scholarly journals 925 Utilizing multiplex immunofluorescence to explore the epithelial-mesenchymal transition in breast, ovarian cancers

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (Suppl 3) ◽  
pp. A970-A970
Author(s):  
Danielle Fails ◽  
Michael Spencer

BackgroundEpithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is instrumental during embryonic development—assisting in extensive movement and differentiation of cells. However, during metastasis and tumorigenesis, this process is hijacked. The disruption of this developmental process, and subsequent acquisition of a mesenchymal phenotype, has been shown to increase therapeutic resistance and often leads to poor prognosis in breast cancer.1 Using bioinformatic resources and current clinical data, we designed a panel of biomarkers of value to specifically observe this epithelial/mesenchymal transition.MethodsHuman breast cancer FFPE tissue samples were stained with Bethyl Laboratories IHC-validated primary antibodies, followed by Bethyl HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies, and detected using Akoya Opal™ Polaris 7-color IHC kit fluorophores (Akoya Biosciences [NEL861001KT]). The panel consisted of beta-Catenin, E-Cadherin, Ki67, CD3e, PD-L1, and FOXP3. Antibody staining order was optimized using tissue microarray serial sections, three slides per target, and stained in either the first, third, or sixth position via heat-induced epitope retrieval (HIER) methods. Exposure time was maintained for all three slides/target and cell counts, signal intensity, background, and autofluorescence were analyzed. The final optimized order was then tested on the breast cancer microarray in seven-color mIF. Whole slide scans were generated using the Vectra Polaris® and analyses performed using InForm® and R® Studio.ResultsTwo integral EMT targets, E-Cadherin and beta-Catenin, were used to observe a key occurrence in this transition. Under tumorigenic circumstances, when released from the complex they form together (E-cadherin-B-catenin complex), Beta-catenin can induce EMT. This disjunction/activation of EMT can be seen in the invasive ductal carcinoma below (figure 1).The disorganized E-cadherin cells are in direct contrast to normal, non-cancerous cells in similar tissue. Total CD3e cell counts were down (2%), with 35% cells restricted to the stroma vs. the 1% seen intra-tumorally. Coupled with the elevated presence of Ki67 (10%), a level of rapid cancer growth and potential metastasis (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Grade II) can be observed.Abstract 925 Figure 1Invasive ductal carcinoma, grade II stained with a 6-plex mIF panel designed to show the epithelial-mesenchymal transitionConclusionsThe presence of EMT in breast cancers is often indicative of a poor prognosis, so the need for reliable markers is imperative. E-Cadherin and beta-Catenin are both up-and-coming clinical targets that can serve to outline this transition within the tumor microenvironment. By utilizing these markers in mIF, closer spatial examination of proteins of interest can be achieved. The application of this mIF panel has the potential to provide invaluable insights into how tumor infiltrating lymphocytes behave in cancers exhibiting the hallmarks of EMT.AcknowledgementsWe would like to acknowledge Clemens Deurrschmid, PhD, Technical Applications Scientist Southeast/South Central, Akoya Biosciences for his assistance with image analysis.ReferencesHorne HN, Oh H, Sherman ME, et al. E-cadherin breast tumor expression, risk factors and survival: pooled analysis of 5,933 cases from 12 studies in the breast cancer association consortium. Sci Rep 2018;8:6574.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yawei Wang ◽  
Yingying Sun ◽  
Chao Shang ◽  
Lili Chen ◽  
Hongyu Chen ◽  
...  

AbstractRing1b is a core subunit of polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) and is essential in several high-risk cancers. However, the epigenetic mechanism of Ring1b underlying breast cancer malignancy is poorly understood. In this study, we showed increased expression of Ring1b promoted metastasis by weakening cell–cell adhesions of breast cancer cells. We confirmed that Ring1b could downregulate E-cadherin and contributed to an epigenetic rewiring via PRC1-dependent function by forming distinct complexes with DEAD-box RNA helicases (DDXs) or epithelial-mesenchymal transition transcription factors (EMT TFs) on site-specific loci of E-cadherin promoter. DDXs-Ring1b complexes moderately inhibited E-cadherin, which resulted in an early hybrid EMT state of epithelial cells, and EMT TFs-Ring1b complexes cooperated with DDXs-Ring1b complexes to further repress E-cadherin in mesenchymal-like cancer cells. Clinically, high expression of Ring1b with DDXs or EMT TFs predicted low levels of E-cadherin, metastatic behavior, and poor prognosis. These findings provide an epigenetic regulation mechanism of Ring1b complexes in E-cadherin expression. Ring1b complexes may be potential therapeutic targets and biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis in invasion breast cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
zhuo Chen ◽  
jing Wu ◽  
liang Wang ◽  
hua Zhao ◽  
jie He

Abstract Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer. More and more studies have shown that the tumor immune microenvironment (TME) of TNBC is closely related to its poor prognosis and early metastasis. We try to explain how tumor-associate macrophages (TAMs), an important component of the TME, function in the matrix of TNBC. Therefore, we induced THP-1 cells to become M1-TAMs and M2-TAMs, investigated their influence on breast cancer cells. 82 TNBC paraffin samples were made into tissue microarrays. The expression of macrophages makers were measured by immunohistochemistry. Scratch assay, Transwell assay, CCK-8 cell proliferation assay were performed in the co-culture system of breast cancer cells lines and macrophages to observe the invasion and proliferation ability of breast cancer cell lines. Western Blot (WB) was performed to detect the expression of E-cadherin (CDH1) and N-cadherin (CDH2). M2-TAMs were more numerous than M1-TAMs in the matrix of TNBC cancer nests and associated with poor prognosis. M2-TAMs promoted the invasion, migration and proliferation of TNBC cells. M1-TAMs had inhibitory effects. In MCF-7 cells, WB showed a decrease in CDH1 and an increase in CDH2. In MDA-MB-231 cells and BT549 cells, CDH2 expression was reduced and CDH1 expression was increased. All of the above results were statistically significant, p < 0.001. M2-TAMs were more numerous in TNBC and associated with poor prognosis. M2-TAMs promoted the invasion, migration and proliferation of breast cancer cells. The mechanism may be related to the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).


Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Ming Huang ◽  
Chin-Sheng Huang ◽  
Tung-Nien Hsu ◽  
Mao-Suan Huang ◽  
Iat-Hang Fong ◽  
...  

Elevated activity of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1) has been implicated in the tumorigenesis of different cancer types. However, the functional roles of SREBP1 in esophageal cancer are not well appreciated. Here, we aimed to investigate the therapeutic potential of SREBP1 and associated signaling in esophageal cancer. Our initial bioinformatics analyses showed that SREBP1 expression was overexpressed in esophageal tumors and correlated with a significantly lower overall survival rate in patients. Additionally, tumor suppressor miR-142-5p was predicted to target SREBP1/ZEB1 and a lower miR-142-5p was correlated with poor prognosis. We then performed in vitro experiments and showed that overexpressing SREBP1 in OE33 cell line led to increased abilities of colony formation, migration, and invasion; the opposite was observed in SREBP1-silenced OE21cells and SREBP1-silencing was accompanied by the reduced mesenchymal markers, including vimentin (Vim) and ZEB1, while E-cadherin and tumor suppressor miR-142-5p were increased. Subsequently, we first demonstrated that both SREBP1 and ZEB1 were potential targets of miR-142-5p, followed by the examination of the regulatory circuit of miR-142-5p and SREBP1/ZEB1. We observed that increased miR-142-5p level led to the reduced tumorigenic properties, such as migration and tumor sphere formation, and both observations were accompanied by the reduction of ZEB1 and SREBP1, and increase of E-cadherin. We then explored the potential therapeutic agent targeting SREBP1-associated signaling by testing fatostatin (4-hydroxytamoxifen, an active metabolite of tamoxifen). We found that fatostatin suppressed the cell viability of OE21 and OE33 cells and tumor spheres. Interestingly, fatostatin treatment reduced CD133+ population in both OE21 and OE33 cells in concert of increased miR-142-5p level. Finally, we evaluated the efficacy of fatostatin using a xenograft mouse model. Mice treated with fatostatin showed a significantly lower tumor burden and better survival rate as compared to their control counterparts. The treatment of fatostatin resulted in the reduced staining of SREBP1, ZEB1, and Vim, while E-cadherin and miR-142-5p were increased. In summary, we showed that increased SREBP1 and reduced miR-142-5p were associated with increased tumorigenic properties of esophageal cancer cells and poor prognosis. Preclinical tests showed that suppression of SREBP1 using fatostatin led to the reduced malignant phenotype of esophageal cancer via the reduction of EMT markers and increased tumor suppressor, miR-142-5p. Further investigation is warranted for the clinical use of fatostatin for the treatment of esophageal malignancy.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Chen ◽  
Lin Chen ◽  
Duanyang Hong ◽  
Zongyue Chen ◽  
Jingyu Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe extracellular matrix protein fibronectin (FN) facilitates tumorigenesis and the development of breast cancer. Inhibition of the FN-induced cellular response is a potential strategy for breast cancer treatment. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the flavonoid baicalein on FN-induced epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) in MCF-10A breast epithelial cells and in a transgenic mouse MMTV-polyoma middle T antigen breast cancer model (MMTV-PyMT). Baicalein inhibited FN-induced migration, invasion, and F-actin remodeling. Baicalein also suppressed FN-induced downregulation of the epithelial markers E-cadherin and ZO-1 and upregulation of the mesenchymal markers N-cadherin, vimentin, and Snail. Further investigation revealed that calpain-2 was involved in baicalein suppression of FN-induced EMT. Baicalein significantly decreased FN-enhanced calpain-2 expression and activation by suppressing its plasma membrane localization, substrate cleavage, and degradation of its endogenous inhibitor calpastatin. Overexpression of calpain-2 in MCF-10A cells by gene transfection partially blocked the inhibitory effect of baicalein on FN-induced EMT changes. In addition, baicalein inhibited calpain-2 by decreasing FN-increased intracellular calcium ion levels and extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases activation. Baicalein significantly decreased tumor onset, growth, and pulmonary metastasis in a spontaneous breast cancer MMTV-PyMT mouse model. Baicalein also reduced the expression of FN, calpain-2, and vimentin, but increased E-cadherin expression in MMTV-PyMT mouse tumors. Overall, these results revealed that baicalein markedly inhibited FN-induced EMT by inhibiting calpain-2, thus providing novel insights into the pharmacological action and mechanism of baicalein. Baicalein may therefore possess therapeutic potential for the treatment of breast cancer though interfering with extracellular matrix–cancer cell interactions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danping Wang ◽  
Yifan Wang ◽  
Xuebiao Wu ◽  
Xiangxing Kong ◽  
Jun Li ◽  
...  

BackgroundE-cadherin, a hallmark of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), is often repressed due to Snail-mediated epigenetic modification; however, the exact mechanism remains unclear. There is an urgent need to understand the determinants of tumor aggressiveness and identify potential therapeutic targets in breast cancer.Experimental designWe studied the association of RNF20 with Snail and G9a by co-immunoprecipitation. We employed quantitative real-time PCR, ChIP, transwell assay, colony formation assay, and mammosphere assay to dissect the molecular events associated with the repression of E-cadherin in human breast cancer. We used a proteogenomic dataset that contains 105 breast tumor samples to determine the clinical relevance of RNF20 by Kaplan-Meier analyses.ResultsIn this study, we identified that Snail interacted with RNF20, an E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase responsible for monoubiquitination of H2BK120, and G9a, a methyltransferase for H3K9me2. RNF20 expression led to the inhibition of E-cadherin expression in the human breast cancer cells. Mechanically, we showed that RNF20 and H3K9m2 were enriched on the promoter of E-cadherin and knockdown of Snail reduced the enrichment of RNF20, showing a Snail-dependent manner. RNF20 expression enhanced breast cancer cell migration, invasion, tumorsphere and colony formation. Clinically, patients with high RNF20 expression had shorter overall survival.ConclusionRNF20 expression contributes to EMT induction and breast cancer progression through Snail-mediated epigenetic suppression of E-cadherin expression, suggesting the importance of RNF20 in breast cancer.


2012 ◽  
Vol 72 (14) ◽  
pp. 3593-3606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie A. Vendrell ◽  
Aurélie Thollet ◽  
Nhan T. Nguyen ◽  
Sandra E. Ghayad ◽  
Stéphanie Vinot ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting-juan Zhang ◽  
Jing-dong Zhou ◽  
Ji-chun Ma ◽  
Zhao-qun Deng ◽  
Zhen Qian ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a critical process which involves in tumor metastasis. As an important EMT marker gene, CDH1 (E-cadherin) expression and its clinical implication in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remain largely elusive. Methods: Real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR) was carried out to examine CDH1 transcript level in 123 de novo AML patients and 34 controls. Results: Compared with controls, CDH1 was significantly downregulated in AML (p<0.001). The median level of CDH1 expression divided total AML patients into CDH1 low-expressed (CDH11ow) and CDH1 high-expressed (CDH1high) groups. There were no significant differences between the two groups in age, peripheral blood cell counts, complete remission (CR) rate, and the distribution of FAB/WHO subtypes as well as karyotypes/karyotypic classifications (p>0.05). However, CDH11ow group tended to have a higher bone marrow (BM) blasts (p=0.093). The spearman correlation analysis further illustrated a trend towards a negative correlation between CDH1 expression level and BM blasts (r=–0.214, p=0.052). CDH1low group had a tendency towards a lower frequency of N/K-RAS mutations (p=0.094). Furthermore, CDH1low patients had markedly shorter overall survival (OS) time in cytogenetic normal AML (CN-AML) (p=0.019). Both univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed the prognostic value of CDH1 expression in CN-AML patients (p=0.027 and 0.033, respectively). Conclusions: CDH1 downregulation acted as an independent prognostic biomarker in CN-AML patients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 117822341878807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaimaa Elzamly ◽  
Nabeel Badri ◽  
Osvaldo Padilla ◽  
Alok Kumar Dwivedi ◽  
Luis A Alvarado ◽  
...  

The association between pathologic complete response (pCR) following to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and the improved survival in breast cancer has been previously reported. The aim of this study was is to explore the expression of several biomarkers described during epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the achievement of pCR in different molecular subtypes of breast cancer. We identified archived pathology tissue from patients with breast cancer who received NAC during the year 2014. We performed immunohistochemical analysis of vimentin, nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), E-cadherin, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor, and Her2neu and studied the association between the expression of these markers and pCR. A Fisher exact test for categorical cofactors, an unpaired t test and a nonparametric Wilcoxon test for continuous cofactors were used. The results showed a significant expression of vimentin in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC; P = .023). An inverse correlation between vimentin and the ER expression ( P = .032) was observed. No significant association was noted for vimentin, NF-κB, EGFR, and E-cadherin was associated with pCR. This study suggests that the evaluated EMT related biomarkers are not associated with pCR after NAC chemotherapy in an unselected breast cancer population. Vimentin and NF-κB expressions were associated with TNBC and could be further explored as potential therapeutic targets in this subgroup. A prevalence of vimentin and NF-κB among Hispanic patients with breast cancer warrants further investigation as a possibly contributing to the prevalence of TNBC and adverse prognosis in this population.


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