CXCR3 and its ligands CXCL9 and CXCL10 are responsible for the recruitment of immune cells such as T cells and NK cells into tumor tissue. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes are able to recognize and kill malignant cells. At the same time, the expression of CXCR3 on tumor cells such as breast cancer cells is associated with a poor prognosis of the affected patient population. The cause of this, for example, has been described by CXCR3 triggered release of MMPs.
This thesis describes the function of CXCR3 in breast cancer cell lines. For this purpose, the cell lines MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and T47-D were stimulated with the ligands CXCL4, CXCL9 and CXCL10. The activity of various signaling pathways such as ERK and protease expression were measured by Western Blot. For MDA-MB-231 cells an increased expression of cathepsin B could be seen after stimulation with CXCL9 and CXCL10, a proteasis, which was described to increase the metastasis potential of breast cancer. The responsible signaling pathways, ERK, AKT und Src, could be identified while no involvement was observed for p38 activated via CXCR3-B. CXCL4, selective for splice variant CXCR3-B, had no effect on cathepsin B release.
The expression of CXCR3 on breast carcinoma cells could be an immunevasion mechanism as cathepsin B is able to cleave and inactivate CXCL9 and CXCL10. The chemokine gradient is thereby degraded, which could result in decreased tumor infiltration by leukocytes. In addition, this work discusses the ambiguous role of CXCR3 in malignant processes - the increased impression of cathepsin B is mediated by CXCR3-A, while CXCR3-B can trigger tumor suppressive events such as angiostasis.
«
CXCR3 and its ligands CXCL9 and CXCL10 are responsible for the recruitment of immune cells such as T cells and NK cells into tumor tissue. Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes are able to recognize and kill malignant cells. At the same time, the expression of CXCR3 on tumor cells such as breast cancer cells is associated with a poor prognosis of the affected patient population. The cause of this, for example, has been described by CXCR3 triggered release of MMPs.
This thesis describes the function of...
»