Journal of dental hygiene science (치위생과학회지)

The Korean Society of Dental Hygiene Science (한국치위생과학회)
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Cathepsin D Expression in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts: A Preliminary Study

  • Kim, Dokyeong (Precision Medicine Research Center, Department of Biomedicine & Health Sciences, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea) ;
  • Moon, Sook (Department of Dental Hygiene, Daejeon Health Institute of Technology)
  • Received : 2021.10.26
  • Accepted : 2021.11.17
  • Published : 2021.12.31
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Abstract

Background: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are abundant in tumor microenvironments and interact with cancer cells to promote tumor proliferation in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Cathepsin D (CTSD) is a soluble lysosomal aspartic endopeptidase involved in tumor proliferation and angiogenesis. In this preliminary study, we observed CTSD expression in OSCC and CAFs, postulating that CTSD might act as a bridge between OSCC and CAFs. Methods: Human epidermal keratinocytes (HEKs), OSCC, and immortalized human normal oral fibroblasts (hTERT-hNOFs) were used in this study. Additionally, we used hTERT-hNOFs transfected with an empty vector, WT (wild-type)-YAP (Yes-associated protein), and YAPS127A (YAP serine 127 to alanine). YAP127A hTERT-hNOFs activated fibroblasts similar to CAFs. To identify CTSD expression between OSCC and CAFs, conditioned medium (CM) was collected from each cell. Protein expression of CTSD was identified by western blotting. Results: To identify the expression of CTSD in fibroblasts stimulated by OSCC, we treated fibroblasts with CM from HEK and OSCC. Results indicated that hTERT-hNOFs with OSCC CM showed a weakly increased expression of CTSD compared to stimulation by HEK CM. This indicates that CAFs, YAPS127 hTRET-hNOFs, overexpress CTSD protein. HEK cells showed no CTSD expression, regardless of treatment with fibroblast CM, whereas OSCC highly expressed CTSD proteins compared with the CTSD expression in HEK cells. We also found that CTSD expression was unaffected by changes in transforming growth factor-β levels. Conclusion: This study proposes that CTSD might have potential as an interacting executor between OSCC and CAFs. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of CTSD in tumor and stromal cells.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by research fund from Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2021R1I1A1A01045571).

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