Dataset Information

Destabilization of ?-catenin and RAS by targeting the Wnt/?-catenin pathway as a potential treatment for triple-negative breast cancer.

ABSTRACT: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a severe and heterogeneous disease that lacks an approved targeted therapy and has a poor clinical outcome to chemotherapy. Although the RAS-ERK signaling axis is rarely mutated in TNBC, ~50% of TNBCs show an increased copy number and overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). However, EGFR-targeted therapies have offered no improvement in patient survival, underscoring the need to explore downstream targets, including RAS. We found that both ?-catenin and RAS, as well as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), are overexpressed and correlated with one another in tumor tissues of TNBC patients. KYA1797K, an Axin-binding small molecule reducing ?-catenin and RAS expression via degradation and suppressing EGFR expression via transcriptional repression, inhibited the proliferation and the metastatic capability of stable cell lines as well as patient-derived cells (PDCs) established from TNBC patient tissues. KYA1797K also suppressed the stemness of 3D-cultured PDCs and xenografted tumors established by using residual tumors from TNBC patients and those established by the TNBC cell line. Targeting both the Wnt/?-catenin and RAS-ERK pathways via small molecules simultaneously reducing the levels of ?-catenin, RAS, and EGFR could be a potential therapeutic approach for TNBC.

SUBMITTER: Ryu WJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7272395 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Destabilization of β-catenin and RAS by targeting the Wnt/β-catenin pathway as a potential treatment for triple-negative breast cancer.

Ryu Won-Ji WJ Lee Jeong Dong JD Park Jong-Chan JC Cha Pu-Hyeon PH Cho Yong-Hee YH Kim Jee Ye JY Sohn Joo Hyuk JH Paik Soonmyung S Choi Kang-Yell KY

Experimental & molecular medicine 20200526 5

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a severe and heterogeneous disease that lacks an approved targeted therapy and has a poor clinical outcome to chemotherapy. Although the RAS-ERK signaling axis is rarely mutated in TNBC, ~50% of TNBCs show an increased copy number and overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). However, EGFR-targeted therapies have offered no improvement in patient survival, underscoring the need to explore downstream targets, including RAS. We found that bo ...[more]

PMID: 32457491

Similar Datasets

Project description:Tumor cells acquire metastasis-associated (MA) phenotypes following genetic alterations in them which cause deregulation of different signaling pathways. Earlier, we reported that an upregulation of the Wnt-beta-catenin pathway (WP) is one of the genetic salient features of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), and WP signaling is associated with metastasis in TNBC. Using cBioPortal, here we found that collective % of alteration(s) in WP genes, CTNNB1, APC and DVL1 among breast-invasive-carcinomas was 21% as compared to 56% in PAM50 Basal. To understand the functional relevance of WP in the biology of heterogeneous/metastasizing TNBC cells, we undertook this comprehensive study using 15 cell lines in which we examined the role of WP in the context of integrin-dependent MA-phenotypes. Directional movement of tumor cells was observed by confocal immunofluorescence microscopy and quantitative confocal-video-microscopy while matrigel-invasion was studied by MMP7-specific casein-zymography. WntC59, XAV939, sulindac sulfide and beta-catenin siRNA (1) inhibited fibronectin-directed migration, (2) decreased podia-parameters and motility-descriptors, (3) altered filamentous-actin, (4) decreased matrigel-invasion and (5) inhibited cell proliferation as well as 3D clonogenic growth. Sulindac sulfide and beta-catenin siRNA decreased beta-catenin/active-beta-catenin and MMP7. LWnt3ACM-stimulated proliferation, clonogenicity, fibronectin-directed migration and matrigel-invasion were perturbed by WP-modulators, sulindac sulfide and GDC-0941. We studied a direct involvement of WP in metastasis by stimulating brain-metastasis-specific MDA-MB231BR cells to demonstrate that LWnt3ACM-stimulated proliferation, clonogenicity and migration were blocked following sulindac sulfide, GDC-0941 and beta-catenin knockdown. We present the first evidence showing a direct functional relationship between WP activation and integrin-dependent MA-phenotypes. By proving the functional relationship between WP activation and MA-phenotypes, our data mechanistically explains (1) why different components of WP are upregulated in TNBC, (2) how WP activation is associated with metastasis and (3) how integrin-dependent MA-phenotypes can be regulated by mitigating the WP.

Project description:Background Anti-angiogenic therapy has been widely applied to the clinical treatment of malignant tumors. However, the efficacy of such treatments has been called into question, especially in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Bevacizumab, the first anti-angiogenic agent approved by FDA, actually increases invasive and metastatic properties of TNBC cells, resulting from the activation of Wnt/?-catenin signaling in response to hypoxia. As a critical receptor of Wnt/?-catenin signaling, Frizzled-7 (Fzd7) is aberrantly expressed in TNBC, indicating Fzd7 a potential target for developing drugs to be combined with anti-angiogenic agents. Methods Hybridoma technique and antibody humanization technique were utilized to generate a Fzd7-targeting antibody (SHH002-hu1). Biolayer interferometry (BLI) assay and near infrared (NIR) imaging were conducted to detect the affinity and targeting ability of SHH002-hu1. Next, whether SHH002-hu1 could suppress the invasion and migration of TNBC cells induced by Bevacizumab were validated, and the underlying molecular mechanisms were elucidated by luciferase reporter and western blot assays. The nude-mice transplanted TNBC models were established to assess the anti-TNBC activities of SHH002-hu1 when combined with Bevacizumab. Then, the effects on putative TNBC stem-like cells and Wnt/?-catenin signaling were evaluated by immunofluorescence (IF). Further, the tumor-initiating and self-renew capacity of TNBC cells were studied by secondary nude mouse xenograft model and sphere formation assay. In addition, the effects of SHH002-hu1 on the adaptation of TNBC cells to hypoxia were evaluated by the detection of vasculogenic mimicry (VM) and hypoxia-inducible factor-1? (HIF-1?) transcriptional activity. Results The novel humanized antibody targeting Fzd7 (SHH002-hu1) exhibited extremely high affinity with Fzd7, and specifically targeted to Fzd7+ cells and tumor tissues. SHH002-hu1 repressed invasion, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal cell transformation (EMT) of TNBC cells induced by Bevacizumab through abating Wnt/?-catenin signaling. SHH002-hu1 significantly enhanced the capacity of Bevacizumab to inhibit the growth of TNBC via reducing the subpopulation of putative TNBC stem-like cells, further attenuating Bevacizumab-enhanced tumor-initiating and self-renew capacity of TNBC cells. Moreover, SHH002-hu1 effectively restrained the adaptation of TNBC cells to hypoxia via disrupting Wnt/?-catenin signaling. Conclusion SHH002-hu1 significantly enhances the anti-TNBC capacity of Bevacizumab, and shows the potential of preventing TNBC recurrence, suggesting SHH002-hu1 a good candidate for the synergistic therapy together with Bevacizumab. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13046-020-01800-x.

Project description:The acquisition of integrin-directed metastasis-associated (ID-MA) phenotypes by Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) cells is caused by an upregulation of the Wnt-beta-catenin pathway (WP). We reported that WP is one of the salient genetic features of TNBC. RAC-GTPases, small G-proteins which transduce signals from cell surface proteins including integrins, have been implicated in tumorigenesis and metastasis by their role in essential cellular functions like motility. The collective percentage of alteration(s) in RAC1 in ER+ve BC was lower as compared to ER-ve BC (35% vs 57%) (brca/tcga/pub2015). High expression of RAC1 was associated with poor outcome for RFS with HR=1.48 [CI: 1.15-1.9] p=0.0019 in the Hungarian ER-veBC cohort. Here we examined how WP signals are transduced via RAC1 in the context of ID-MA phenotypes in TNBC. Using pharmacological agents (sulindac sulfide), genetic tools (beta-catenin siRNA), WP modulators (Wnt-C59, XAV939), RAC1 inhibitors (NSC23766, W56) and WP stimulations (LWnt3ACM, Wnt3A recombinant) in a panel of 6-7 TNBC cell lines, we studied fibronectin-directed (1) migration, (2) matrigel invasion, (3) RAC1 and Cdc42 activation, (4) actin dynamics (confocal microscopy) and (5) podia-parameters. An attenuation of WP, which (a) decreased cellular levels of beta-catenin, as well as its nuclear active-form, (b) decreased fibronectin-induced migration, (c) decreased invasion, (d) altered actin dynamics and (e) decreased podia-parameters was successful in blocking fibronectin-mediated RAC1/Cdc42 activity. Both Wnt-antagonists and RAC1 inhibitors blocked fibronectin-induced RAC1 activation and inhibited the fibronectin-induced ID-MA phenotypes following specific WP stimulation by LWnt3ACM as well as Wnt3A recombinant protein. To test a direct involvement of RAC1-activation in WP-mediated ID-MA phenotypes, we stimulated brain-metastasis specific MDA-MB231BR cells with LWnt3ACM. LWnt3ACM-stimulated fibronectin-directed migration was blocked by RAC1 inhibition in MDA-MB231BR cells. In the light of our previous report that WP upregulation causes ID-MA phenotypes in TNBC tumor cells, here we provide the first mechanism based evidence to demonstrate that WP upregulation signals ID-MA tumor cell phenotypes in a RAC1-GTPase dependent manner involving exchange-factors like TIAM1 and VAV2. Our study demonstrates for the first time that beta-catenin-RAC1 cascade signals integrin-directed metastasis-associated tumor cell phenotypes in TNBC.

Dataset Information

Destabilization of ?-catenin and RAS by targeting the Wnt/?-catenin pathway as a potential treatment for triple-negative breast cancer.

Publications

Destabilization of β-catenin and RAS by targeting the Wnt/β-catenin pathway as a potential treatment for triple-negative breast cancer.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure