arrow
Return

Hypoxia Remodels the Extracellular Vesicle Proteome to Drive Metastasis in Breast Cancer via Metabolic–Epigenetic Coupling

delete2026-06-24
delete0
PRE
AI
V
Vaidehi Bhavsar
A
Ashish Sahu
A
Akhil Karandikar
R
Ravindra Taware *
DOI:10.1021/acs.jproteome.6c00146delete
deleteOriginal
deleteOriginal request for help
deleteShare
deleteSave
Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
This study investigates how hypoxia remodels the extracellular vesicle (EV) proteome to promote metastasis in breast cancer (BC) cells. EVs from hypoxic MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells were characterized and shown to enhance epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), migration, invasion, and clonogenicity in recipient cells. Quantitative proteomics identified over 1250 EV proteins, with 78 commonly regulated by hypoxia across both cell lines. Pathway analysis revealed hypoxia-induced EV enrichment of ribosomal, chromatin remodeling, mitochondrial, and one-carbon metabolism proteins, alongside depletion of immune-modulatory factors. Interestingly, key one-carbon metabolism enzymes (SMS, CAD, and AHCYL1) were consistently upregulated in hypoxic EVs shed by both the cell lines. Notably, AHCYL1, a regulator of the methylation cycle enzyme AHCY, is significantly upregulated under hypoxic conditions. Our findings demonstrate that hypoxic EVs promote an increase in histone H3K9 trimethylation levels in recipient cells. This epigenetic shift downregulated epithelial and metastasis-suppressor genes (CDH1, EpCAM, and DKK1) while sustaining expression of EMT transcription factors (ZEB1 and SNAIL), thereby stabilizing EMT and enhancing invasiveness. Collectively, we describe a hypoxia-driven EV proteome that links metabolic reprogramming to epigenetic enforcement of metastatic traits in BC.
Keywords:
Cancer
Cells
Genetics
Peptides and proteins
Vesicles
hypoxia
extracellular vesicles
label-free proteomic analysis
proteomes
metastasis

Journal

Journal of Proteome Research cover
Journal of Proteome Research
IF:
3.6
Papers:
9.3K
Citations:
2.3W

Organization