scholarly journals miR-338-3p Is Regulated by Estrogens through GPER in Breast Cancer Cells and Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs)

Cells ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Vivacqua ◽  
Anna Sebastiani ◽  
Anna Miglietta ◽  
Damiano Rigiracciolo ◽  
Francesca Cirillo ◽  
...  

Estrogens acting through the classic estrogen receptors (ERs) and the G protein estrogen receptor (GPER) regulate the expression of diverse miRNAs, small sequences of non-coding RNA involved in several pathophysiological conditions, including breast cancer. In order to provide novel insights on miRNAs regulation by estrogens in breast tumor, we evaluated the expression of 754 miRNAs by TaqMan Array in ER-negative and GPER-positive SkBr3 breast cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) upon 17β-estradiol (E2) treatment. Various miRNAs were regulated by E2 in a peculiar manner in SkBr3 cancer cells and CAFs, while miR-338-3p displayed a similar regulation in both cell types. By METABRIC database analysis we ascertained that miR-338-3p positively correlates with overall survival in breast cancer patients, according to previous studies showing that miR-338-3p may suppress the growth and invasion of different cancer cells. Well-fitting with these data, a miR-338-3p mimic sequence decreased and a miR-338-3p inhibitor sequence rescued the expression of genes and the proliferative effects induced by E2 through GPER in SkBr3 cancer cells and CAFs. Altogether, our results provide novel evidence on the molecular mechanisms by which E2 may regulate miR-338-3p toward breast cancer progression.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yifan Wang ◽  
Ruocen Liao ◽  
Xingyu Chen ◽  
Xuhua Ying ◽  
Guanping Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Breast cancer is considered to be the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide, and metastasis is the primary cause of death. Protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1) is a GPCR family member involved in the invasive and metastatic processes of cancer cells. However, the functions and underlying mechanisms of PAR1 in breast cancer remain unclear. In this study, we found that PAR1 is highly expressed in high invasive breast cancer cells, and predicts poor prognosis in ER-negative and high-grade breast cancer patients. Mechanistically, Twist transcriptionally induces PAR1 expression, leading to inhibition of Hippo pathway and activation of YAP/TAZ; Inhibition of PAR1 suppresses YAP/TAZ-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), invasion, migration, cancer stem cell (CSC)-like properties, tumor growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. These findings suggest that PAR1 acts as a direct transcriptionally target of Twist, can promote EMT, tumorigenicity and metastasis by controlling the Hippo pathway; this may lead to a potential therapeutic target for treating invasive breast cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (44) ◽  
pp. e2114258118
Author(s):  
Takahiro Masaki ◽  
Makoto Habara ◽  
Yuki Sato ◽  
Takahiro Goshima ◽  
Keisuke Maeda ◽  
...  

Estrogen receptor α (ER-α) mediates estrogen-dependent cancer progression and is expressed in most breast cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of the cellular abundance and activity of ER-α remain unclear. We here show that the protein phosphatase calcineurin regulates both ER-α stability and activity in human breast cancer cells. Calcineurin depletion or inhibition down-regulated the abundance of ER-α by promoting its polyubiquitination and degradation. Calcineurin inhibition also promoted the binding of ER-α to the E3 ubiquitin ligase E6AP, and calcineurin mediated the dephosphorylation of ER-α at Ser294 in vitro. Moreover, the ER-α (S294A) mutant was more stable and activated the expression of ER-α target genes to a greater extent compared with the wild-type protein, whereas the extents of its interaction with E6AP and polyubiquitination were attenuated. These results suggest that the phosphorylation of ER-α at Ser294 promotes its binding to E6AP and consequent degradation. Calcineurin was also found to be required for the phosphorylation of ER-α at Ser118 by mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 and the consequent activation of ER-α in response to β-estradiol treatment. Our study thus indicates that calcineurin controls both the stability and activity of ER-α by regulating its phosphorylation at Ser294 and Ser118. Finally, the expression of the calcineurin A–α gene (PPP3CA) was associated with poor prognosis in ER-α–positive breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen or other endocrine therapeutic agents. Calcineurin is thus a promising target for the development of therapies for ER-α–positive breast cancer.


Nano LIFE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 02 (03) ◽  
pp. 1241009 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMITA DAVEREY ◽  
AUSTIN C. MYTTY ◽  
SRIVATSAN KIDAMBI

This article demonstrates that the surface micro-topography regulates the biology of breast cancer cells, including the expression of HER-2 gene and protein. The breast tumor microenvironment is made up of heterogenous mixture of pores, ridges and collagen fibers with well defined topographical features. Although, significant progress has been achieved towards elucidating the biochemical and molecular mechanisms that underlie breast cancer progression, quantitative characterization of the associated mechanical/topographical properties and their role in breast tumor progression remains largely unexplored. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of topography on the adhesion and biology of breast cancer cells in in vitro cultures. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surfaces containing different topographies were coated with polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) to improve cell adhesion and maintain cell culture. HER-2 expressing breast cancer cells, BT-474 and SKBr3, were cultured on these PDMS surfaces. We demonstrate that micro-topography affects the cell adhesion and distribution depending on the topography on the PDMS surfaces. We also report for the first time that surface topography down-regulates the HER-2 gene transcription and protein expression in breast cancer cells when cultured on PDMS surfaces with micro-topographies compared to the tissue culture polystyrene surface (TCPS) control. Results from this study indicate that micro-topography modulates morphology of cells, their distribution and expression of HER-2 gene and protein in breast cancer cells. This study provides a novel platform for studying the role of native topography in the progression of breast cancer and has immense potential for understanding the breast cancer biology.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Liu ◽  
Ai Zhang ◽  
Ping-Ping Bao ◽  
Li Lin ◽  
Yina Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Emerging evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) play a critical role in breast cancer development. We recently reported that a higher expression of miR-374b in tumor tissues was associated with a better disease-free survival of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, the functional significance and molecular mechanisms underlying the role of miR-374b in breast cancer are largely unknown. In this current study, we evaluated the biological functions and potential mechanisms of miR-374b in both TNBC and non-TNBC. We found that miR-374b was significantly downregulated in breast cancer tissues, compared to adjacent tissues. MiR-374b levels were also lower in breast cancer cell lines, as compared to breast epithelial cells. In vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that miR-374b modulates the malignant behavior of breast cancer cells, such as cell proliferation in 2D and 3D, cell invasion ability, colony forming ability, and tumor growth in mice. By using bioinformatics tools, we predicted that miR-374b plays a role in breast cancer cells through negatively regulating cyclin D1 (CCND1) and transforming growth factor alpha (TGFA). We further confirmed that CCND1 and TGFA contribute to the malignant behavior of breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Our rescue experiments showed that overexpressing CCND1 or TGFA reverses the phenotypes caused by miR-374b overexpression. Taken together, our studies suggest that miR-374b modulates malignant behavior of breast cancer cells by negatively regulating CCND1 and TGFA genes. The newly identified miR-374b-mediated CCND1 and TGFA gene silencing may facilitate a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of breast cancer progression.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 858
Author(s):  
Jagyeong Oh ◽  
Davide Pradella ◽  
Changwei Shao ◽  
Hairi Li ◽  
Namjeong Choi ◽  
...  

Aberrant alternative splicing (AS) is a hallmark of cancer and a potential target for novel anti-cancer therapeutics. Breast cancer-associated AS events are known to be linked to disease progression, metastasis, and survival of breast cancer patients. To identify altered AS programs occurring in metastatic breast cancer, we perform a global analysis of AS events by using RNA-mediated oligonucleotide annealing, selection, and ligation coupled with next-generation sequencing (RASL-seq). We demonstrate that, relative to low-metastatic, high-metastatic breast cancer cells show different AS choices in genes related to cancer progression. Supporting a global reshape of cancer-related splicing profiles in metastatic breast cancer we found an enrichment of RNA-binding motifs recognized by several splicing regulators, which have aberrant expression levels or activity during breast cancer progression, including SRSF1. Among SRSF1-regulated targets we found DCUN1D5, a gene for which skipping of exon 4 in its pre-mRNA introduces a premature termination codon (PTC), thus generating an unstable transcript degraded by nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). Significantly, distinct breast cancer subtypes show different DCUN1D5 isoform ratios with metastatic breast cancer expressing the highest level of the NMD-insensitive DCUN1D5 mRNA, thus showing high DCUN1D5 expression levels, which are ultimately associated with poor overall and relapse-free survival in breast cancer patients. Collectively, our results reveal global AS features of metastatic breast tumors, which open new possibilities for the treatment of these aggressive tumor types.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yafei Guo ◽  
Qin Li ◽  
Gang Zhao ◽  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Hang Yuan ◽  
...  

AbstractBreast cancer is the most common cancer in the world. Relapse and metastasis are important factors endangering the life of breast cancer patients, but the mechanism is still unclear. The stabilization of p53 is essential for preventing carcinogenesis, and ubiquitination is one of the main ways to regulate the stability of p53. Tripartite motif-containing 31 (TRIM31) is a new member of the TRIM family and functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. It acts as a cancer promoter or suppressor in the malignant processes of multiple cancers. However, the function of TRIM31 in breast cancer progression remains unknown. In this study, we showed that TRIM31 is downregulated in breast cancer tissues and negatively correlated with breast cancer progression. Both gain- and loss-of-function assays indicated that TRIM31 inhibits the proliferation, colony formation, migration, and invasion of breast cancer cells. Further investigation demonstrated that TRIM31 directly interacts with p53, and inducing the K63-linked ubiquitination of p53 via its RING domain, Meanwhile, TRIM31 suppresses the MDM2-mediated K48-linked ubiquitination of p53 through competitive inhibiting the interaction of MDM2 and p53, leading to the p53 stabilization and activation. Knockdown of p53 reversed the inhibitory effects of TRIM31 on the growth and metastasis of breast cancer cells. Moreover, we found that the RING and coiled-coil (C–C) domains of TRIM31 were essential for its tumor suppressor function. Taken together, our findings reveal a novel mechanism by which TRIM31 suppresses breast cancer development through the stabilization and activation of p53 and define a promising therapeutic strategy for restoring TRIM31 to treat breast cancer.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudipa Saha Roy ◽  
Ratna K. Vadlamudi

Metastatic breast cancer is a life-threatening stage of cancer and is the leading cause of death in advanced breast cancer patients. Estrogen signaling and the estrogen receptor (ER) are implicated in breast cancer progression, and the majority of the human breast cancers start out as estrogen dependent. Accumulating evidence suggests that ER signaling is complex, involving coregulatory proteins and extranuclear actions. ER-coregualtory proteins are tightly regulated under normal conditions with miss expression primarily reported in cancer. Deregulation of ER coregualtors or ER extranuclear signaling has potential to promote metastasis in ER-positive breast cancer cells. This review summarizes the emerging role of ER signaling in promoting metastasis of breast cancer cells, discusses the molecular mechanisms by which ER signaling contributes to metastasis, and explores possible therapeutic targets to block ER-driven metastasis.


Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 430
Author(s):  
Nico Hinz ◽  
Anke Baranowsky ◽  
Michael Horn ◽  
Malte Kriegs ◽  
Freya Sibbertsen ◽  
...  

Bone metastases frequently occur in breast cancer patients and lack appropriate treatment options. Hence, understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the multistep process of breast cancer bone metastasis and tumor-induced osteolysis is of paramount interest. The serine/threonine kinase AKT plays a crucial role in breast cancer bone metastasis but the effect of individual AKT isoforms remains unclear. Therefore, AKT isoform-specific knockdowns were generated on the bone-seeking MDA-MB-231 BO subline and the effect on proliferation, migration, invasion, and chemotaxis was analyzed by live-cell imaging. Kinome profiling and Western blot analysis of the TGFβ/CTGF axis were conducted and metastasis was evaluated by intracardiac inoculation of tumor cells into NOD scid gamma (NSG) mice. MDA-MB-231 BO cells exhibited an elevated AKT3 kinase activity in vitro and responded to combined treatment with AKT- and mTOR-inhibitors. Knockdown of AKT3 significantly increased migration, invasion, and chemotaxis in vitro and metastasis to bone but did not significantly enhance osteolysis. Furthermore, knockdown of AKT3 increased the activity and phosphorylation of pro-metastatic HER2 and DDR1/2 but lowered protein levels of CTGF after TGFβ-stimulation, an axis involved in tumor-induced osteolysis. We demonstrated that AKT3 plays a crucial role in bone-seeking breast cancer cells by promoting metastatic potential without facilitating tumor-induced osteolysis.


Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Francesca Santolla ◽  
Adele Vivacqua ◽  
Rosamaria Lappano ◽  
Damiano Cosimo Rigiracciolo ◽  
Francesca Cirillo ◽  
...  

The FGF2/FGFR1 paracrine loop is involved in the cross-talk between breast cancer cells and components of the tumor stroma as cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). By quantitative PCR (qPCR), western blot, immunofluorescence analysis, ELISA and ChIP assays, we demonstrated that 17β-estradiol (E2) and the G protein estrogen receptor (GPER) agonist G-1 induce the up-regulation and secretion of FGF2 via GPER together with the EGFR/ERK/c-fos/AP-1 signaling cascade in (ER)-negative primary CAFs. Evaluating the genetic alterations from METABRIC and TCGA datasets, we then assessed that FGFR1 is the most frequently amplified FGFRs family member and its amplification/expression associates with shorter survival rates in breast cancer patients. Therefore, in order to assess the functional FGF2/FGFR1 interplay between CAFs and breast cancer cells, we generated the FGFR1-knockout MDA-MB-231 cells using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing strategy. Using conditioned medium from estrogen-stimulated CAFs, we established that the activation of FGF2/FGFR1 paracrine signaling triggers the expression of the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), leading to the migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells. Our findings shed new light on the role elicited by estrogens through GPER in the activation of the FGF2/FGFR1 signaling. Moreover, our findings may identify further biological targets that could be considered in innovative combination strategies halting breast cancer progression.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 739-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola De Marco ◽  
Enrica Romeo ◽  
Adele Vivacqua ◽  
Roberta Malaguarnera ◽  
Sergio Abonante ◽  
...  

Elevated insulin levels have been associated with an increased cancer risk as well as with aggressive and metastatic cancer phenotypes characterized by a poor prognosis. Insulin stimulates the proliferation, migration, and invasiveness of cancer cells through diverse transduction pathways, including estrogen signaling. As G protein estrogen receptor 1 (GPER1) mediates rapid cell responses to estrogens, we evaluated the potential of insulin to regulate GPER1 expression and function in leiomyosarcoma cancer cells (SKUT-1) and breast cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which were used as a model system. We found that insulin transactivates the GPER1 promoter sequence and increases the mRNA and protein expression of GPER1 through the activation of the PRKCD/MAPK1/c-Fos/AP1 transduction pathway, as ascertained by means of specific pharmacological inhibitors and gene-silencing experiments. Moreover, cell migration triggered by insulin occurred through GPER1 and its main target gene CTGF, whereas the insulin-induced expression of GPER1 boosted cell-cycle progression and the glucose uptake stimulated by estrogens. Notably, a positive correlation between insulin serum levels and GPER1 expression was found in cancer fibroblasts obtained from breast cancer patients. Altogether, our data indicate that GPER1 may be included among the complex network of transduction signaling triggered by insulin that drives cells toward cancer progression.


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