Abstract 2354: Astrocytes activated by tGLI1-expressing breast cancer brain metastases upregulate CNTF to activate astrocytes and promote breast cancer stem cells
Authors: Wong Grace L. , Sirkisoon Sherona R. , Aguayo Noah R. , Doheny Daniel L. , Zhu Dongqin , Regua Angelina T. , Arrigo Austin , Manore Sara G. , Wagner Calvin J. , Thomas Alexandra , Singh Ravi , Xing Fei , Jin Guangxu , Watabe Kounosuke , Lo Hui-Wen 
Published: June 2022

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer, and second most common source of brain metastasis in women. Despite recent advances in detection and therapeutics, patients with breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM) survive only 6-18 months after diagnosis. HER2-enriched breast cancer and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtypes have the highest propensity to metastasize to the brain. Mechanisms that drive BCBM remain unclear, contributing to limited effective treatments and poor prognoses for HER2-enriched breast cancer and TNBC patients. Truncated glioma-associated oncogene homolog 1 (tGLI1), a gain-of-function GLI1 transcription factor discovered in our lab, promotes BCBM of circulating tumor cells in vivo. We previously reported that tGLI1 enriches the breast cancer stem cell (BCSC) subpopulation, and that tGLI1-positive BCSCs strongly activate astrocytes, the most abundant glial cell type in the brain. The mechanisms by which tGLI1-activated astrocytes promote BCBM have not been investigated. Since tumor-associated astrocytes have been reported to secrete specific cytokines, such as ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), to activate astrocytes and cancer cells by binding to IL-6R and CNTF receptor-alpha (CNTFRα), we determined whether astrocytes activated by tGLI1-positive breast cancer cells secrete elevated levels of CNTF. Results of CNTF ELISA revealed that conditioned media from tGLI1-positive breast cancer cells increases the ability of astrocytes to secrete CNTF compared to GLI1-positive or control cells. Furthermore, we found that exogenous CNTF significantly activates astrocytes and promotes BCSCs, important mediators of tumor progression and metastasis in breast cancer. Analysis of patient datasets reveals CNTFRα is more highly expressed in brain metastases compared to breast cancer and normal breast tissues, suggesting that CNTF secreted by activated astrocytes can promote the growth of BCSCs in the brain. We further found that CNTF and CNTFRα gene signatures are significantly associated with worse brain metastasis-free survival, suggesting an important role for the tGLI1-CNTF-CNTFRα pathway in BCBM development. In summary, our study demonstrates for the first time that astrocytes activated by tGLI1-expressing BCBM secrete CNTF, CNTF further activates astrocytes and promotes BCSCs, and that this tumor-astrocyte interaction could be a novel mechanism for BCBM development and progression.

Citation Format: Grace L. Wong, Sherona R. Sirkisoon, Noah R. Aguayo, Daniel L. Doheny, Dongqin Zhu, Angelina T. Regua, Austin Arrigo, Sara G. Manore, Calvin J. Wagner, Alexandra Thomas, Ravi Singh, Fei Xing, Guangxu Jin, Kounosuke Watabe, Hui-Wen Lo. Astrocytes activated by tGLI1-expressing breast cancer brain metastases upregulate CNTF to activate astrocytes and promote breast cancer stem cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2354.