Project description:Gene expression analyses were carried out to identify genes regulated by 17-beta estradiol (E2) and Hydroxytamoxifen (OHT) through GPR30 in SKBR3 cells, a breast cancer cell-line which expresses GPR30 but lacks Estrogen Receptor alpha or beta. Keywords: Gene expression analysis, Non-genomic signaling in breast cancer cells.
Project description:Gene expression analyses were carried out to identify genes regulated by 17-beta estradiol (E2) and Hydroxytamoxifen (OHT) through GPR30 in SKBR3 cells, a breast cancer cell-line which expresses GPR30 but lacks Estrogen Receptor alpha or beta. Keywords: Gene expression analysis, Non-genomic signaling in breast cancer cells. Gene expression analyses were done for control transfected SKBR3 cells: 1) Uninduced, 2) Induced with 10 microM OHT, 3) Induced with 1 microM E2 and 4) GPR30-antisense transfected cells induced with 10 microM OHT. The cells were induced for 1h and all the samples were collected in triplicates.
Project description:We have previously demonstrated that endoxifen is the most important tamoxifen metabolite responsible for eliciting the anti-estrogenic effects of this drug in breast cancer cells expressing estrogen receptor-alpha. However, the relevance of estrogen receptor-beta in mediating endoxifen action has yet to be explored. Therefore, the goals of this study were to determine the differences in the global gene expression profiles elicited by estradiol treatment and endoxifen between parental MCF7 breast cancer cells (expressing estrogen receptor alpha only) and MCF7 cells stably expressing estrogen receptor beta. Total RNA was isolated from parental or estrogen-receptor beta expressing MCF7 cells following 24 hour treatments with either ethanol vehicle, 1nM 17-beta-estradiol or 1nM estradiol plus 40nM endoxifen. All studies were conducted in biological replicates of 2.
Project description:We have previously demonstrated that endoxifen is the most important tamoxifen metabolite responsible for eliciting the anti-estrogenic effects of this drug in breast cancer cells expressing estrogen receptor-alpha. However, the relevance of estrogen receptor-beta in mediating endoxifen action has yet to be explored. Therefore, the goals of this study were to determine the differences in the global gene expression profiles elicited by estradiol treatment and endoxifen between parental MCF7 breast cancer cells (expressing estrogen receptor alpha only) and MCF7 cells stably expressing estrogen receptor beta.
Project description:Breast cancer (BC) is the second most common type of cancer in women and one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. BC classification is based on the detection of three main histological markers: estrogen receptor alpha (ERα), progesterone receptor (PR) and the amplification of epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu). A specific BC subtype, named triple-negative BC (TNBC), lacks the aforementioned markers but a fraction of them express the estrogen receptor beta (ERβ). To investigate the functional role of ERβ in these tumors, interaction proteomics coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) was applied to deeply characterize the nuclear interactors partners in MDA-MD-468 and HCC1806 TNBC cells.
Project description:The goal of this work was to identify all estrogen receptor beta target genes using RNA sequencing in MDA-MB-468 triple negative breast cancer cells engineered with inducible expression of full length estrogen receptor beta.
Project description:Retinoic acid receptor-alpha (RAR alpha) is a known estrogen target gene in breast cancer cells. The consequence of RAR alpha induction by estrogen was previously unknown. We now show that RAR alpha is required for efficient estrogen receptor-alpha (ER)-mediated transcription and cell proliferation. RAR alpha can interact with ER-binding sites, but this occurs in an ER-dependent manner, providing a novel role for RAR alpha that is independent of its classic role. We show, on a genome-wide scale, that RAR alpha and ER can co-occupy regulatory regions together within the chromatin. This transcriptionally active co-occupancy and dependency occurs when exposed to the predominant breast cancer hormone, estrogen--an interaction that is promoted by the estrogen-ER induction of RAR alpha. These findings implicate RAR alpha as an essential component of the ER complex, potentially by maintaining ER-cofactor interactions, and suggest that different nuclear receptors can cooperate for effective transcriptional activity in breast cancer cells. RAR alpha silenced breast cancer MCF-7 cell lines or control siRNA in the presence of estrogen or a vehicle. MCF-7 cells were hormone-depleted for 3 d and treated with 100 nM estrogen for 12 h. There were three biological replicates for each of the four different groups.
Project description:Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly heterogeneous disease representing the most aggressive breast cancer (BC) subtype. Lack of Estrogen Receptor alpha (ERα), progesterone receptor (PR) and epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu) expression makes TNBC immune to common therapies, significantly limiting the treatment options and suggesting the need to identify novel therapeutic targets. It was previously reported that Estrogen Receptor beta (ERβ) is expressed in a fraction of TNBC patients, where its presence correlates with improved patient outcome. Recently, we demonstrated an oncosuppressive ERβ effect in TNBC cell models expressing exogenous ERβ. On the other hand, it was shown that ERβ is involved in miRNA-mediated gene regulation in hormone-responsive BC cells, suggesting similar effect also in TNBC. To verify this hypothesis, we performed small non-coding RNA (sncRNA) sequencing on three engineered cell lines belonging to different TNBC molecular subtypes. ERβ-specific changes of sncRNA profile revealed that the major part of deregulated molecules are subtype specific, with only few commonly regulated ones. In order to validate the obtained results, we performed sncRNA profiling of 12 ERβ positive and 32 ERβ negative TNBC tissues, whose receptor status was assessed by immunohistochemistry in our previous research. Also here, ERβ-specific group of deregulated sncRNAs was identified. Interestingly, comparison of obtained in vitro and in vivo results revealed 2 differentially expressed miRNAs, displaying the same behavior in all three analyzed cell lines and tissues. In concordance with our previous results, IPA signaling pathway analysis performed on genes targeted by deregulated miRNAs highlighted downregulation of cholesterol biosynthesis pathway and upregulation of several signaling processes. Taken together, these findings suggest that ERβ is able to exert its oncosuppressive role in TNBC through miRNA-mediated regulation of gene expression.
Project description:Advanced breast cancers represent a major therapeutic challenge due to their refractoriness to treatment. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the most abundant constituents of the tumor microenvironment and have been linked to most hallmarks of cancer. However, the influence of CAFs on therapeutic outcome remains largely unchartered. Here, we reveal that spatial coincidence of abundant CAF infiltration with malignant cells was associated with reduced estrogen receptor (ER)-α expression in luminal breast tumors. Notably, CAFs mediated estrogen-independent tumor growth by selectively regulating ER-α signaling. Whereas most prototypical estrogen-responsive genes were suppressed, CAFs maintained gene expression related to therapeutic resistance. A high-throughput drug screen in co-cultures identified effector pathways involved in the CAF-induced regulation of ER-α signaling. Among these, the transforming growth factor-β and the janus kinase signaling cascades were validated as actionable targets to counteract the CAF-induced ER-α modulation. Finally, genes that were downregulated in cancer cells by CAFs were predictive of poor response to endocrine treatment. In conclusion, our work reveals that CAFs directly control the luminal breast cancer phenotype by selectively modulating ER-α expression and transcriptional function, and further proposes novel targets to disrupt the crosstalk between CAFs and tumor cells to reinstate treatment response to endocrine therapy in patients.