Splicing Factors in Breast Cancer: Drivers of the Breast Tumor Fate

: Diabetes and breast cancer are pathophysiologically similar and clinically established diseases that co-exist with a wider complex similar molecular signalling and having similar set of risk factors. Insulin plays a pivotal role for invasion and migration of breast cancer cells. Several ethnopharmacological evidences light the concomitant anti-diabetic and anti-cancer activity of medicinal plant and phytochemicals against breast tumor of patients with diabetes. This present article reviewed the findings on medicinal plants and phytochemicals with concomitant anti-diabetic and anti-cancer effects reported in scientific literature to facilitate the development of dual-acting therapies against diabetes and breast cancer. The schematic tabular form of published literatures on medicinal plants (63 plants belongs to 45 families) concluded the dynamics of phytochemicals against diabetes and breast tumor that could be explored further for the discovery of therapies for controlling of breast cancer cell invasion and migration in patient with diabetes.

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TEM8 marks neovasculogenic tumor-initiating cells in triple-negative breast cancer

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-24703-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jiahui Xu ◽

Xiaoli Yang ◽

Qiaodan Deng ◽

Cong Yang ◽

Dong Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽

Breast Tumor ◽

Breast Cancer Cells ◽

Triple Negative ◽

Vasculogenic Mimicry ◽

Regulatory Mechanisms ◽

Tumor Initiating Cells ◽

Self Renewal ◽

Tumor Endothelial Marker 8

AbstractEnhanced neovasculogenesis, especially vasculogenic mimicry (VM), contributes to the development of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Breast tumor-initiating cells (BTICs) are involved in forming VM; however, the specific VM-forming BTIC population and the regulatory mechanisms remain undefined. We find that tumor endothelial marker 8 (TEM8) is abundantly expressed in TNBC and serves as a marker for VM-forming BTICs. Mechanistically, TEM8 increases active RhoC level and induces ROCK1-mediated phosphorylation of SMAD5, in a cascade essential for promoting stemness and VM capacity of breast cancer cells. ASB10, an estrogen receptor ERα trans-activated E3 ligase, ubiquitylates TEM8 for degradation, and its deficiency in TNBC resulted in a high homeostatic level of TEM8. In this work, we identify TEM8 as a functional marker for VM-forming BTICs in TNBC, providing a target for the development of effective therapies against TNBC targeting both BTIC self-renewal and neovasculogenesis simultaneously.

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Productive Infection of Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines with Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV)

Pathogens ◽

10.3390/pathogens10060641 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. 641

Author(s):

Kaitlin M. Branch ◽

Erica C. Garcia ◽

Yin Maggie Chen ◽

Matthew McGregor ◽

Mikayla Min ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Tumor Cells ◽

Cell Lines ◽

Cancer Cell ◽

Breast Cancer Cell ◽

Breast Tumor ◽

Cancer Cell Lines ◽

Breast Cancer Cell Lines ◽

Human Breast ◽

Breast Tumor Cells

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide. There are many known risk factors for breast cancer, but the role of infectious disease remains unclear. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a widespread herpesvirus that usually causes little disease. Because HCMV has been detected in breast tumor biopsy samples and is frequently transmitted via human breast milk, we investigated HCMV replication in breast tumor cells. Four human breast cancer cell lines with different expression profiles for the key diagnostic markers of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), were infected with a bacterial artificial chromosome-derived HCMV clinical strain TB40/E tagged with green fluorescent protein (GFP). Fluorescence microscopy confirmed that all four breast cancer cell lines supported virus entry. RNA was isolated from infected cells and the expression of immediate early (UL123), early (UL54), and late (UL111A) genes was confirmed using PCR. Viral proteins were detected by immunoblotting, and viral progeny were produced during the infection of breast tumor cells, as evidenced by subsequent infection of fibroblasts with culture supernatants. These results demonstrate that breast tumor cells support productive HCMV infection and could indicate that HCMV replication may play a role in breast cancer progression.

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Immunotherapy: New insights in breast cancer treatment

Human Antibodies ◽

10.3233/hab-210443 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-10

Author(s):

Bader Alshehri

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Immune Response ◽

Immune System ◽

Cancer Treatment ◽

Immune Evasion ◽

Breast Tumor ◽

Parp Inhibitor ◽

Breast Cancer Treatment ◽

New Treatment

Breast cancer being the most malignant and lethal disease persistent among women globally. Immunotherapy as a new treatment modality has emerged in understanding the loopholes in the treatment of breast cancer which is mainly attributed to the potential of tumor cells to evade and survive the immune response by developing various strategies. Therefore, improved understanding of the immune evasion by cancer cells and the monoclonal antibodies against PD- and PD-L1 can help us in the diagnosis of this malignancy. Here in this article, I have highlighted that in addition to focusing on other strategies for breast cancer treatment, the involvement of immune system in breast cancer is vital for the understanding of this malignancy. Further, the complete involvement of immune system in the relapse or recurrence of the breast tumor and have also highlighted the role of vaccines, PD-1 and CTLA-4 with the recent advances in the field. Moreover, in addition to the application of immunotherapy as a sole therapy, combinations of immunotherapy with various strategies like targeting it with MEK inhibitors, Vaccines, chemotherapy and PARP inhibitor has shown to have significant benefits is also discussed in this article.

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Characterization of alternative splicing events and prognostic signatures in breast cancer

BMC Cancer ◽

10.1186/s12885-021-08305-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Pihua Han ◽

Jingjun Zhu ◽

Guang Feng ◽

Zizhang Wang ◽

Yanni Ding

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Alternative Splicing ◽

Proportional Hazards ◽

Pearson Correlation ◽

Original Data ◽

Cox Proportional Hazards ◽

Prognostic Indicators ◽

Splicing Factors ◽

Rna Seq

Abstract Background Breast cancer (BRCA) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Abnormal alternative splicing (AS) frequently observed in cancers. This study aims to demonstrate AS events and signatures that might serve as prognostic indicators for BRCA. Methods Original data for all seven types of splice events were obtained from TCGA SpliceSeq database. RNA-seq and clinical data of BRCA cohorts were downloaded from TCGA database. Survival-associated AS events in BRCA were analyzed by univariate COX proportional hazards regression model. Prognostic signatures were constructed for prognosis prediction in patients with BRCA based on survival-associated AS events. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to measure the correlation between the expression of splicing factors (SFs) and the percent spliced in (PSI) values of AS events. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were conducted to demonstrate pathways in which survival-associated AS event is enriched. Results A total of 45,421 AS events in 21,232 genes were identified. Among them, 1121 AS events in 931 genes significantly correlated with survival for BRCA. The established AS prognostic signatures of seven types could accurately predict BRCA prognosis. The comprehensive AS signature could serve as independent prognostic factor for BRCA. A SF-AS regulatory network was therefore established based on the correlation between the expression levels of SFs and PSI values of AS events. Conclusions This study revealed survival-associated AS events and signatures that may help predict the survival outcomes of patients with BRCA. Additionally, the constructed SF-AS networks in BRCA can reveal the underlying regulatory mechanisms in BRCA.

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Investigating New Therapeutic Strategies Targeting Hyperinsulinemia's Mitogenic Effects in a Female Mouse Breast Cancer Model

Endocrinology ◽

10.1210/en.2012-2263 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 154 (5) ◽

pp. 1701-1710 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Ran Rostoker ◽

Keren Bitton-Worms ◽

Avishay Caspi ◽

Zila Shen-Orr ◽

Derek LeRoith

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Tumor Growth ◽

Breast Tumor ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Tumor Development ◽

Treated Group ◽

Tumor Growth Rate ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

Mitogenic Effect

Abstract Epidemiological and experimental studies have identified hyperinsulinemia as an important risk factor for breast cancer induction and for the poor prognosis in breast cancer patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes. Recently it was demonstrated that both the insulin receptor (IR) and the IGF-IR mediate hyperinsulinemia's mitogenic effect in several breast cancer models. Although IGF-IR has been intensively investigated, and anti-IGF-IR therapies are now in advanced clinical trials, the role of the IR in mediating hyperinsulinemia's mitogenic effect remains to be clarified. Here we aimed to explore the potential of IR inhibition compared to dual IR/IGF-IR blockade on breast tumor growth. To initiate breast tumors, we inoculated the mammary carcinoma Mvt-1 cell line into the inguinal mammary fat pad of the hyperinsulinemic MKR female mice, and to study the role of IR, we treated the mice bearing tumors with the recently reported high-affinity IR antagonist-S961, in addition to the well-documented IGF-IR inhibitor picropodophyllin (PPP). Although reducing IR activation, with resultant severe hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, S961-treated mice had significantly larger tumors compared to the vehicle-treated group. This effect maybe secondary to the severe hyperinsulinemia mediated via the IGF-1 receptor. In contrast, PPP by partially inhibiting both IR and IGF-IR activity reduced tumor growth rate with only mild metabolic consequences. We conclude that targeting (even partially) both IR and IGF-IRs impairs hyperinsulinemia's effects in breast tumor development while simultaneously sparing the metabolic abnormalities observed when targeting IR alone with virtual complete inhibition.

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