scholarly journals Synergistic interplay between PHF8 and HER2 signaling contributes to breast cancer development and drug resistance

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Liu ◽  
Nicholas Borcherding ◽  
Peng Shao ◽  
Peterson Kariuki Maina ◽  
Weizhou Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractHER2 plays a critical role in tumorigenesis and is associated with poor prognosis of HER2-positive breast cancers. Although, anti-HER2 drugs show benefits in breast cancer therapy,de novoor acquired resistance often develop. Epigenetic factors have been increasingly targeted for therapeutic purposes, however, such mechanisms interacting with HER2 signaling are poorly understood. This study reports the synergistic interplay between histone demethylase PHF8 and HER2 signaling, i.e. PHF8 is elevated in HER2-positive breast cancers and is upregulated by HER2; PHF8 plays coactivator roles in regulatingHER2expression and HER2-driven epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers and cytokines. The HER2-PHF8-IL-6 regulatory axis was proved both in cell lines and in the newly establishedMMTV-Her2/MMTV-Cre/Phf8flox/floxmodels, with which the oncogenic function of Phf8 in breast cancerin vivowas revealed for the first time. Furthermore, PHF8-IL-6 axis contributes to the resistance of Trastuzumabin vitroand may play a critical role in the infiltration of T-cells in HER2-driven breast cancers. This study reveals novel epigenetic mechanisms underlying HER2-driven cancer development and anti-HER2 drug resistance.

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Zabkiewicz ◽  
L Ye ◽  
R Hargest

Abstract Introduction HER2 over-expression denotes poor prognosis in breast cancers.Bone morphogenetic protein(BMP) signalling is known to interact with EGF signalling, co-regulating breast cancer progression.BMP antagonist Gremlin-1 may influence breast cancer disease progression, but this remains unexplored in HER2 positive breast cancers. Method GREM1 and HER2 expression, and clinical outcomes were examined in clinical cohorts.GREM1 overexpression or pEF control plasmid were transduced into BT474 HER2+breast cancer cells. In vitro function tests using BT474 pEF and BT474GREM1cells include 2D/3D growth, migration, and expression of epithelial to mesenchymal transition(EMT)markers. Signalling cascades were examined in BT474 treated with RhGremlin-1. In vivo, BALB/c nude mice underwent either mammary injection or intra-cardiac injection of BT474pEF or BT474GREM1 cells and disease burden assessed. Result GREM1 expression correlates with HER2 in breast tumours(p=0.03) and is higher in metastatic HER2 positive cancers (p = 0.04). HER2 positive patients with high GREM1 have poor survival(p = 0.0002). BT474GREM1cells have up-regulated markers of EMT compared to control. BT474 RhGremlin-1 treated cells have active AKT pathway signalling, independent of BMP signalling. In vitro,  BT474GREM1cells significantly proliferate and migrate compared to control(p<0.05 and p < 0.001).This is confirmed in vivo,  BT474GREM1 mice grew significantly larger mammary tumours(p<0.05) and had more PETCT metastatic hotspots. Conclusion Gremlin-1 is correlated with poor outcomes in HER2 patients and promotes breast cancer cellular growth, migration and metastasis.Gremlin-1 is a novel area of research with potential as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for personalised, effective, breast cancer outcomes. Take-home message BMP antagonists are gaining interest for their potential in breast cancer prognosis and therapeutics.This novel area of research shows BMP antagonist Gremlin-1 is of importance in HER2 positive breast cancers. DRAGONS DEN


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Xiao Zhou ◽  
Yi Jiang ◽  
Qiuyun Li ◽  
Zhen Huang ◽  
Huawei Yang ◽  
...  

Arachidonate lipoxygenases (ALOX) have been implicated in playing a critical role in tumorigenesis, development, and metastasis. We previously reported that ALOX12 is involved in breast cancer chemoresistance. In this study, we demonstrate that the ALOX5 activation correlates with the HER2 expression and mediates breast cancer growth and migration. We found that the ALOX5 expression and activity were upregulated in breast cancer patients, particularly in those tissues with HER2-positive. ALOX5 upregulation was also observed in HER2-positive breast cancer cells. In contrast, HER2 inhibition led to decreased expression and activity of ALOX5 but not ALOX5AP, suggesting that HER2 specifically regulates the ALOX5 expression and activity in breast cancer cells. We further demonstrated that ALOX5 is important for breast cancer biological activities with the predominant roles in growth and migration, likely through RhoA, focal adhesion, and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling but not epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT). Our work is the first to report a correlation between the ALOX5 activity and HER2 overexpression in breast cancer. Our findings also highlight the therapeutic value of inhibiting ALOX5 in breast cancer, particularly those patients with the HER2 overexpression.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1918
Author(s):  
Yanyuan Wu ◽  
Marianna Sarkissyan ◽  
Ochanya Ogah ◽  
Juri Kim ◽  
Jaydutt V. Vadgama

Background: Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) is associated with cancer progression. Our study examined the role of MALAT1 in breast cancer and the mechanisms involved in the regulation of MALAT1. Methods: In vitro cell and in vivo animal models were used to examine the role of MALAT1 in breast cancer. The interaction of FOXO1 (Forkhead Box O1) at the promoter region of MALAT1 was investigated by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay. Results: The data shows an elevated expression of MALAT1 in breast cancer tissues and cells compared to non-cancer tissues and cells. The highest level of MALAT1 was observed in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and trastuzumab-resistant HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) overexpressing (HER2+) cells. Knockdown of MALAT1 in trastuzumab-resistant HER2+ cells reversed epithelial to mesenchymal transition-like phenotype and cell invasiveness. It improved the sensitivity of the cell’s response to trastuzumab. Furthermore, activation of Akt by phosphorylation was associated with the upregulation of MALAT1. The transcription factor FOXO1 regulates the expression of MALAT1 via the PI3/Akt pathway. Conclusions: We show that MALAT1 contributes to HER2+ cell resistance to trastuzumab. Targeting the PI3/Akt pathway and stabilizing FOXO1 translocation could inhibit the upregulation of MALAT1.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. BIC.S38394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazushi Inoue ◽  
Elizabeth A. Fry

The use of molecular biomarkers assures that breast cancer (BC) patients receive optimal treatment. Established biomarkers, such as estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER2, and Ki67, have been playing significant roles in the subcategorization of BC to predict the prognosis and decide the specific therapy to each patient. Antihormonal therapy using 4-hydroxytamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors have been employed in patients whose tumor cells express hormone receptors, while monoclonal antibody to HER2 has been administered to HER2-positive BCs. Although new therapeutic agents have been developed in the past few decades, many patients still die of the disease due to relapse; thus, novel molecular markers that predict therapeutic failure and those that can be targets for specific therapy are expected. We have chosen four of such molecules by reviewing recent publications, which are cyclin E, B-Myb, Twist, and DMP1β. The oncogenicity of these molecules has been demonstrated in vivo and/or in vitro through studies using transgenic mice or siRNAs, and their expressions have been shown to be associated with shortened overall or disease-free survival of BC patients. The former three molecules have been shown to accelerate epithelial-mesenchymal transition that is often associated with cancer stem cell-ness and metastasis; all these four can be novel therapeutic targets as well. Thus, large prospective studies employing immunohistochemistry will be needed to establish the predictive values of these molecules in patients with BC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simranjit X. Singh ◽  
Rui Yang ◽  
Kristen Roso ◽  
Landon J. Hansen ◽  
Changzheng Du ◽  
...  

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a lethal brain cancer exhibiting high levels of drug resistance, a feature partially imparted by tumor cell stemness. Recent work shows that homozygous MTAP deletion, a genetic alteration occurring in about half of all GBMs, promotes stemness in GBM cells. Exploiting MTAP loss-conferred deficiency in adenine salvage, we demonstrate that transient adenine blockade via treatment with L-Alanosine (ALA), an inhibitor of de novo adenine synthesis, attenuates stemness of MTAP-deficient GBM cells. This ALA-induced reduction in stemness is accompanied by compromised mitochondrial function, highlighted by diminished spare respiratory capacity. Direct pharmacological inhibition of mitochondrial respiration recapitulates the effect of ALA on GBM cell stemness, suggesting ALA targets stemness partially via affecting mitochondrial function. Finally, in agreement with diminished stemness and compromised mitochondrial function, we show that ALA sensitizes GBM cells to temozolomide (TMZ) in vitro and in an orthotopic GBM model. Collectively, these results identify critical roles of adenine supply in maintaining mitochondrial function and stemness of GBM cells, highlight a critical role of mitochondrial function in sustaining GBM stemness, and implicate adenine synthesis inhibition as a complementary approach for treating MTAP-deleted GBMs.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Li ◽  
Jinsong Wang ◽  
Zongbi Yi ◽  
Chunxiao Li ◽  
Haijuan Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background : While anti-HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have radically prolonged survival and improved prognosis in HER2-positive breast cancer patients, resistance to these therapies is a constant obstacle leading to TKIs treatment failure and tumor progression.Methods : To develop new strategies to enhance TKIs efficiency by combining synergistic gene targets, we performed panel library screening using CRISPR/Cas9 knockout technique based on data mining across TCGA datasets and verified the candidate target in pre-clinical models and breast cancer high-throughput sequencing datasets.Results : We identified that CDK12, co-amplified with HER2 in a high frequency, is powerful to sensitize or re-sensitize HER2-positive breast cancer to anti-HER2 TKIs lapatinib, evidenced by patient-derived organoids (PDO) in vitro and cell-derived xenograft (CDX) or patient-derived xenograft (PDX) in vivo. Exploring mechanisms, we found that inhibition of CDK12 attenuated PI3K/AKT signal, which usually serves as an oncogenic driver and is reactivated when HER2-positive breast cancers develop resistance to lapatinib. Combining CDK12 inhibition exerted additional suppression on p-AKT activation induced by anti-HER2 TKIs lapatinib treatment. Clinically, via DNA sequencing data for tumor tissue and peripheral blood ctDNA, we found that HER2-positive breast cancer patients with CDK12 amplification responded more insensitively to anti-HER2 treatment than those without accompanying CDK12 amplification by harboring a markedly shortened progression free survival (PFS) (median PFS: 4.3 months verse 6.9 months; HR 2.26 [95% CI 1.32-3.86]; P=0.0028).Conclusions : Dual inhibition of HER2/CDK12 will prominently benefit the outcomes of HER2-positive breast cancer patients by sensitizing or re-sensitizing the tumors to anti-HER2 TKIs treatment.


Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 4778
Author(s):  
Serenella M. Pupa ◽  
Francesca Ligorio ◽  
Valeria Cancila ◽  
Alma Franceschini ◽  
Claudio Tripodo ◽  
...  

HER2 overexpression/amplification occurs in 15–20% of breast cancers (BCs) and identifies a highly aggressive BC subtype. Recent clinical progress has increased the cure rates of limited-stage HER2-positive BC and significantly prolonged overall survival in patients with advanced disease; however, drug resistance and tumor recurrence remain major concerns. Therefore, there is an urgent need to increase knowledge regarding HER2 biology and implement available treatments. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) represent a subset of malignant cells capable of unlimited self-renewal and differentiation and are mainly considered to contribute to tumor onset, aggressiveness, metastasis, and treatment resistance. Seminal studies have highlighted the key role of altered HER2 signaling in the maintenance/enrichment of breast CSCs (BCSCs) and elucidated its bidirectional communication with stemness-related pathways, such as the Notch and Wingless/β-catenin cascades. d16HER2, a splice variant of full-length HER2 mRNA, has been identified as one of the most oncogenic HER2 isoform significantly implicated in tumorigenesis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)/stemness and the response to targeted therapy. In addition, expression of a heterogeneous collection of HER2 truncated carboxy-terminal fragments (CTFs), collectively known as p95HER2, identifies a peculiar subgroup of HER2-positive BC with poor prognosis, with the p95HER2 variants being able to regulate CSC features. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current evidence regarding HER2-/d16HER2-/p95HER2-positive BCSCs in the context of the signaling pathways governing their properties and describes the future prospects for targeting these components to achieve long-lasting tumor control.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Parnaz Merikhian ◽  
Mohammad Reza Eisavand ◽  
Leila Farahmand

AbstractTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is not as prevalent as hormone receptor or HER2-positive breast cancers and all receptor tests come back negative. More importantly, the heterogeneity and complexity of the TNBC on the molecular and clinical levels have limited the successful development of novel therapeutic strategies and led to intrinsic or developed resistance to chemotherapies and new therapeutic agents. Studies have demonstrated deregulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in tumorigenesis which plays decisive roles at the low survival rate of patients and facilitates resistance to currently existing therapies. This review summarizes mechanisms of Wnt/β-catenin signaling for resistance development in TNBC, the complex interaction between Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and the transactivated receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling pathways, lymphocytic infiltration, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and induction of metastasis. Such associations and how these pathways interact in the development and progression of cancer have led to the careful analysis and development of new and effective combination therapies without generating significant toxicity and resistance.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mai Sakamoto ◽  
Jun Nakayama ◽  
Atsuka Matsui ◽  
Jiro Fujimoto ◽  
Naoki Goshima ◽  
...  

The homeobox family genes are often dysregulated in various cancer types. In particular, HOXB7 overexpression contributes to cancer progression by promoting epithelial to mesenchymal transition, anti-cancer drug resistance, and metastasis of breast, hepatocellular and gastric cancer. Although the relationship between HOXB7 and cancer progression has been described, the role of HOXB7 in cancer initiation is unclear. In this study, we showed that HOXB7 overexpression induced oncogenic transformation in vitro and in vivo through the activation of JAK-STAT signaling and enhanced the expression of ERBB2 in NMuMG cells. In public data sets, HER2-positive breast cancer highly expressed HOXB7, the expression of which was correlated with poor prognosis in breast cancer cohorts. Furthermore, the amplification of HOXB7 on 17q23.32 was found to be a potential clinical diagnostic marker.


Author(s):  
Asma Safi ◽  
Milad Bastami ◽  
Soheila Delghir ◽  
Khandan Ilkhani ◽  
Farhad Seif ◽  
...  

: Cisplatin has a broad-spectrum antitumor activity and is widely used for the treatment of various malignant tumors. However, acquired or intrinsic resistance of cisplatin is a major problem for patients during the therapy. Recently, it has been reported cancer stem cell (CSC)-derived drug resistance is a great challenge of tumor development and recurrence; therefore, the sensitivity of breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) to cisplatin is of particular importance. Increasing evidence has shown that there is a relationship between cisplatin resistance/sensitivity genes and related miRNAs. It is known that dysregulation of relevant miRNAs plays a critical role in regulating target genes of cisplatin resistance/sensitivity in various pathways such as cellular uptake/efflux, Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT), hypoxia, and apoptosis. Furthermore, the efficacy of the current chemotherapeutic drugs, including cisplatin for providing personalized medicine, can be improved by controlling the expression of miRNAs. Thus, potential targeting of miRNAs can lead to miRNA-based therapies, which will help overcome drug resistance and develop more effective personalized anti-cancer and co-treatment strategies in breast cancer. In this review, we summarized the general understandings of miRNA-regulated biological processes in breast cancer, particularly focused on the role of miRNA in cisplatin resistance/sensitivity.


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