Role of BCAM in ovarian cancer metastasis

Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the deadliest gynecological malignancies due to its early and wide-spread peritoneal dissemination, with the omentum being the preferred site of metastasis. The underlying molecular mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Basal cell adhesion molecule (BCAM) is a lam...

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1. Verfasser: Sivakumar, Suresh
Beteiligte: Müller, Rolf (Prof. Dr.) (BetreuerIn (Doktorarbeit))
Format: Dissertation
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Philipps-Universität Marburg 2023
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Zusammenfassung:Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the deadliest gynecological malignancies due to its early and wide-spread peritoneal dissemination, with the omentum being the preferred site of metastasis. The underlying molecular mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Basal cell adhesion molecule (BCAM) is a laminin α5 (LAMA5) binding protein. BCAM is expressed in multiple forms in OC, including the full-length protein (BCAM1), a splicing variant lacking the cytoplasmic domain (BCAM2) and soluble BCAM (sBCAM). Although BCAM is associated with a poor survival of OC, its contribution to peritoneal metastasis remains elusive. In this study, we identified ADAM10 as a major BCAM sheddase produced by OC cells and determined the proteolytic cleavage sites. All BCAM forms interfered with the interaction of LAMA5 with integrin β1 to inhibit the adhesion and migration of tumor cells on a LAMA5-containing matrix, indicating the functionality of both membranebound and soluble BCAM. It is, however, unlikely that this effect of BCAM on adherent tumor cells significantly affects peritoneal dissemination of OC cells, as suggested by several lines of evidence: (i) the known essential function of collagen I (COL1) rather than laminins in the adhesion of OC cells to peritoneal organs; (ii) our observation that BCAM had no detectable effect on COL1-dependent OC cell adhesion; and (iii) the known pivotal role of tumor cell spheroids rather than single cells in metastatic dissemination. We discovered, however, that all forms of BCAM negatively regulate the compactness of LAMA5-rich tumor cell spheroids, thereby promoting their dispersion in a threedimensional collagen matrix, which in turn facilitates the clearance of mesothelial cells and promotes their trans-mesothelial invasion into the omentum. Importantly, we also observed a significant association between BCAM expression and a poor clinical outcome in OC, highlighting the potential translational relevance of these findings. In summary, our study provides new mechanistic insights into the role of BCAM in ovarian cancer progression and highlights its potential as a therapeutic target for peritoneal metastasis.
DOI:10.17192/z2023.0426