Abstract 3612: Effect of cancer associated fibroblast on gastric cancer cells under hypoxia

Background: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF) have been suggested to be associated with the scirrhous gastric cancer (SGC) progression. SGC have a heterogeneously hypoxic environment which has been currently considered to be associated with aggressive tumor phenotypes cancer. Stromal cell-derived factor (SDF)-1 and C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) form an important chemokine/receptor pair, and are supposed to be up-regulated by hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1). The aim of our study was to clarify the effect of hypoxic environment on the CAF and CXCR4/SDF-1 axis in SGC. Experimental Design: Proliferation of SGC cells grown in monoculture and co-culture with CAF under hypoxia. SGC and CAF expression level of CXCR4 and SDF-1 under hypoxia were examined by RT-PCR and ELISA. Proliferation and migration of SGC cells with SDF-1 or hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) or conditioned medium from CAF under hypoxia, furthermore, added c-Met inhibitor or CXCR4 inhibitor. Results: The proliferation that co-culture of SGC cells with CAF was significantly increased under hypoxia. The expression level of CXCR4 mRNA was significantly increased under hypoxia in all of SGC cells. SDF-1 concentration level was significantly increased under hypoxia. The proliferation of SGC cells with SDF-1 and CAF was significantly increased. The proliferation of SGC cells with CAF was inhibited by CXCR4 inhibitor under hypoxia. The migration of SGC cells with HGF and CAF was significantly increased. The migration of SGC cells with CAF was inhibited by c-Met inhibitor. Conclusion: CAF might up-regulate the proliferation and migration of SGC cells under hypoxia, in comparison with that under normoxia. CXCR4/SDF-1 axis might play an important role for the proliferation of SGC cells under hypoxia. Citation Format: Haruhito Kinoshita, Masakazu Yashiro, Go Masuda, Hiroaki Kasashima, Tamami Morisaki, Tatsunari Fukuoka, Masatune Shibutani, Sadaaki Yamazoe, Katsunobu Sakurai, Hisashi Nagahara, Kenjiro Kimura, Takahiro Toyokawa, Ryosuke Amano, Naoshi Kubo, Hiroaki Tanaka, Kazuya Muguruma, Hiroshi Otani, Kiyoshi Maeda, Masaichi Ohira, Kosei Hirakawa. Effect of cancer associated fibroblast on gastric cancer cells under hypoxia. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3612. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3612