DNA structure-specific endonuclease FEN1 as a novel drug target in tamoxifen resistant breast cancer.
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ABSTRACT: Estrogen receptor α (ERα) is a key transcriptional regulator in the majority of breast cancers. ERα-positive patients are frequently treated with tamoxifen, but resistance is common. In this study, we refined a previously identified 111-gene outcome prediction-classifier, revealing FEN1 as the strongest determining factor in ERα-positive patient prognostication. FEN1 levels were predictive of outcome in tamoxifen-treated patients, and FEN1 played a causal role in ERα-driven cell growth. FEN1 impacted the transcriptional-activity of ERα by facilitating coactivator recruitment to the ERα transcriptional complex. FEN1 blockade induced proteasome-mediated degradation of activated ERα, resulting in loss of ERα-driven gene expression and eradicated tumor cell proliferation. Finally, a high-throughput 465,195 compound screen identified a novel FEN1 inhibitor, which effectively blocked ERα-function and inhibited proliferation of tamoxifen-resistant cell lines as well as ex-vivo cultured ERα-positive breast tumors. Collectively, these results provide therapeutic proof-of-principle for FEN1 blockade in tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer.
Project description:Estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is highly expressed in most breast cancers. Consequently, ERα modulators, such as tamoxifen, are successful in breast cancer treatment, although tamoxifen resistance is commonly observed. While tamoxifen resistance may be caused by altered ERα signaling, the molecular mechanisms regulating ERα signaling and tamoxifen resistance are not entirely clear. Here, we found that PAK4 expression was consistently correlated to poor patient outcome in endocrine treated and tamoxifen-only treated breast cancer patients. Importantly, while PAK4 overexpression promoted tamoxifen resistance in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, pharmacological treatment with a group II PAK (PAK4, 5, 6) inhibitor, GNE-2861, sensitized tamoxifen resistant MCF-7/LCC2 breast cancer cells to tamoxifen. Mechanistically, we identified a regulatory positive feedback loop, where ERα bound to the PAK4 gene, thereby promoting PAK4 expression, while PAK4 in turn stabilized the ERα protein, activated ERα transcriptional activity and ERα target gene expression. Further, PAK4 phosphorylated ERα-Ser305, a phosphorylation event needed for the PAK4 activation of ERα-dependent transcription. In conclusion, PAK4 may be a suitable target for perturbing ERα signaling and tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer patients.
Project description:In this study, we probed the importance of OGT activity for the survival of Tamoxifen-sensitive (TamS) and Tamoxifen-resistant (TamR) breast cancer cells. Tamoxifen is an antagonist of estrogen receptor (ERα), a transcription factor expressed in over half of all breast cancers, and the defining characteristic of the ERα-positive disease. ERα-positive breast cancers are successfully treated with Tamoxifen; however, a significant number of patients develops Tamoxifen-resistant disease. We show here that in vitro development of Tamoxifen-resistance results in acquired sensitivity to OGT small molecule inhibitor OSMI-1. Global transcriptome profiling revealed that TamS cells adapt to OSMI-1 treatment by undergoing significant chromatin compaction. In the TamR cells, however, OGT inhibition induces ERRFI1 tumor-suppressor gene expression. ERRFI1 is an endogenous inhibitor of ERBB-signaling, while activation of the ERBB-signaling is one of the best understood mechanism for Tamoxifen-resistance. We show that ERRFI1 is selectively downregulated in ERα-positive breast cancers and breast cancers driven by ERBB2, and provide data to support that this occurs through promoter methylation. Finally, we show that increased ERRFI1 expression is associated with extended survival in patients with ERα-positive tumors (p=9.2e-8). In summary, we show that Tamoxifen-resistance is associated with acquired sensitivity to OSMI-1, and propose that this is explained in part through an epigenetic activation of the tumor-suppressor ERRFI1 in response to OSMI-1 treatment.
Project description:Approximately 40% ERα-positive breast cancer patients suffer from therapeutic resistance to tamoxifen. Although reduced ERα level is the major cause of tamoxifen resistance, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we report that FRMD8 raises the level of ERα at both transcriptional and post-translational layers. FRMD8 deficiency in MMTV-Cre+; Frmd8fl/fl; PyMT mice accelerates mammary tumor growth and loss of luminal phenotype, and confers tamoxifen resistance. Single-cell RNA profiling reveals that Frmd8 loss decreases the proportion of hormone-sensing differentiated epithelial cells and downregulates the levels of ERα. Mechanically, on one hand, loss of FRMD8 inhibits ESR1 transcription via suppressing the expression of FOXO3A, a transcription factor of ESR1. On the other hand, FRMD8 interacts both with ERα and UBE3A, and disrupts the interaction of UBE3A with ERα, thereby blocking UBE3A-mediated ERα degradation. In breast cancer patients, FRMD8 gene promoter is found hypermethylated and low level of FRMD8 predicts poor prognosis. Therefore, FRMD8 is an important regulator of ERα and may control therapeutic sensitivity to tamoxifen in ERα-positive breast cancer patients.
Project description:Estrogen and estrogen receptor (ER) signaling play critical roles in the development of ER-positive breast cancer, and endocrine therapy is the frontline treatment for ER-positive breast cancer patients. However, the primary and acquired resistance to endocrine therapy including tamoxifen and fulvestrant remains as the major challenge in the clinic. Here, we identified an estrogen-induced lncRNA, LINC02568, through transcriptomic analysis, which is highly expressed in ER-positive breast cancer. LINC02568 is functional important in ER-positive breast cancer cell growth in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo as well as endocrine therapy resistance. Mechanically, we demonstrated that LINC02568 regulates, in trans, estrogen/ERα-induced gene transcriptional activation by sponging miR-1233-5p to stabilize ESR1 mRNA in the cytoplasm. Meanwhile, LINC02568 contributes to tumor-specific pH homeostasis in breast cancer cells by regulating CA12 in cis in the nucleus. The dual functions of LINC02568 together contribute to breast cancer cell growth and tumorigenesis as well as endocrine therapy resistance. Antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) targeting LINC02568 significantly inhibits ER-positive breast cancer cell growth in vitro and tumorigenesis in vivo as well as resensitize tamoxifen-resistant cells to tamoxifen. Furthermore, combination treatment with ASO targeting LINC02568 and tamoxifen exhibits synergistic effect on tumor growth. Taken together, our findings revealed dual mechanisms of LINC02568 in regulating ERα signaling and pH homeostasis in ER-positive breast cancer, and indicated that targeting LINC02568 might represent a potential therapeutic avenue in clinic.
Project description:Tamoxifen is the most widely administered adjuvant first-line hormone therapy for Estrogen receptor α (ERα) positive breast cancer patients. However, one from three patients will develop resistance, while the underlying molecular mechanisms are currently unclear. Recent studies reported that abnormal expression of miRNAs played a role in cancer progress. To study the potential function of miRNAs in tamoxifen resistance, Affymetrix GeneChip® miRNA 3.0 microarray was employed to identify differentially expressed miRNAs between tamoxifen sensitive MCF7 parent (MCF7-Pa) cells and induced resistant (MCF7-Re) cells.
Project description:Despite the availability of effective drugs that target ERα-positive breast cancer, resistance commonly occurs, resulting in relapse, metastasis, and death. Tamoxifen remains the most commonly-prescribed endocrine therapy worldwide, and “tamoxifen resistance” has been extensively studied. However, little consideration has been given to the role of tamoxifen’s primary active metabolite, endoxifen, in driving resistance mechanisms. Endoxifen is the most abundant active tamoxifen metabolite detected in patients and functions differently from the parent drug and other primary metabolites, including 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen (4HT). Many studies have shown that patients who extensively metabolize tamoxifen into endoxifen have superior outcomes relative to patients who do not, further supporting a primary role for endoxifen in driving tamoxifen responses. Therefore, “tamoxifen resistance” may be actually better modeled by “endoxifen resistance” for such patients. Here, we report the development of a novel endoxifen-resistant breast cancer cell line and have extensively compared this model to tamoxifen (4HT) and fulvestrant (ICI) resistant models. Endoxifen-resistant cells were found to be phenotypically and molecularly distinct from 4HT-resistant cells and more closely resembled ICI-resistant cells overall. Specifically, endoxifen resistance was associated with ERα and PR loss, estrogen insensitivity, EMT-like features, a unique gene signature, and striking resistance to most FDA-approved second- and third-line therapies. Given these findings, and the importance of endoxifen in the efficacy of tamoxifen therapy, our data indicate that endoxifen-resistant models may be more clinically relevant than existing models and suggest that a better understanding of endoxifen resistance could substantially improve patient care.
Project description:Rationale: Tamoxifen prevents the recurrence of breast cancer and is also beneficial against bone demineralization and arterial diseases, as it acts as an Estrogen Receptor (ER) α antagonist in ER-positive breast cancers, whereas it mimics the protective action of 17β-estradiol (E2) in other tissues such as arteries. However, the mechanisms of these tissue-specific actions remain unclear. Objective: Here we tested whether tamoxifen is able to accelerate endothelial healing and analyzed the underlying mechanisms. Methods and Results: Using three complementary mouse models of carotid artery injury, we demonstrated that both tamoxifen and estradiol accelerated endothelial healing, but only tamoxifen required the presence of the underlying medial smooth muscle cells. Chronic treatment with E2 and tamoxifen elicited differential gene expression profiles in the carotid artery. The use of transgenic models mouse targeting either whole ERα in a cell-specific manner or ERα subfunctions (membrane/extra-nuclear versus genomic/transcriptional) demonstrated that E2-induced acceleration of endothelial healing is mediated by membrane ERα in endothelial cells, while the effect of tamoxifen is mediated by the nuclear actions of ERα in smooth muscle cells. Conclusion: Whereas tamoxifen acts as an anti-estrogen and ERα antagonist in breast cancer, but also on the membrane ERα of endothelial cells, it accelerates endothelial healing through activation of nuclear ERα in smooth muscle cells, inviting to revisit the mechanisms of action of selective modulation of ERα.
Project description:Majority of breast cancer specific deaths in women with ERα (+) tumor occur due to metastases that are resistant to endocrine therapy. There is a critical need for novel therapeutic approaches to resensitize recurrent ERα (+) tumors to endocrine therapies. The objective of this study was to elucidate mechanisms of improved effectiveness of combined targeting of ERα and XPO1, a nuclear transport protein in overcoming endocrine resistance. Selinexor (SXR), an XPO1 antagonist, has been evaluated in multiple later stage clinical trials in patients with relapsed and /or refractory hematological and solid tumor malignancies. Using human phosphokinase array to profile kinase signaling pathways, we found that 4-OH Tamoxifen, SXR or their combination induced differential Akt phosphorylation profiles, changing the phosphorylation status and activity of the kinase. Also, our RNA sequencing data indicated that 4-OH Tamoxifen+SXR combination treatment causes gene expression changes distinct from 4-OH Tamoxifen and SXR treatments alone in tamoxifen-resistant cell lines. Since we observed dramatic changes in Akt activity and we saw a differential gene expression pattern with individual and combined 4-OH Tamoxifen and SXR treatments, we hypothesized that metabolic profile of breast cancer cells would change in the presence of 4-OH Tamoxifen and SXR. Using Seahorse metabolic profiler and cell viability experiments in limited media conditions, we showed that tamoxifen resistant cells were more dependent on mitochondria for energy production. Their glucose and fatty acid dependency decreased in the presence of SXR and cells were more dependent on glutamine as the mitochondrial fuel source. We demonstrated that combined targeting of XPO1 and ERα rewires metabolic pathways and shuts down both glycolytic and mitochondrial pathways that would eventually lead to autophagy. Remodelling metabolic pathways to regenerate new vulnerabilities in endocrine resistant breast tumors is novel, and given the need for better strategies for improving therapy response of relapsed ERα (+) tumors, our findings show great promise for uncovering the role of ERα-XPO1 crosstalk plays in reducing cancer recurrences.
Project description:As a central component during Okazaki fragment maturation, flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) removes the 5â flap and maintains genomic stability. Here, FEN1 was cloned as a suppressor of transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) from a forward genetic screen. FEN1 is abundant in the root and shoot apical meristems and FEN1-GFP shows a nucleolus-localized signal in tobacco cells. Arabidopsis fen1-1 mutant is hypersensitive to MMS and shows reduced telomere length. Interestingly, genome-wide ChIP-seq and RNA-seq results demonstrate that FEN1 mutation leads to a decrease in the H3K27me3 level and an increase in the expression of a subset of genes marked with H3K27me3. Overall, these results uncover a role for FEN1 in mediating TGS besides maintaining genome stability in Arabidopsis. To characterized the role of FEN1 in epigenetic silencing, we examine histone modification and RNA expression changes by whole-genome RNA sequencing; H3K27me3-, H3K4me3-, H3K9me2-, H3-ChIP-seq in A. thaliana transgenic wild type (TWT) and fen1 mutant
Project description:The molecular mechanisms underlying estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast carcinogenesis and endocrine therapy resistance remain incompletely understood. Here, we reported that circPVT1, a circular RNA generated from lncRNA PVT1, is highly expressed in ERalpha-positive breast cancer cell lines and tumor samples, which is functionally important in promoting ERalpha-positive breast tumorigenesis and endocrine therapy resistance. CircPVT1 acts as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) to sponge miR-181a-2-3p, promoting the expression of ESR1 and downstream ERalpha-target genes and breast cancer cell growth. Meanwhile, circPVT1 directly interacts with MAVS to disrupt the RIGI-MAVS complex formation, inhibiting type I interferon (IFN) signaling pathway and anti-tumor immunity. The dual mechanisms both contribute to ERα-positive breast tumorigenesis. Anti-sense oligonucleotides (ASO) targeting circPVT1 was shown to inhibit ERalpha-positive breast cancer cell and tumor growth, and could re-sensitize tamoxifen-resistant ERalpha-positive breast cancer cells to tamoxifen treatment. Taken together, our data demonstrated that circPVT1 can work through both ceRNA and protein scaffold mechanisms to promote cancer, and in particular, circPVT1 may serve as a diagnosis biomarker and therapeutic target for ERalpha-positive breast cancer in the clinic.