Bone is a major metastatic site of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Recently, it is well recognized that bone metastatic tumor cells remodel bone marrow vasculature. However, the precise mechanism underlying cell-cell communication between bone metastatic RCC and the cells in bone marrow remains unknown. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) reportedly play crucial roles in intercellular communication between metastatic tumor cells and bone marrow. Therefore, we conducted the current study to clarify the histological alteration in vascular endothelium in bone marrow induced by EVs secreted from bone metastatic RCC cells as well as association between angiogenesis in bone marrow and bone metastasis formation.
We established a bone metastatic RCC cell line (786-O BM) by in vivo selection and observed phenotypic changes in tissues when EVs were intravenously injected into immunodeficient mice. Proteomic analysis was performed to identify the protein cargo of EVs that could contribute to histological changes in bone. Tissue exudative EVs (Te-EVs) from cancer tissues of patients with bone metastatic RCC (BM-EV) and those with locally advanced disease (LA-EV) were compared for in vitro function and protein cargo.
Treatment of mice with EVs from 786-O BM promoted angiogenesis in the bone marrow in a time-dependent manner and increased the gaps of capillary endothelium. 786-O BM EVs also promoted tube formation
EVs from bone metastatic RCC promote angiogenesis and gap formation in capillary endothelium in bone marrow in a time-dependent manner.