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Apr 2015 Nature communications

Tumour-derived SPARC drives vascular permeability and extravasation through endothelial VCAM1 signalling to promote metastasis.

Authors

Tichet M, Prod'Homme V, Fenouille N, Ambrosetti D, Mallavialle A, Cerezo M, Ohanna M, Audebert S, Giacchero D, Boukari F, Allegra M, Chambard JC, Lacour JP, Michiels JF, Borg JP, Deckert M, Tartare-Deckert S

Summary

Disruption of the endothelial barrier by tumour-derived secreted factors is a critical step in cancer cell extravasation and metastasis. Here, by comparative proteomic analysis of melanoma secretomes, we identify the matricellular protein SPARC as a novel tumour-derived vascular permeability factor. SPARC deficiency abrogates tumour-initiated permeability of lung capillaries and prevents extravasation, whereas SPARC overexpression enhances vascular leakiness, extravasation and lung metastasis. SPARC-induced paracellular permeability is dependent on the endothelial VCAM1 receptor and p38 MAPK signalling. Blocking VCAM1 impedes melanoma-induced endothelial permeability and extravasation. The clinical relevance of our findings is highlighted by high levels of SPARC detected in tumour from human pulmonary melanoma lesions. Our study establishes tumour-produced SPARC and VCAM1 as regulators of cancer extravasation, revealing a novel targetable interaction for prevention of metastasis.

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