Tumor microenvironment (TME) is an active player in
carcinogenesis and changes in its composition modify
cancer growth.
Carcinoma-associated fibroblasts, bone marrow-derived multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs), and inflammatory cells can all affect the composition of TME leading to changes in proliferation, invasion and
metastasis formation of
carcinoma cells. In this study, we confirmed an interaction between BMMSCs and
oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) cells by analyzing the invasion progression and gene expression pattern. In a 3-dimensional
myoma organotypic invasion model the presence of BMMSCs inhibited the proliferation but increased the invasion of OTSCC cells. Furthermore, the signals originating from OTSCC cells up-regulated the expression of inflammatory
chemokines by BMMSCs, whereas BMMSC products induced the expression of known invasion linked molecules by
carcinoma cells. Particularly, after the cell-cell interactions, the
chemokine CCL5 was abundantly secreted from BMMSCs and a function blocking antibody against CCL5 inhibited BMMSC enhanced
cancer invasion area. However, CCL5 blocking antibody did not inhibit the depth of invasion. Additionally, after exposure to BMMSCs, the expression of
type I collagen mRNA in OTSCC cells was markedly up-regulated. Interestingly, also high expression of
type I collagen N-terminal propeptide (PINP) in vivo correlated with the
cancer-specific mortality of OTSCC patients, whereas there was no association between
cancer tissue CCL5 levels and the clinical parameters. In conclusion, our results suggest that the interaction between BMMSC and
carcinoma cells induce
cytokine and matrix molecule expression, of which high level of
type I collagen production correlates with the prognosis of OTSCC patients.