A galectin-3-dependent pathway upregulates interleukin-6 in the microenvironment of human neuroblastoma

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine with a broad range of physiologic and pathologic functions. Because in cancer, IL-6 contributes to a microenvironment that promotes tumor cell survival, angiogenesis, and inflammation, understanding the mechanism responsible for its production is important. In neuroblastoma, the second most common solid tumor in children, IL-6 is produced not by tumor cells but by stromal cells such as monocytes and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSC). Here we show that the production of IL-6 in BMMSCs is in part stimulated by galectin-3 binding protein (Gal-3BP) secreted by neuroblastoma cells. We identified a distal region of the IL-6 promoter that contains 3 CCATT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) binding domains involved in the transcriptional upregulation of IL-6 by Gal-3BP. Gal-3BP interacted with Galectin-3 (Gal-3) present in BMMSCs, and a Gal-3BP/Gal-3/Ras/MEK/ERK signaling pathway was responsible for the transcriptional upregulation of IL-6 in BMMSCs in which Gal-3 has a necessary function. In support of the role of this pathway in human neuroblastoma tumors, Gal-3BP was found to be present in tumor cells and in the adjacent extracellular matrix of 96% of 78 primary neuroblastoma tumor samples examined by immunohistochemistry. Considering the protumorigenic function of IL-6 in cancer, this tumor cell-stromal cell interactive pathway could be a target for anticancer therapy.