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Adrenomedullin inhibits hypoxic cell death by upregulation of Bcl-2 in endometrial cancer cells: a possible promotion mechanism for tumour growth

Abstract

Regions of hypoxia are a common feature of solid tumours. When tumour cells are exposed to hypoxic stress, transcription of a battery of genes is initiated. The angiogenic factor adrenomedullin (ADM) is a hypoxia regulated gene. ADM is thought to act through the G protein-coupled receptor calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CRLR), with specificity being conferred by the receptor associated modifying protein 2 (RAMP2). Here we report for the first time that ADM treated or stably transfected Ishikawa cells overexpressing ADM show increased resistance to hypoxia induced apoptosis. These cells also show an upregulation of the oncoprotein Bcl-2, which is protective against hypoxic cell death when transiently transfected into Ishikawa cells. Since Ishikawa cells express the putative ADM-receptor CRLR–RAMP2 the production and secretion of ADM with the consecutive upregulation of Bcl-2 could establish an autocrine/paracrine mechanism rescuing malignant cells from hypoxic cell death. These results, taken together with our previous findings that ADM is an angiogenic factor which is upregulated by the nonsteroidal antiestrogen tamoxifen (TAM) in endometrial cells, implicate this peptide as a promoter of tumour growth and a possible target for anticancer strategies.

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Abbreviations

ADM:

adrenomedullin

CRLR:

calcitonin receptor-like receptor

Epo:

erythropoietin

HIF-1:

hypoxia-inducible transcription factor-1

IGFBP-1:

insulin-like growth factor binding protein l

PD-ECFG/TP:

platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor/thymidine phosphorylase

RAMP2:

receptor associated modifying protein

TAM:

tamoxifen

VEGF:

vascular endothelial growth factor.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Drs S Tafuro and M Goern (Institute of Molecular Medicine, Oxford) for their technical expertise and help in FACScan experiments and Helen Turley (Department of Cellular Science, University of Oxford) for help with the immunohistochemistry. Dr MK Oehler was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Oe-230.1-1).

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Oehler, M., Norbury, C., Hague, S. et al. Adrenomedullin inhibits hypoxic cell death by upregulation of Bcl-2 in endometrial cancer cells: a possible promotion mechanism for tumour growth. Oncogene 20, 2937–2945 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1204422

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