Dataset Information

Mechanisms of Gefitinib-mediated reversal of tamoxifen resistance in MCF-7 breast cancer cells by inducing ER? re-expression.

ABSTRACT: Estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer patients may turn ER-negative and develop acquired drug resistance, which compromises the efficacy of endocrine therapy. By investigating the phenomenon that gefitinib can re-sensitise tamoxifen (TAM)-resistant MCF-7 breast cancer cells (MCF-7/TAM) to TAM, the present study verified that gefitinib could reverse the acquired drug resistance in endocrine therapy and further explored the underlying mechanism.ER?-negative MCF-7/TAM cells were established. Upon treating the cells with gefitinib, the mRNA and protein levels of ER? and ER?, as well as the expression of molecules involved in the MAPK pathway, were examined using the RT-PCR and immunocytochemistry. The RT-PCR results showed that the mRNA levels of ER? and ER? in MCF-7/TAM cells were up-regulated following gefitinib treatment; specifically, ER? was re-expressed, and ER? expression was up-regulated. The expression of molecules involved in the MAPK pathway, including RAS, MEK1/2, and p-ERK1/2, in MCF-7/TAM cells was significantly up-regulated, compared with MCF-7 cells. After the gefitinib treatment, the expression levels of MEK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 were significantly down-regulated. ER? loss is the primary cause for TAM resistance. Gefitinib reverses TAM resistance primarily by up-regulating the ER? mRNA level and inducing the re-expression of ER?. The MAPK pathway plays a key role in ER? re-expression.

SUBMITTER: Zhang X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4314651 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Mechanisms of Gefitinib-mediated reversal of tamoxifen resistance in MCF-7 breast cancer cells by inducing ERα re-expression.

Zhang Xia X Zhang Bin B Liu Jie J Liu Jiwei J Li Changzheng C Dong Wei W Fang Shu S Li Minmin M Song Bao B Tang Bo B Wang Zhehai Z Zhang Yang Y

Scientific reports 20150203

Estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer patients may turn ER-negative and develop acquired drug resistance, which compromises the efficacy of endocrine therapy. By investigating the phenomenon that gefitinib can re-sensitise tamoxifen (TAM)-resistant MCF-7 breast cancer cells (MCF-7/TAM) to TAM, the present study verified that gefitinib could reverse the acquired drug resistance in endocrine therapy and further explored the underlying mechanism.ERα-negative MCF-7/TAM cells were established ...[more]

PMID: 25644501

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Project description:O-GlcNAcylation (addition of N-acetyl-glucosamine on serine or threonine residues) is a post-translational modification that regulates stability, activity or localization of cytosolic and nuclear proteins. O-linked N-acetylgluocosmaine transferase (OGT) uses UDP-GlcNAc, produced in the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway to O-GlcNacylate proteins. Removal of O-GlcNAc from proteins is catalyzed by the ?-N-Acetylglucosaminidase (OGA). Recent evidences suggest that O-GlcNAcylation may affect the growth of cancer cells. However, the consequences of O-GlcNAcylation on anti-cancer therapy have not been evaluated. In this work, we studied the effects of O-GlcNAcylation on tamoxifen-induced cell death in the breast cancer-derived MCF-7 cells. Treatments that increase O-GlcNAcylation (PUGNAc and/or glucosoamine) protected MCF-7 cells from death induced by tamoxifen. In contrast, inhibition of OGT expression by siRNA potentiated the effect of tamoxifen on cell death. Since the PI-3 kinase/Akt pathway is a major regulator of cell survival, we used BRET to evaluate the effect of PUGNAc+glucosamine on PIP3 production. We observed that these treatments stimulated PIP3 production in MCF-7 cells. This effect was associated with an increase in Akt phosphorylation. However, the PI-3 kinase inhibitor LY294002, which abolished the effect of PUGNAc+glucosamine on Akt phosphorylation, did not impair the protective effects of PUGNAc+glucosamine against tamoxifen-induced cell death. These results suggest that the protective effects of O-GlcNAcylation are independent of the PI-3 kinase/Akt pathway. As tamoxifen sensitivity depends on the estrogen receptor (ER?) expression level, we evaluated the effect of PUGNAc+glucosamine on the expression of this receptor. We observed that O-GlcNAcylation-inducing treatment significantly reduced the expression of ER? mRNA and protein, suggesting a potential mechanism for the decreased tamoxifen sensitivity induced by these treatments. Therefore, our results suggest that inhibition of O-GlcNAcylation may constitute an interesting approach to improve the sensitivity of breast cancer to anti-estrogen therapy.

Project description:The identification of clinically important molecular mechanisms driving endocrine resistance is a priority in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer. Although both genomic and non-genomic cross-talk between the ER and growth factor receptors such as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) has frequently been associated with both experimental and clinical endocrine therapy resistance, combined targeting of ER and HER2 has failed to improve overall survival in endocrine non-responsive disease. Herein, we questioned the role of fatty acid synthase (FASN), a lipogenic enzyme linked to HER2-driven breast cancer aggressiveness, in the development and maintenance of hormone-independent growth and resistance to anti-estrogens in ER/HER2-positive (ER+/HER2+) breast cancer. The stimulatory effects of estradiol on FASN gene promoter activity and protein expression were blunted by anti-estrogens in endocrine-responsive breast cancer cells. Conversely, an AKT/MAPK-related constitutive hyperactivation of FASN gene promoter activity was unaltered in response to estradiol in non-endocrine responsive ER+/HER2+ breast cancer cells, and could be further enhanced by tamoxifen. Pharmacological blockade with structurally and mechanistically unrelated FASN inhibitors fully impeded the strong stimulatory activity of tamoxifen on the soft-agar colony forming capacity-an in vitro metric of tumorigenicity-of ER+/HER2+ breast cancer cells. In vivo treatment with a FASN inhibitor completely prevented the agonistic tumor-promoting activity of tamoxifen and fully restored its estrogen antagonist properties against ER/HER2-positive xenograft tumors in mice. Functional cancer proteomic data from The Cancer Proteome Atlas (TCPA) revealed that the ER+/HER2+ subtype was the highest FASN protein expressor compared to basal-like, HER2-enriched, and ER+/HER2-negative breast cancer groups. FASN is a biological determinant of HER2-driven endocrine resistance in ER+ breast cancer. Next-generation, clinical-grade FASN inhibitors may be therapeutically relevant to countering resistance to tamoxifen in FASN-overexpressing ER+/HER2+ breast carcinomas.

Dataset Information

Mechanisms of Gefitinib-mediated reversal of tamoxifen resistance in MCF-7 breast cancer cells by inducing ER? re-expression.

Publications

Mechanisms of Gefitinib-mediated reversal of tamoxifen resistance in MCF-7 breast cancer cells by inducing ERα re-expression.

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