Hypoxic tumour-derived exosomal miR-1225-5p regulates M2 macrophage polarisation via toll-like receptor 2 to promote ovarian cancer progress

Abstract

Tumor-secreted exosomes are critical for the functional regulation of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs). This study aimed to explore how exosomes secreted by ovarian carcinoma cells regulate the phenotype and function of macrophages. Hypoxic treatment of A2780 cells was postulated to mimic the tumor microenvironment, and exosomes were co-cultured with TAMs. miR-1225-5p was enriched in hypoxic exosomes and contributed to M2 macrophage polarizationby modulating Toll-like receptor 2 expression (TLR2). Furthermore, hypoxia-treated macrophages promote ovarian cancer cell viability, migration, and invasion via the wnt/β-catenin pathway. This study clarified that exosomal miR-1225-5p promotes macrophage M2-like polarization by targeting TLR2 to promote ovarian cancer, which may via the wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Ovarian cancer
• exosome
• hsa-miR-1225-5p
• TLR2
• macrophages
• wnt/β-catenin pathway

Author contributions

HY performed the experiments, ZZ and GL conceived the study, YL analysed the data; ST wrote the manuscript and designed the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Outstanding Youth Project of Heilongjiang Natural Science Foundation [YQ2019H025].