Combinatorial use of bone morphogenetic protein 6, noggin and SOST significantly predicts cancer progression
CANCER SCIENCE
Authors: Yuen, Hiu-Fung; McCrudden, Cian M.; Grills, Claire; Zhang, Shu-Dong; Huang, Yu-Han; Chan, Ka-Kui; Chan, Yuen-Piu; Wong, Michelle Lok-Yee; Law, Simon; Srivastava, Gopesh; Fennell, Dean A.; Dickson, Glenn; El-Tanani, Mohamed; Chan, Kwok-Wah
Abstract
Emerging evidence has indicated a role of the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) in the pathogenesis of certain cancers. The signaling of BMP family members is tightly regulated by their antagonists, including noggin and SOST, which are, in turn, positively regulated by BMP, thereby forming a negative feedback loop. Consequently, the expression of these antagonists should be taken into account in studies on the prognostic significance of BMP. In the present paper, we correlated protein and mRNA expression levels of BMP6, noggin and SOST, alone or in combination, with patient survival in various types of cancer. We found that BMP6 alone was not significantly correlated with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patient survival. Instead, a high level of inhibitor of differentiation 1, a downstream factor of BMP6, was associated with shorter survival in patients whose tumors stained strongly for BMP6. Knockdown of noggin in esophageal cancer cell line EC109, which expresses BMP6 strongly and SOST weakly, enhanced the non-adherent growth of the cells. Noggin and SOST expression levels, when analyzed alone, were not significantly correlated with patient survival. However, high BMP6 activity, defined by strong BMP6 expression coupled with weak noggin or SOST expression, was significantly associated with shorter survival in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients. We further confirmed that BMP6 activity could be used as a prognostic indicator in prostate, bladder and colorectal cancers, using publicly available data on BMP6, noggin and SOST mRNA expression and patient survival. Our results strongly suggest that BMP6, noggin and SOST could be used in combination as a prognostic indicator in cancer progression. (Cancer Sci 2012; 103: 11451154)
Noggin Resistance Contributes to the Potent Osteogenic Capability of BMP9 in Mesenchymal Stem Cells
JOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC RESEARCH
Authors: Wang, Yi; Hong, Siqi; Li, Ming; Zhang, Jiye; Bi, Yang; He, Yun; Liu, Xing; Nan, Guoxin; Su, Yuxi; Zhu, Gaohui; Li, Ruidong; Zhang, Wenwen; Wang, Jinhua; Zhang, Hongyu; Kong, Yuhan; Shui, Wei; Wu, Ningning; He, Yunfeng; Chen, Xian; Luu, Hue H.; Haydon, Rex C.; Shi, Lewis L.; He, Tong-Chuan; Qin, Jiaqiang
Abstract
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent progenitors and can differentiate into osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic lineages. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) play important roles in stem cell proliferation and differentiation. We recently demonstrated that BMP9 is a potent but less understood osteogenic factor. We previously found that BMP9-induced ectopic bone formation is not inhibited by BMP3. Here, we investigate the effect of BMP antagonist noggin on BMP9-induced osteogenic differentiation. BMP antagonists noggin, chording, gremlin, follistatin, and BMP3 are highly expressed in MSCs, while noggin and follistatin are lowly expressed in more differentiated pre-osteoblast C2C12 cells. BMP9-induced osteogenic markers and matrix mineralization are not inhibited by noggin, while noggin blunts BMP2, BMP4, BMP6, and BMP7-induced osteogenic markers and mineralization. Likewise, ectopic bone formation by MSCs transduced with BMP9, but not the other four BMPs, is resistant to noggin inhibition. BMP9-induced nuclear translocation of Smad1/5/8 is not affected by noggin, while noggin blocks BMP2-induced activation of Smad1/5/8 in MSCs. Noggin fails to inhibit BMP9-induced expression of downstream targets in MSCs. Thus, our results strongly suggest that BMP9 may effectively overcome noggin inhibition, which should at least in part contribute to BMP9's potent osteogenic capability in MSCs. (c) 2013 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 31:1796-1803, 2013