Pancreatic cancer is a highly aggressive
tumor, mostly resistant to the standard treatments.
Nucleolin is overexpressed in
cancers and its inhibition impairs
tumor growth. Herein, we showed that
nucleolin was overexpressed in human specimens of pancreatic ductal
adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and that the overall survival significantly increased in patients with low levels of
nucleolin. The
nucleolin antagonist N6L strongly impaired the growth of primary
tumors and liver
metastasis in an orthotopic mouse model of PDAC (mPDAC). Similar antitumor effect of N6L has been observed in a highly angiogenic mouse model of pancreatic
neuroendocrine tumor RIP-Tag2. N6L significantly inhibited both human and mouse pancreatic cell proliferation and invasion. Notably, the analysis of
tumor vasculature revealed a strong increase of pericyte coverage and vessel perfusion both in mPDAC and RIP-Tag2
tumors, in parallel to an inhibition of tumor hypoxia.
Nucleolin inhibition directly affected endothelial cell (EC) activation and changed a proangiogenic signature. Among the vascular activators,
nucleolin inhibition significantly decreased
angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) secretion and expression in ECs, in the
tumor and in the plasma of mPDAC mice. As a consequence of the observed N6L-induced
tumor vessel normalization, pre-treatment with N6L efficiently improved chemotherapeutic
drug delivery and increased the antitumor properties of
gemcitabine in PDAC mice. In conclusion,
nucleolin inhibition is a new anti-
pancreatic cancer therapeutic strategy that dually blocks
tumor progression and normalizes
tumor vasculature, improving the delivery and efficacy of chemotherapeutic drugs. Moreover, we unveiled Ang-2 as a potential target and suitable response
biomarker for N6L treatment in
pancreatic cancer.
Cancer Res; 76(24); 7181-93. ©2016 AACR.