Metformin suppresses tumor progression by inactivating stromal fibroblasts in ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer (OC) is a devastating disease due to its high incidence of relapse and chemoresistance. The tumor microenvironment, especially the tumor stroma compartment, was proven to contribute tremendously to the unsatisfactory chemotherapeutic efficacy in OC. Cytotoxic agents not only effect tumor cells, but also modulate the phenotype and characteristics of the vast stromal cell population, which can in turn alter the tumor cell response to chemointervention. In this study, we focused on the tumor stroma response to cytotoxic agents and the subsequent effect on the OC tumor cells. First, we found a significant stromal overexpression of IL6 in patient samples that received cisplatin-based treatment, which was further validated in purified fibroblasts challenged with cisplatin. Stromal fibroblast derived IL6 was proven to mediate OC tumor cell chemoresistance. For the first time we found that the tumor stroma of patients with routine metformin administration exhibited lower IL6 expression. Thus, we presumed that metformin was a potent alleviator of stromal inflammation in OC. We found that metformin partly reversed cisplatin-stimulated IL6 secretion in the stromal fibroblasts and attenuated fibroblast-facilitated tumor growth in 3D organotypic co-cultures and murine xenograft models. Mechanistically, we found that metformin inhibited IL6 secretion via suppressing NF-B signaling, an upstream controller of stromal inflammation. Collectively, our findings introduced a novel mechanism of metformin in suppressing OC progression through diminishing chemotherapy-induced stromal activation. Therefore, we provide an alternative therapeutic option in targeting stromal inflammation and a potential scheme of combination therapy to improve the chemosensitivity in OC.

from #ORL-AlexandrosSfakianakis via ola Kala on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2Dzuq48