scholarly journals VGLL1-directed TEAD activation drives endocrine therapy resistance in estrogen receptor positive breast cancer

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolina Gemma ◽  
Anup K Singh ◽  
Antonino Belfiore ◽  
Chun-Fui Lai ◽  
Manikandan Periyasamy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Estrogen Receptor ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Breast Cancer Cells ◽  
Standard Of Care ◽  
Therapy Resistance ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
New Therapeutic Approaches ◽  
Positive Breast Cancer ◽  
Resistant Cells

AbstractEndocrine therapies are standard-of-care treatments for estrogen receptor (ER) positive breast cancer. However, patients with ER+ breast cancer develop resistance to these therapies and most relapsed patients die with endocrine-resistant metastatic disease. Here we show that resistance to the ER degrader, fulvestrant, is accompanied by epigenetic activation of the transcriptional co-activator VGLL1. Rewiring of the epigenome in therapy resistant cells also results in increased binding of the transcription factor TEAD4. Through interaction with TEAD4, VGLL1 induces the expression of genes implicated in cell proliferation in the resistant cells. We demonstrate that VGLL1 is necessary for the growth of fulvestrant-resistant breast cancer cells. Pharmacological disruption of VGLL1/TEAD4 interaction blocked growth of fulvestrant-resistant cells, accompanied by inhibition of VGLL1/TEAD transcriptional programmes. Furthermore, we identify EGFR as an important downstream VGLL1 target, whereby VGLL1-directed EGFR upregulation sensitises fulvestrant-resistant breast cancer cells to EGFR inhibitors. Taken together, our findings identify VGLL1 as a key transcriptional driver in endocrine-resistant breast cancer and identify new therapeutic approaches for advanced breast cancer patients.

scholarly journals Hyperglycaemia-induced chemoresistance in breast cancer cells: role of the estrogen receptor

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Zeng ◽  
H A Zielinska ◽  
A Arshad ◽  
J P Shield ◽  
A Bahl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Estrogen Receptor ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Cancer Patients ◽  
Breast Cancer Cells ◽  
Diabetic Patients ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
Patients With Diabetes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Breast Cancer

Breast cancer patients with diabetes respond less well to chemotherapy; in keeping with this we determined previously that hyperglycaemia-induced chemoresistance in estrogen receptor (ERα) positive breast cancer cells and showed that this was mediated by fatty acid synthase (FASN). More recent evidence suggests that the effect of metabolic syndrome and diabetes is not the same for all subtypes of breast cancer with inferior disease-free survival and worse overall survival only found in women with ERα positive breast cancer and not for other subtypes. Here we examined the impact of hyperglycaemia on ERα negative breast cancer cells and further investigated the mechanism underlying chemoresistance in ERα with a view to identifying strategies to alleviate hyperglycaemia-induced chemoresistance. We found that hyperglycaemia-induced chemoresistance was only observed in ERα breast cancer cells and was dependent upon the expression of ERα as chemoresistance was negated when the ERα was silenced. Hyperglycaemia-induced an increase in activation and nuclear localisation of the ERα that was downstream of FASN and dependent on the activation of MAPK. We found that fulvestrant successfully negated the hyperglycaemia-induced chemoresistance, whereas tamoxifen had no effect. In summary our data suggests that the ERα may be a predictive marker of poor response to chemotherapy in breast cancer patients with diabetes. It further indicates that anti-estrogens could be an effective adjuvant to chemotherapy in such patients and indicates the importance for the personalised management of breast cancer patients with diabetes highlighting the need for clinical trials of tailored chemotherapy for diabetic patients diagnosed with ERα positive breast cancers.

scholarly journals Palbociclib and fulvestrant act in synergy to modulate central carbon metabolism in breast cancer cells

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedikt Warth ◽  
Amelia Palermo ◽  
Nicholas J.W. Rattray ◽  
Nathan V Lee ◽  
Zhou Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Estrogen Receptor ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Pentose Phosphate Pathway ◽  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Breast Cancer Cells ◽  
Pentose Phosphate ◽  
List Type ◽  
Estrogen Receptor Positive ◽  
Positive Breast Cancer

SummaryPalbociclib, is a selective inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 and used as a first-line treatment for patients with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. It has been shown that patients have improved progression-free survival when treated in combination with fulvestrant, an estrogen receptor antagonist. However, the mechanisms for this survival advantage are not known. We sought to analyze metabolic and transcriptomic changes in MCF-7 adenocarcinoma breast cancer cells following single and combined treatments to determine if selective metabolic pathways are targeted during combination therapy. Our results showed that individually, the drugs caused metabolic disruption to the same metabolic pathways, however fulvestrant additionally attenuated the pentose phosphate pathway and the production of important coenzymes. A comprehensive effect was observed when the drugs were applied together, confirming the combinatory therapy′s synergism in the cell model. This study highlights the power of merging high-dimensional datasets to unravel mechanisms involved in cancer metabolism and therapy.Highlights○First study employing multi-omics to investigate combined therapy on breast cancer cells○Fulvestrant attenuates the pentose phosphate pathway and coenzyme production○Synergism of palbociclib and fulvestrant was confirmed in vitro○Altered key pathways have been identifiedeTOC BlurbJohnson et al. applied an innovative multi-omics approach to decipher metabolic pathways affected by single versus combination dosing of palbociclib and fulvestrant in estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. Key metabolites and genes were correlated within metabolic pathways and shown to be involved in the drugs′ synergism.

scholarly journals Oleanolic Acid’s Semisynthetic Derivatives HIMOXOL and Br-HIMOLID Show Proautophagic Potential and Inhibit Migration of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer Cells In Vitro

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (20) ◽  
pp. 11273
Author(s):  
Natalia Magdalena Lisiak ◽  
Izabela Lewicka ◽  
Mariusz Kaczmarek ◽  
Jacek Kujawski ◽  
Barbara Bednarczyk-Cwynar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Biological Activity ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Oleanolic Acid ◽  
Breast Cancer Cells ◽  
Breast Cancer Patients ◽  
Her2 Positive ◽  
Her2 Positive Breast Cancer ◽  
Positive Breast Cancer

Approximately 20–30% of the diagnosed breast cancers overexpress the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). This type of cancer is associated with a more aggressive phenotype; thus, there is a need for the discovery of new compounds that would improve the survival in HER2-positive breast cancer patients. It seems that one of the most promising therapeutic cancer strategies could be based on the biological activity of pentacyclic triterpenes’ derivatives and the best-known representative of this group, oleanolic acid (OA). The biological activity of oleanolic acid and its two semisynthetic derivatives, methyl 3-hydroxyimino-11-oxoolean-12-en-28-oate (HIMOXOL) and 12α-bromo-3-hydroxyimonoolean-28→13-olide (Br-HIMOLID), was assessed in SK-BR-3 breast cancer cells (HER2-positive). Viability tests, cell cycle assessment, evaluation of apoptosis, autophagy, and adhesion/migration processes were performed using MTT, clonogenic, cytofluorometry, Western blot, and qPCR. Both derivatives revealed higher cytotoxicity in studied breast cancer cells than the maternal compound, OA. They also decreased cell viability, induced autophagy, and (when applied in sub-cytotoxic concentrations) decreased the migration of SK-BR-3 cells.This study is the first to report the cytostatic, proautophagic (mTOR/LC3/SQSTM/BECN1 pathway), and anti-migratory (integrin β1/FAK/paxillin pathway) activities of HIMOXOL and Br-HIMOLID in HER2-positive breast cancer cells.

Calcineurin regulates the stability and activity of estrogen receptor α

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (44) ◽  
pp. e2114258118
Author(s):  
Takahiro Masaki ◽  
Makoto Habara ◽  
Yuki Sato ◽  
Takahiro Goshima ◽  
Keisuke Maeda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Estrogen Receptor ◽  
Cancer Cells ◽  
Cancer Progression ◽  
Breast Cancer Cells ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Target Genes ◽  
Estrogen Receptor Α ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Positive Breast Cancer

Estrogen receptor α (ER-α) mediates estrogen-dependent cancer progression and is expressed in most breast cancer cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of the cellular abundance and activity of ER-α remain unclear. We here show that the protein phosphatase calcineurin regulates both ER-α stability and activity in human breast cancer cells. Calcineurin depletion or inhibition down-regulated the abundance of ER-α by promoting its polyubiquitination and degradation. Calcineurin inhibition also promoted the binding of ER-α to the E3 ubiquitin ligase E6AP, and calcineurin mediated the dephosphorylation of ER-α at Ser294 in vitro. Moreover, the ER-α (S294A) mutant was more stable and activated the expression of ER-α target genes to a greater extent compared with the wild-type protein, whereas the extents of its interaction with E6AP and polyubiquitination were attenuated. These results suggest that the phosphorylation of ER-α at Ser294 promotes its binding to E6AP and consequent degradation. Calcineurin was also found to be required for the phosphorylation of ER-α at Ser118 by mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 and the consequent activation of ER-α in response to β-estradiol treatment. Our study thus indicates that calcineurin controls both the stability and activity of ER-α by regulating its phosphorylation at Ser294 and Ser118. Finally, the expression of the calcineurin A–α gene (PPP3CA) was associated with poor prognosis in ER-α–positive breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen or other endocrine therapeutic agents. Calcineurin is thus a promising target for the development of therapies for ER-α–positive breast cancer.

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