Activin enhances skin tumourigenesis and malignant progression by inducing a pro-tumourigenic immune cell response
Menée à l'aide de souris génétiquement modifiées et sur des échantillons tumoraux humains, cette étude met en évidence le rôle de l'activine, une composante essentielle de la réparation des tissus, dans la tumorigenèse d'un cancer cutané
Activin is an important orchestrator of wound repair, but its potential role in skin carcinogenesis has not been addressed. Here we show using different types of genetically modified mice that enhanced levels of activin in the skin promote skin tumour formation and their malignant progression through induction of a pro-tumourigenic microenvironment. This includes accumulation of tumour-promoting Langerhans cells and regulatory T cells in the epidermis. Furthermore, activin inhibits proliferation of tumour-suppressive epidermal
γδ T cells, resulting in their progressive loss during tumour promotion. An increase in activin expression was also found in human cutaneous basal and squamous cell carcinomas when compared with control tissue. These findings highlight the parallels between wound healing and cancer, and suggest inhibition of activin action as a promising strategy for the treatment of cancers overexpressing this factor.