Abstract 3664: Hypoxia-induced phenotypic and metabolic changes in Ewing sarcoma cells trigger bone metastasis
Authors: Zhu Shiya , Mahajan Akanksha , Hong Sung-Hyeok , Galli Susana , Lu Congyi , Chen You-Shin , Misiukiewicz Sara , Chung Stacey , Tilan Jason , Kitlinska Joanna B. 
Published: August 2019

Ewing Sarcoma (ES) is an aggressive malignancy that arises in children and young adults. Although the survival for patients with localized tumors is relatively high, the metastatic form carries a dismal prognosis, particularly when bone metastases are present. The frequency of metastases and osseous dissemination increases in patients with necrotic ES tumors. In line with this, hypoxia, the major cause of tumor necrosis, has been shown to increase metastatic potential of ES cells. Previous data from our laboratory demonstrated that in an ES orthotopic xenograft model, primary tumor hypoxia specifically promotes bone metastasis, which is associated with accumulation of cells with enlarged nuclei and frequent chromosome gains in bone invasion areas. We have also shown that the progeny of hypoxia-induced polyploid ES cells (ES≈4n cells) preferentially metastasized to bone. Thus, the goal of our study was to determine the mechanisms enabling osseous dissemination of ES≈4n cells. To this end, we used FUCCI Cell Cycle Sensor followed by DNA staining with Hoechst 33342 and cell sorting to isolate tetraploid cells (4n) from hypoxia-exposed SK-ES1 ES cells. Subsequently, we compared the metastatic properties of their progeny (H-SK-ES1≈4n) with a diploid cell population selected from normoxic SK-ES1 cells (N-SK-ES1-2n cells). We have found that H-SK-ES1≈4n cells have increased motility and invasiveness, as compared to the N-SK-ES1-2n cells. H-SK-ES1≈4n cells had also an increased ability to grow in hypoxia in 2D culture and in soft agar. In line with this, H-SK-ES1≈4n cells were highly sensitive to a glycolysis inhibitor, 2D-glucose, but not an inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation, metformin. Moreover, H-SK-ES1≈4n cells were more sensitive than controls to a growth-inhibitory effect of AICAR, a blocker of anabolic metabolism. In contrary, the tetraploid cell progeny were highly resistant to doxorubicin, particularly under hypoxic conditions, which in contrast sensitized N-SK-ES1-2n and wild type SK-ES1 cells to chemotherapy. Altogether, our data implicate the following mechanisms underlying osseous dissemination of the hypoxia-induced poplyploid cell progeny: 1) increased motility and invasiveness facilitating escape from the primary tumor; 2) ability to survive under low oxygen tension characteristic for bone tissue. Moreover, we have shown that the cells initiating bone dissemination are highly resistant to conventional chemotherapy, while strategies targeting their metabolic dependencies may be more successful in treatment of patients with bone metastases.

Citation Format: Shiya Zhu, Akanksha Mahajan, Sung-Hyeok Hong, Susana Galli, Congyi Lu, You-Shin Chen, Sara Misiukiewicz, Stacey Chung, Jason Tilan, Joanna B. Kitlinska. Hypoxia-induced phenotypic and metabolic changes in Ewing sarcoma cells trigger bone metastasis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3664.