HOXB7 Overexpression in Mesenchymal Cells Stimulates the Production of Pro-Angiogenic Molecules: Potential Role in Multiple Myeloma Associated Angiogenesis

Bone marrow (BM) neo-angiogenesis has a critical role in multiple myeloma (MM) progression. It is well established that the angiogenic process in MM is mainly due to an overproduction of pro-angiogenic molecules by MM cells and the BM microenvironment cells. However the molecular mechanisms at the basis of the angiogenic process in MM are currently under investigation. The deregulation of the homeobox genes has been previously associated to tumor progression and neoangiogenesis. Particularly, overexpression of the homeobox HOXB7 is critical in tumor-associated angiogenic switch in solid tumors as breast cancer. Actually the potential role of HOXB7 in MM-induced angiogenesis is not known. In this study we have investigated the expression of HOXB7 by MM and BM microenvironment cells and its potential role in the regulation of the angiogenic process. First, by microarray analysis in a large database of MM patients (n°= 132) we found that HOXB7 was overexpressed by MM cells in about 10% of patients as compared to healthy donors and MGUS subjects. On the other hand HOXB7 mRNA was expressed in 18 out of 23 human myeloma cell lines tested. Moreover, we found that isolated BM mesenchymal (MSC) and osteoblastic (OB) cells, obtained from bone biopsies in a subgroup of MM patients (n°=24) expressed HOXB7 gene by microarray analysis and real time PCR. HOXB7 expression was also investigated at protein level by immunohistochemistry on bone biopsies of MM patients finding that MSC and OB as well as endothelial cells expressed HOXB7 protein mainly at nuclear level. In order to investigate the potential role of HOXB7 in the angiogenic process we enforced HOXB7 expression by lentivirus vectors in MSC using both primary BM MSC and the human MSC cell line HS-5 to obtain a stable transduced cell line. The overexpression of HOXB7 in HOXB7 transduced MSC as compared to the empty vector-transduced MSC cells was confirmed by real time PCR, western blot and immunohistochemistry. By Gene chips U133 plus 2.0 (Affymetrix) we evaluated the gene expression profiling of HOXB7 over-expressing MSC finding that proangiogenic cytokines, metalloproteinases and chemokines were significantly modulated in HOXB7-transduced MSC cells as compared to control cells. Data were validated either by real time PCR or by western blot and by an angiogenesis antibody array showing that bFGF and VEGF production was induced in MSC by HOXB7 overexpression. Consistently, we found that conditioned media of HOXB7-transduced MSC cells significantly stimulated vessel formation as compared to controls using an in vitro angiogenic model. Finally we observed that the angiogenic in vitro differentiation of HOXB7-transduced MSC was significantly increased as compared to controls.

In conclusion our data suggest the HOXB7 overexpression in MSC regulates the angiogenic switch and could be a potential therapeutic target in MM-induced angiogenesis.