-conjugated secondary antibodies (Invitrogen). The coverslips were counterstained with DAPI and imaged under a TCS SP5 confocal microscope (Leica, Solms, Germany).
Tumor xenografts
A total of 5 × 106 ACC2 or ACCM cells, either untransduced or transduced with the miRNA-expressing vector EmGFP-miR-320a, were injected into the salivary site of 5-week-old BALB/c-nu mice. After tumors were detected, the tumor size was measured and calculated: Volume (mm3) = length × width2 × 0.5. Tumor xenografts, as well as whole lung and liver tissues, were then harvested, weighed and snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen. To evaluate in vivo metastasis, fluorescence images of whole mice or their lungs and livers were acquired using an IVIS Lumina Imaging System (Xenogen, Alameda, CA), and portions of the lung and liver tissues were used for qRT-PCR for hHPRT (human hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase) expression. Cryosections (4 μm) were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) and used for immunohistochemistry. The procedures were approved by Sun Yat-sen University Animal Care and Use Committee.
Patients and tissue samples
Two independent retrospective SACC patient cohorts were studied, including 302 patients from the affiliated hospitals of Sun Yat-sen University, such as Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital and the Hospital of Stomatology (Guangzhou, China), and 148 patients from the affiliated hospitals of Central South University, such as Xiangya Stomatological Hospital, the Second Xiangya Hospital (Changsha, China) between Jan 1, 1999, and Dec 31, 2008. None of the patients received any chemotherapy or radiotherapy prior to surgery. The tumors were staged according to the TNM staging system. The tissues were obtained from the respective pathology departments, and histological diagnosis and scoring of all the cases were performed by two independent pathologists (Yanyang Chen and Yang Li). Survival time was calculated from the date of surgery to the date of death or to the last follow-up. The date of death was obtained from patient records or through follow-up telephone calls. This study was approved by the institutional ethical review boards of both hospitals, and written informed consent was obtained from all patients.
In situ hybridization
This assay was performed according to the manufacturer’s protocol (Exiqon, Vedbaek, Denmark). Briefly, after demasking, microRNA was hybridized to 5′-DIG-labeled LNA™ probes. Then, the digoxigenin was recognized by a specific anti-DIG antibody that is directly conjugated to alkaline phosphatase. The nuclei were counterstained with hematoxylin.
Immunohistochemistry
For immunohistochemistry [
36], the samples were incubated with an integrin β3 antibody at 4°C overnight. The sections were then treated with a secondary antibody, followed by further incubation with a streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase complex. Diaminobenzidine (Dako, Carpinteria, CA) was used as a chromogen, and the nuclei were counterstained with hematoxylin.
Scoring of ISH and IHC
In each section, 5 fields of 200 tumor cells were counted randomly, and the scores for miR-320a and integrin β3 were determined by combining the proportion of positively stained tumor cells and the intensity of staining. The proportion of positively stained tumor cells was graded from 0 to 3 (0, <5% positive cells; 1, 5-25%; 2, 26-50%; 3, >50%). The intensity of staining was recorded on a scale of 0 (no staining), 1 (weak staining, light blue or yellow), 2 (moderate staining, blue or yellow), and 3 (strong staining, dark blue or yellow). For tumors that showed heterogeneous staining, the predominant pattern was taken into account for scoring. The staining index (SI) was calculated as follows: staining index = proportion of positively stained tumor cells × staining intensity. Using this method, the expression of miR-320a and integrin β3 was evaluated by the SI and scored as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, or 9. A composite score greater than the median value was considered to be high expression, and composite scores less than or equal to the median value were considered to be low expression.
Statistical analysis
All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 17.0 software for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). The Chi-squared test was used to analyze the relationship between miR-320a or integrin β3 expression and clinicopathologic characteristics. To measure the association between pairs of variables, Spearman order correlations were run. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were plotted, and the log-rank test was performed. The significance of various variables for lung metastasis was analyzed by the Cox proportional hazards model in a multivariate analysis. All experiments with cell cultures were performed at least in triplicate. The results are expressed as the mean ± SD. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (81272951 and 81072225 to J.L., 81272894, 81230060, 81261140373 to E.S., 81302369 to L.S.), by Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20110171110068 to J.L.), by Science and Technology Project of Guangzhou City (11C22060035 to J.L.), by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (13ykpy27 to L.S.), by Fund for Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of Guangdong Province (81000–3212502 to L.S), by Grant KLB09001 from the Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Gene Regulation and Target Therapy of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, Sun Yat-Sen University, by Grant [2013] 163 from Key Laboratory of Malignant Tumor Molecular Mechanism and Translational Medicine of Guangzhou Bureau of Science and Information Technology.
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Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors’ contributions
LS and BL carried out the experiments, participated in the design of study, the analysis of the data, and drafted the manuscript. ZL and YY carried out the experiments, and analyzed the data. YC, YL, JC, ZT, BW and YL helped in acquisition of data. DY, SZ, SF and YW provided technical and material support. ES and JL conceived the study, participated in its design and coordination, and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.