Annexin-A5 and annexin-A6 silencing prevents metastasis of breast cancer cells in zebrafish

Background information: During tumor invasion and metastasis processes, cancer cells are exposed to major compressive and shearing forces, due to their migration through extracellular matrix, dense cell areas, and complex fluids, which may lead to numerous plasma membrane damages. Cancer cells may survive to these mechanical stresses thanks to an efficient membrane repair machinery. Consequently, this machinery may constitute a relevant target to inhibit cancer cell dissemination.

Results: We show here that annexin-A5 (ANXA5) and ANXA6 participate in membrane repair of MDA-MB-231 cells, a highly invasive triple-negative breast cancer cell line. These crucial components of the membrane repair machinery are substantially expressed in breast cancer cells in correlation with their invasive properties. In addition, high expression of ANXA5 and ANXA6 predict poor prognosis in high-grade lung, gastric, and breast cancers. In zebrafish, the genetic inhibition of ANXA5 and ANXA6 leads to drastic reduction of tumor cell dissemination.

Conclusion: We conclude that the inhibition of ANXA5 and ANXA6 prevents membrane repair in cancer cells, which are thus unable to survive to membrane damage during metastasis.

Significance: This result opens a new therapeutic strategy based on targeting membrane repair machinery to inhibit tumor invasion and metastasis.