Siamack Sabrkhany

Role of the tumor stroma in resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy

Several angiogenesis inhibitors are currently used in the clinic for treatment of cancer. While anti-angiogenesis treatment can improve treatment outcome, the overall benefit on patient survival is still rather limited. This is partially explained by intrinsic or acquired resistance of tumor cells to angiostatic drugs. In addition, it has become evident that extrinsic mechanisms are also involved in resistance to angiostatic therapy. Most of these extrinsic mechanisms reside in the tumor stroma, which is composed of different cell types, including endothelial (progenitor) cells, smooth muscle cells, pericytes, (myo)fibroblasts, immune cells and platelets. In the current review, we describe the role of these stromal cells in the resistance to anti-angiogenic drugs and discuss possible strategies to overcome resistance and enhance the efficacy of angiostatic therapy.

Exploration of the platelet proteome in patients with early-stage cancer

Platelets play an important role in tumor growth and, at the same time, platelet characteristics are affected by cancer presence. Therefore, we investigated whether the platelet proteome harbors differentially expressed proteins associated with early-stage cancer. For this proof-of-concept study, patients with early-stage lung (n = 8) or head of pancreas cancer (n = 4) were included, as were healthy sex- and age-matched controls for both subgroups. Blood samples were collected from controls and from patients before surgery. Furthermore, from six of the patients, a second sample was collected two months after surgery. NanoLC-MS/MS-based proteomics of gel-fractionated platelet proteins was used for comparative spectral count analyses of patients to controls and before to after surgery samples. The total platelet proteome dataset included 4384 unique proteins of which 85 were significantly (criteria Fc > 1.5 and p < 0.05) changed in early-stage cancer compared to controls. In addition, the levels of 81 platelet proteins normalized after tumor resection. When filtering for the most discriminatory proteins, we identified seven promising platelet proteins associated with early-stage cancer. In conclusion, this pioneering study on the platelet proteome in cancer patients clearly identifies platelets as a new source of candidate protein biomarkers of early-stage cancer. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE Currently, most blood-based diagnostics/biomarker research is performed in serum or plasma, while the content of blood cells is usually neglected. It is known that especially blood platelets, which are the main circulating pool of many bioactive proteins, such as growth factors, chemokines, and cytokines, are a potentially rich source of biomarkers. The current study is the first to measure the effect of early-stage cancer on the platelet proteome of patients. Our study demonstrates that the platelet proteome of patients with early-stage lung or head of pancreas cancer differs considerably compared to that of healthy individuals of matched sex and age. In addition, the platelet proteome of cancer patients normalized after surgical resection of the tumor. Exploiting platelet proteome differences linked to both tumor presence and disease status, we were able to demonstrate that the platelet proteome can be mined for potential biomarkers of cancer.

Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Pazopanib Inhibits Platelet Procoagulant Activity in Renal Cell Carcinoma Patients

Pazopanib is an angiostatic tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) presently used for cancer treatment, particularly in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). This treatment can be accompanied by mild bleeding as an adverse effect. Given the role of protein tyrosine kinases in platelet activation processes, we investigated whether and how pazopanib can affect platelet functions in purified systems and during treatment of advanced RCC patients. In isolated platelets from healthy volunteers, pazopanib dose-dependently reduced collagen-induced integrin activation and secretion, as well as platelet aggregation. Pazopanib addition diminished glycoprotein (GP) VI-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation of multiple platelet proteins, including the tyrosine kinase Syk. Furthermore, pazopanib inhibited GPVI-induced Ca2+ elevation, resulting in reduced exposure of the procoagulant phospholipid phosphatidylserine (PS). Upon perfusion of control blood over a collagen surface, pazopanib inhibited thrombus size as well as PS exposure. Blood samples from 10 RCC patients were also analyzed before and after 14 days of pazopanib treatment as monotherapy. This treatment caused an overall lowering in platelet count, with 3 out of 10 patients experiencing mild bleeding. Platelets isolated from pazopanib-treated patients showed a significant lowering of PS exposure upon activation. In addition, platelet procoagulant activity was inhibited in thrombi formed under flow conditions. Control experiments indicated that higher pazopanib concentrations were required to inhibit GPVI-mediated PS exposure in the presence of plasma. Together, these results indicated that pazopanib suppresses GPVI-induced platelet activation responses in a way partly antagonized by the presence of plasma. In treated cancer patients, pazopanib effects were confined to a reduction in GPVI-dependent PS exposure. Together with the reduced platelet count, this may explain the mild bleeding tendency observed in pazopanib-treated patients.

Platelets: the holy grail in cancer blood biomarker research?

We would like to promote the fact that platelets are increasingly emerging as a rich source of potential biomarkers for cancer. Blood platelets contain vast amounts of bioactive proteins, such as growth factors, chemokines, and cytokines. These proteins are either synthesized by the megakaryocytes that produce the platelets or are sequestered by the circulating platelets from the blood, in which case these proteins may originate from the tumor. Recent studies in patients have demonstrated that the presence of cancer influences multiple platelet characteristics (e.g., platelet count, volume, activation status, proteins, and RNA content). Interestingly, these changes happened already in early stages of the disease before metastasis had occurred. Additionally, exploiting these platelet alterations enabled discrimination of patients with early-stage cancer from healthy sex- and age-matched individuals. Therefore, we challenge clinicians and researchers to look beyond traditional fluid sources such as plasma or serum, and to take platelets and their content into account as they may become the holy grail in cancer blood biomarker research.