Focal Adhesion Assembly in Myofibroblasts Fosters a Microenvironment that Promotes Tumor Growth

Cells within the tumor microenvironment influence tumor growth through multiple mechanisms. Pericytes such as hepatic stellate cells are an important cell within the tumor microenvironment; their transformation into highly motile myofibroblasts leads to angiogenesis, stromal cell recruitment, matrix deposition, and ensuing tumor growth. Thus, a better understanding of mechanisms that regulate motility of pericytes is required. Focal adhesions (FAs) form a physical link between the extracellular environment and the actin cytoskeleton, a requisite step for cell motility. FAs contain a collection of proteins including the Ena/VASP family member, vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP); however, a role for VASP in FA development has been elusive. Using a comprehensive siRNA knockdown approach and a variety of VASP mutants coupled with complementary cell imaging methodologies, we demonstrate a requirement of VASP for optimal development of FAs and cell spreading in LX2 liver myofibroblasts, which express high levels of endogenous VASP. Rac1, a binding partner of VASP, acts in tandem with VASP to regulate FAs. In vivo, perturbation of Ena/VASP function in tumor myofibroblast precursor cells significantly reduces pericyte recruitment to tumor vasculature, myofibroblastic transformation, tumor angiogenesis, and tumor growth, providing in vivo pathobiologic relevance to these findings. Taken together, our results identify Ena/VASP as a significant modifier of tumor growth through regulation of FA dynamics and ensuing pericyte/myofibroblast function within the tumor microenvironment.Tumor stroma importantly influences tumor growth and progression with pericytes representing an important stromal cell owing to their importance in angiogenesis and their transformation into highly motile tumor myofibroblasts.¹ Focal adhesions (FAs) are specialized structures that connect extracellular environment to actin cytoskeleton thus facilitating the signal transduction and actin remodeling requisite for the process of pericyte migration during angiogenesis.^2,3 Thus, mechanisms that govern FA assembly and pericyte motility may present potential targets for anti-cancer therapy but are not yet fully defined.vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) is a member of the Ena/VASP family of proteins that regulate actin cytoskeleton and cell migration.⁴ It contains distinct subdomains that facilitate specific protein interactions and actin binding characteristics that culminate in an anticapping/branching function within the cytoskeleton.^4,5 Although VASP resides within FAs, its precise role in FA dynamics has not been completely defined, probably due in part to cell-type specific VASP functions.^6–8Because the role of VASP in pericyte function and ensuing effects within the tumor microenvironment remain unexplored, we investigated the role of VASP in FA development in human hepatic stellate cells (HSC), liver pericytes that express a high level of VASP and which on transformation into myofibroblasts, develop a highly motile state that has been postulated to influence tumor growth. Our data reveal a requirement of VASP in FA dynamics and pericyte motility, which requires cooperation of each distinct VASP subdomain. Indeed, overexpression of the EVH2 domain alone results in a dominant negative function that inhibits FA assembly, cell motility, and angiogenesis. We also identify a role of Rac1 as a key binding partner of VASP that promotes its ability to regulate FA and cell motility. Perturbation of Ena/VASP function in tumor myofibroblast precursor cells significantly reduced tumor growth in mice demonstrating an important role for these cell biological mechanisms in microenvironmental regulation of tumor growth. Taken together, our results identify VASP as a regulator of FA development, pericyte motility, and tumor growth and identify several important mechanisms by which this regulation is conferred.