Breast cancer cells induce stromal fibroblasts to express MMP-9 via secretion of TNF-alpha and TGF-beta.

We used 2D-cocultures employing fibroblasts of different genetic backgrounds and MCF10A-derived human breast epithelial cells of increasingly malignant potential to investigate tumor-stroma interactions in breast cancer and to identify possible signaling pathways involved. Tumor cells induced expression of matrix-metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) in fibroblasts in a pattern dependent on the degree of their malignancy. In-situ zymography localized the main gelatinolytic activity around stromal cells in cocultures and xenografted tumors. Use of Smad3 knockout fibroblasts, small molecule inhibitors, and neutralizing antibodies showed that MMP-9 expression was induced by tumor cell-derived TNF-alpha and TGF-beta, dependent on Smad-, Ras-, and PI3-kinase-signaling, and likewise modulated by subsequent HGF- and EGF-signaling. Together, our results indicate that MMP-9 levels in tumor fibroblasts are regulated by a complex tumor-stroma cross-talk, involving multiple ligands and cellular signaling pathways.