scholarly journals MicroRNA-638 inhibits the progression of breast cancer through targeting HOXA9 and suppressing Wnt/β-cadherin pathway

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Xu ◽  
Qianqian Zhang ◽  
Mengli Dong ◽  
Yuan Yu

Abstract Background Previous studies had shown that microRNA-638 (miR-638) exhibited different effects in malignant tumors. Moreover, the function of miR-638 has not been reported in breast cancer. Hence, we designed this research to explore the function of miR-638 in breast cancer. Methods Firstly, miR-638 expressions were measured in breast cancer tissues via RT-qPCR. Protein expressions were detected through immunocytochemical (IHC) assay and western blot analysis. Then, Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and Transwell assay were conducted to observe proliferation and motility of the cells. Dual luciferase assay was performed to confirm the binding site between miR-638 and Homeobox protein Hox-A9 (HOXA9). Results Reduced expression of miR-638 was detected in breast cancer. And low miR-638 expression was related to poor prognosis in patients with breast cancer. Functionally, the viability, migration, and invasion of the breast cancer cells were suppressed by miR-638 overexpression. Furthermore, miR-638 can directly bind to HOXA9, and increased expression of HOXA9 was also detected in breast cancer. In particular, HOXA9 upregulation can impair anti-tumor effect of miR-638 in breast cancer, and miR-638 can hinder the Wnt/β-cadherin pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in breast cancer. Conclusion miR-638 inhibits breast cancer progression through binding to HOXA9.

Breast Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingzi Zhang ◽  
Jiao Tian ◽  
Chi Qu ◽  
Yang Peng ◽  
Jinwei Lei ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Recent studies have indicated that serpin peptidase inhibitor, clade A, member 3 (SERPINA3) is a potential marker associated with tumor progression, which connoted that SERPINA3 is related to malignant phenotypes in cancer. However, the biological function of SERPINA3 in breast cancer (BC) remains unclear. Methods Bioinformatics data were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Immunohistochemical staining (IHC) was conducted to determine SERPINA3 expression. With strong aggressive abilities, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell lines (MDA-MB-231, BT549 and MDA-MB-436) were obtained to examine SERPINA3 expression and functions. Wound healing and Transwell assays were performed to measure cell migration and invasion. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was conducted to detect cell proliferation abilities and cell viabilities. Results SERPINA3 was upregulated in BC tissues. Functional assays suggested that overexpression of SERPINA3 significantly promoted cell proliferation, where migration and invasion of TNBC cells were accelerated. Knockdown of SERPINA3 had the opposite effects. These results causing by overexpression of SERPINA3 were also confirmed in non-TNBC cell lines. Overexpression of SERPINA3 remarkably enhanced the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) by upregulating the EMT markers and EZH2. In addition, the overexpression of SERPINA3 reduced the sensitivity of TNBC cells to cisplatin. Conclusion SERPINA3 can regulate the migration, invasion and EMT of TNBC cells and increased expression of SERPINA3 confers resistance to cisplatin in TNBC cells. We discern it is required for the regulation of BC progression and is a critical target for the clinical treatment of BC.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Ji ◽  
Yu-Ling Diao ◽  
Yi-Ran Qiu ◽  
Jie Ge ◽  
Xu-Chen Cao ◽  
...  

AbstractBreast cancer is the most common malignant tumor among women worldwide. Although increasing evidence indicates that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles during breast tumorigenesis and progression, the involvement of most lncRNAs in breast cancer remains largely unknown. In the current study, we demonstrated that LINC00665 promotes breast cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Accumulating evidence indicates that many lncRNAs can function as endogenous miRNA sponges by competitively binding common miRNAs. In this study, we demonstrated that LINC00665 functions as a sponge for miR-379-5p, reducing the ability of miR-379-5p to repress LIN28B. LINC00665 promoted breast cancer progression and induced an epithelial–mesenchymal transition-like phenotype via the upregulation of LIN28B expression. Clinically, LINC00665 expression was increased but miR-379-5p expression was decreased in breast cancer tissues compared with that in normal breast tissues in the TCGA database. Furthermore, the expression of LINC00665 was negatively related with miR-379-5p expression. Collectively, our results reveal the LINC00665–miR-379-5p–LIN28B axis and shed light on breast cancer therapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziqian Yan ◽  
Zhimei Sheng ◽  
Yuanhang Zheng ◽  
Ruijun Feng ◽  
Qinpei Xiao ◽  
...  

AbstractStudies have shown that cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play an irreplaceable role in the occurrence and development of tumors. Therefore, exploring the action and mechanism of CAFs on tumor cells is particularly important. In this study, we compared the effects of CAFs-derived exosomes and normal fibroblasts (NFs)-derived exosomes on breast cancer cells migration and invasion. The results showed that exosomes from both CAFs and NFs could enter into breast cancer cells and CAFs-derived exosomes had a more enhancing effect on breast cancer cells migration and invasion than NFs-derived exosomes. Furthermore, microRNA (miR)-18b was upregulated in CAFs-derived exosomes, and CAFs-derived exosomes miR-18b can promote breast cancer cell migration and metastasis by specifically binding to the 3′UTR of Transcription Elongation Factor A Like 7 (TCEAL7). The miR-18b-TCEAL7 pathway promotes nuclear Snail ectopic activation by activating nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), thereby inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and promoting cell invasion and metastasis. Moreover, CAFs-derived exosomes miR-18b could promote mouse xenograft model tumor metastasis. Overall, our findings suggest that CAFs-derived exosomes miR-18b promote nuclear Snail ectopic by targeting TCEAL7 to activate the NF-κB pathway, thereby inducing EMT, invasion, and metastasis of breast cancer. Targeting CAFs-derived exosome miR-18b may be a potential treatment option to overcome breast cancer progression.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Qin ◽  
Jianwei Chen ◽  
Dong Lu ◽  
Prashi Jain ◽  
Yang Yu ◽  
...  

Steroid receptor coactivators (SRCs) possess specific and distinct oncogenic roles in the initiation of cancer and in cancer progression to a more aggressive disease. These coactivators interact with nuclear receptors and other transcription factors to boost transcription of multiple genes which potentiate cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, tumor angiogenesis and epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT). Targeting SRCs using small molecule inhibitors (SMIs) is a promising approach to control cancer progression and metastasis. By high throughput screening analysis, we recently identified SI-2 as a potent SRC SMI. To develop therapeutic agents, SI-10 and SI-12, the SI-2 analogs, are synthesized that incorporate the addition of fluorine atoms to the SI-2 chemical structure. As a result, these analogs exhibit a significantly prolonged plasma half-life, minimal toxicity and improved hERG activity. Biological functional analysis showed that SI-10 and SI-12 treatment (5-50 nM) can significantly inhibit viability, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells in vitro and repress the growth of breast cancer PDX organoids. Treatment of mice with 10 mg/kg/day of either SI-10 or SI-12 was sufficient to repress growth of xenograft tumors derived from MDA-MB-231 and LM2 cells. Furthermore, in spontaneous and experimental metastasis mouse models developed from MDA-MB-231 and LM2 cells respectively, SI-10 and SI-12 effectively inhibited progression of breast cancer lung metastasis. These results demonstrate that SI-10/SI-12 are promising therapeutic agents and are specifically effective in blocking tumor metastasis, a key point in tumor progression to a more lethal state that results in patient mortality in the majority of cases.


2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 1503-1512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinghua Li ◽  
Yunpeng Xie ◽  
Dan Cui ◽  
Yanni Ma ◽  
Linlin Sui ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: Osteopontin (OPN) is an Extracellular Matrix (ECM) molecule and is involved in many physiologic and pathologic processes, including cell adhesion, angiogenesis and tumor metastasis. OPN is a well-known multifunctional factor involved in various aspects of cancer progression, including endometrial cancer. In this study, we examined the significance of OPN in endometrial cancer. Methods: The proliferation, migration and invasion ability of HEC-1A cells were detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), Wound scratch assay and transwell. Western blots were employed to detect the expression of Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related factors in HEC-1A cells treated with rhOPN. Results: rhOPN promotes cell proliferation, migration and invasion in HEC-1A cells. rhOPN influenced EMT-related factors and MMP-2 expression in HEC-1A cells. rhOPN promoted HEC-1A cells migration, invasion and EMT through protein kinase B (PKB/AKT) and Extracellular regulated protein kinases (ERK1/2) signaling pathway. Conclusions: These results may open up a novel therapeutic strategy for endometrial cancer: namely, rhOPN have important roles in controlling growth of endometrial of cancer cells and suggest a novel target pathway for treatment of this cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengqin Wang ◽  
Runze Zhang ◽  
Xiao Wang ◽  
Yan Zheng ◽  
Huiqing Jia ◽  
...  

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumors in women. Kinesin family member 3B (KIF3B) is a critical regulator in mitotic progression. The objective of this study was to explore the expression, regulation, and mechanism of KIF3B in 103 cases of breast cancer tissues, 35 metastatic lymph nodes and breast cancer cell lines, including MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-453, T47D, and MCF-7. The results showed that KIF3B expression was up-regulated in breast cancer tissues and cell lines, and the expression level was correlated with tumor recurrence and lymph node metastasis, while knockdown of KIF3B suppressed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion both in vivo and in vitro. In addition, UALCAN analysis showed that KIF3B expression in breast cancer is increased, and the high expression of KIF3B in breast cancer is associated with poor prognosis. Furthermore, we found that silencing of KIF3B decreased the expression of Dvl2, phospho-GSK-3β, total and nucleus β-catenin, then subsequent down-regulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling target genes such as CyclinD1, C-myc, MMP-2, MMP-7 and MMP-9 in breast cancer cells. In addition, KIF3B depletion inhibited epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in breast cancer cells. Taken together, our results revealed that KIF3B is up-regulated in breast cancer which is potentially involved in breast cancer progression and metastasis. Silencing KIF3B might suppress the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and EMT in breast cancer cells.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Hui Xiao ◽  
Longxiao Zhang ◽  
Yuan Chen ◽  
Chengjun Zhou ◽  
Xiao Wang ◽  
...  

Breast cancer is the leading cause of females characterized by high invasive potential. It is necessary to explore the underlying mechanism of breast cancer metastases and to find specific therapeutic targets. PKM2 is considered a new biomarker of cancer with upregulated expression in tumor tissue. PKM2 participates in the cancer-specific Warburg effect to regulate fast glucose intake consumption. Besides, PKM2 also contributes to cancer progression, especially tumor metastasis. In this study, we showed that PKM2 is upregulated in breast cancer tissues and the upregulating of PKM2 in breast cancer correlates with poor prognosis. PKM2 can regulate tumor progression by promoting tumor cell viability and mobility. Furthermore, overexpression of PKM2 can promote EMT to encourage tumor metastasis. These findings indicate PKM2 is a potentially useful diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target in breast cancer.


2017 ◽  
Vol 474 (11) ◽  
pp. 1919-1934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moitri Basu ◽  
Isha Sengupta ◽  
Md Wasim Khan ◽  
Dushyant Kumar Srivastava ◽  
Partha Chakrabarti ◽  
...  

Enhanced migratory potential and invasiveness of cancer cells contribute crucially to cancer progression. These phenotypes are achieved by precise alteration of invasion-associated genes through local epigenetic modifications which are recognized by a class of proteins termed a chromatin reader. ZMYND8 [zinc finger MYND (myeloid, Nervy and DEAF-1)-type containing 8], a key component of the transcription regulatory network, has recently been shown to be a novel reader of H3.1K36Me2/H4K16Ac marks. Through differential gene expression analysis upon silencing this chromatin reader, we identified a subset of genes involved in cell proliferation and invasion/migration regulated by ZMYND8. Detailed analysis uncovered its antiproliferative activity through BrdU incorporation, alteration in the expression of proliferation markers, and cell cycle regulating genes and cell viability assays. In addition, performing wound healing and invasion/migration assays, its anti-invasive nature is evident. Interestingly, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT), a key mechanism of cellular invasion, is regulated by ZMYND8 where we identified its selective enrichment on promoters of CLDN1/CDH1 genes, rich in H3K36Me2/H4K16Ac marks, leading to their up-regulation. Thus, the presence of ZMYND8 could be implicated in maintaining the epithelial phenotype of cells. Furthermore, syngeneic mice, injected with ZMYND8-overexpressed invasive breast cancer cells, showed reduction in tumor volume and weight. In concert with this, we observed a significant down-regulation of ZMYND8 in invasive ductal and lobular breast cancer tissues compared with normal tissue. Taken together, our study elucidates a novel function of ZMYND8 in regulating EMT and invasion of cancer cells, possibly through its chromatin reader function.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandan Feng ◽  
Hongzhi Chen ◽  
Guangxi Shi ◽  
Mengdi Zhang ◽  
Hongyi Liang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) progresses at a rapid pace. Chemotherapy is a major clinical application. However, resistance and metastases are key barriers to chemotherapy. Xiaojin pills (XJP) have been used clinically for treating TNBC for decades. However, the potential molecular mechanisms of the effect of XJP on breast cancer is still not understood.Methods: The cell viability was analyzed using Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8). Flow cytometry was used to detect apoptosis, and the migration and invasion abilities of TNBC were assessed using Transwell assay. For molecular mechanisms, the protein expression levels were determined by Western blot analysis. The expression of β-catenin in the Wnt/β-serial protein (β-catenin) pathway was detected with immunofluorescence (IF).Results: XJP inhibited the viability and proliferation of the TNBC cell line in vitro. Flow cytometry analysis showed that apoptosis increased in both MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 cells induced by XJP. The expression of the proteins associated with invasion, for example, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and MMP9, was reduced. Among epithelial–mesenchymal transition markers, E-cadherin was upregulated and N-cadherin was downregulated. The apoptosis-related proteins caspase-8, caspase-3, caspase-9, and Parp were all upregulated. Additionally, XJP effectively suppressed the expression of β-catenin, which belonged to the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.Conclusions: These results suggested that XJP suppressed the progression of TNBC cells by suppressing apoptosis, invasion, EMT, and Wnt/β-catenin pathway.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengpeng Zhao ◽  
Xiaoling Ling ◽  
Yunxia Xia ◽  
Bingxue Yan ◽  
Quanlin Guan

Abstract Background Previous studies have revealed the key functions of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification in breast cancer (BC). MALAT1 as a highly m6A modified lncRNA associated with cancer development and metastasis, but the functional relevance of m6A methyltransferase and MALAT1 in BC is still unknown. Here, our study investigated the effects of the novel m6A methyltransferase METTL3 on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in BC via the MALAT1/miR-26b/HMGA2 axis. Methods Firstly, we collected clinical BC samples and cultured BC cells, and detected mRNA and protein levels in the human samples and human cell lines by RT-qPCR and Western blot, respectively. Then, the binding of MALAT1 and miR-26b and the targeting relationship between miR-26b and HMGA2 were examined by dual-luciferase assay. Moreover, the binding of MALAT1 and miR-26b was tested by RNA pull down and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays. Methylated-RNA immunoprecipitation (Me-RIP) was used to detect the m6A modification level of MALAT1. The interaction of METTL3 and MALAT1 was detected by photoactivatable ribonucleoside-crosslinking immunoprecipitation (PAR-CLIP). Finally, effects on invasion and migration were detected by Transwell. Results In BC, the level of miR-26b was consistently low, while the levels of METTL3, MALAT1 and HMGA2 were high. Further experiments showed that METTL3 up-regulated MALAT1 expression by modulating the m6A modification of MALAT1, and that MALAT1 could promote the expression of HMGA2 by sponging miR-26b. In BC cells, we found that silencing METTL3 could inhibit EMT and tumor cell invasion by suppressing MALAT1. Furthermore, MALAT1 mediated miR-26b to target HMGA2 and promote EMT, migration, and invasion. In summary, METTL3 promoted tumorigenesis of BC via the MALAT1/miR-26b/HMGA2 axis. Conclusions Silencing METTL3 down-regulate MALAT1 and HMGA2 by sponging miR-26b, and finally inhibit EMT, migration and invasion in BC, providing a theoretical basis for clinical treatment of BC.


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