Prevention of liver metastasis via the pharmacological suppression of AMIGO2 expression in tumor cells

AMIGO2 adheres to liver endothelium and induces liver metastasis. We revealed that genetically altering AMIGO2 expression in tumor cells affects their liver metastatic potential, depending on the AMIGO2 expression level. The aim of this study was to prevent liver metastasis by pharmacologically suppressing AMIGO2 expression. For screening, we used the mouse LV12 cells because of their affinity to adhere to liver endothelium and metastasize the liver owing to elevated AMIGO2 expression. Of the 285 compounds tested, 17 reduced AMIGO2 mRNA expression. We subsequently screened for compounds that inhibited tumor cell adhesion to liver endothelium and identified five compounds that inhibit three signaling pathways (MEK, JAK, and JNK). Treatment with these compounds inhibited liver metastasis of LV12 cells. Next, we used clinically available signal inhibitors (MEK inhibitor trametinib, JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib, and JNK inhibitor SP600125), and found that ruxolitinib inhibits AMIGO2 expression more stably. Furthermore, ruxolitinib inhibited the adhesion of LV12 cells to liver endothelium and suppressed liver metastasis. Using the MKN45 gastric cancer cells, we confirmed that ruxolitinib could prevent liver metastasis of human cancer cells. These results demonstrate that pharmacological inhibition of AMIGO2 expression in tumor cells is a promising novel strategy to prevent and control liver metastasis.