Table of Contents

Volume 13, Issue 11

  September 2012

  Pages 967 - 1140

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 Issue Catalogue (MARC XML)

CLINICAL STUDY

pEGFR-Tyr 845 expression as prognostic factors in oral squamous cell carcinoma: A tissue-microarray study with clinic-pathological correlations

Gabriella Aquino and 20 others
Pages 967 - 977
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.20991
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

The EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) a member of the family of transmembrane protein kinase receptors known as the erbB family shows a significant correlation with the presence of metastases and poorly differentiated oral cancer. Aim of the present work is to define the key-role of EGFR in oral cancer prognosis. We have analyzed the EGFR expression on 149 cases of oral squamous cell cancers (OSCC) and we have found that it was poorly expressed in normal oral epithelium, but its expression was significantly increased in OSCCs. Moreover, we have recorded that both pEGFR-Tyr 845 and pEGFR-Tyr 1068 were mainly distributed in high histological grading and in advanced stages. Western blotting has confirmed the total absence of EGFR phosphorylation in normal oral epithelium and the higher level of protein phosphorylation in representative cases of OSCCs. The EGF-R amplification was found by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in 14% of OSCC; interestingly, EGF-R amplification was mainly observed in OSCC with higher histological grading (G2 and G3) and advanced stage (pT4) sub-groups. Kaplan-Meyer survival analysis suggested that patients with positive pEGFR-Tyr 845 tumors had a worse prognosis and were bad responders to chemotherapy. These results confirm the central role of EGF-R activation status as a prognostic biomarker in OSCC.




REVIEWS

Autophagic action of new targeting agents in head and neck oncology

Hidemi Rikiishi
Pages 978 - 991
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21079
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

The survival rates of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) have not improved significantly despite multi-modality therapy, including surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Recently, molecular targeted agents have shown significant improvement in clinical outcomes; for example, in chronic myelogeneous leukemia with imatinib, breast cancer with trastuzumab, colon cancer with bevacizumab and cetuximab, and renal cell cancer with sorafenib and sunitinib. In HNSCC, the epidermal growth factor receptor antibody cetuximab has shown promising results in combination with radiation. Targeted agents including cetuximab induce stresses to activate prosurvival autophagy. Combining autophagy inhibitors with agents that induce autophagy as a prosurvival response may therefore increase their therapeutic efficacy. Whether autophagy contributes to the prosurvival response or to the antitumor effect of chemotherapeutic drugs is largely unknown. This review will discuss the possible role of autophagy as a novel target for anticancer therapy agents in HNSCC.

Regulation of oncogene-induced cell cycle exit and senescence by chromatin modifiers

Gregory David
Pages 992 - 1000
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21116
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Oncogene activation leads to dramatic changes in numerous biological pathways controlling cellular division, and results in the initiation of a transcriptional program that promotes transformation. Conversely, it also triggers an irreversible cell cycle exit called cellular senescence, which allows the organism to counteract the potentially detrimental uncontrolled proliferation of damaged cells. Therefore, a tight transcriptional control is required at the onset of oncogenic signal, coordinating both positive and negative regulation of gene expression. Not surprisingly, numerous chromatin modifiers contribute to the cellular response to oncogenic stress. While these chromatin modifiers were initially thought of as mere mediators of the cellular response to oncogenic stress, recent studies have uncovered a direct and specific regulation of chromatin modifiers by oncogenic signals. We review here the diverse functions of chromatin modifiers in the cellular response to oncogenic stress, and discuss the implications of these findings on the regulation of cell cycle progression and proliferation by activated oncogenes.

Medical strategies for treatment of castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) docetaxel resistant

Amelia Altavilla, Roberto Iacovelli, Giuseppe Procopio, Daniele Alesini, Emanuela Risi, Giuseppe Maria Campennì, Antonella Palazzo and Enrico Cortesi
Pages 1001 - 1008
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21188
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Current landscape of treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) has recently changed. Cabazitaxel, a new taxane with potential antineoplastic activity, has been approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after docetaxel failure. In a phase III trial, cabazitaxel showed increased overall survival (OS) compared with mitoxantrone (15.1 vs. 12.7 mo, HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.59–0.83, p < 0.0001). Furthermore, chemotherapy is not the only strategy available: several studies have shown as CRPC remains dependent on androgen receptor function for growth. Abiraterone acetate, an irreversible inhibitor of CYP17, has also been approved by FDA after docetaxel failure. In a phase III trial comparing abiraterone acetate to placebo, abiraterone showed improvement in OS (14.8 vs. 10.4 mo, HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.54–0.77; p < 0.0001).

This review will discuss current options and the ongoing trials for second-line treatment of CRPC including chemotherapy, hormonal therapies, antiangiogenetic and immune strategies.




RESEARCH PAPERS

Perifosine enhances mTORC1-targeted cancer therapy by activation of GSK3β in NSCLC cells

Zhuo Ma, Lingjun Zhu, Xuan Luo, Sulan Zhai, Ping Li and Xuerong Wang
Pages 1009 - 1017
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.20989
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

mTORC1 inhibitors, including rapamycin and its analogs, have been actively studied both pre-clinically and clinically. However, the single treatment of mTORC1 inhibitors has been modest in most cancer types. We have previously demonstrated that the activation of PI3K/Akt and MEK/ERK signaling pathways attenuates the anticancer efficacy of mTORC1 inhibitors. In this study, we report that mTORC1 inhibition also phosphorylates and inactivates GSK3β, which is a tumor suppressor in lung cancer. Moreover, we show that perifosine, as an Akt inhibitor, decreases rapamycin-induced phosphorylation of GSK3β and elevated p-GSK3β levels in rapamycin-resistant cell lines. Combination of perifosine with mTORC1 inhibitors showed enhanced anticancer efficacy both in cell cultures and in a xenograft mouse model. In addition, perifosine inhibits the growth of both rapamycin sensitive and resistant A549 cells. However, inhibition of GSK3β by a selective inhibitor- LiCl, or downregulation of GSK3β expression by siRNA, reverses the growth inhibitory effects of perifosine on rapamycin resistant cells, suggesting the important role of GSK3β activation in enhancing mTORC1 inhibitors efficacy by perifosine. Thus, our results provide a potential therapeutic strategy to enhance mTORC1-targeted cancer therapy by using perifosine or targeting GSK3β.

Interferon-gamma enhances radiation-induced cell death via downregulation of Chk1

Kwang Seok Kim, Kyu Jin Choi and Sangwoo Bae
Pages 1018 - 1025
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.20990
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Interferon-gamma (IFNγ) is a cytokine with roles in immune responses as well as in tumor control. Interferon is often used in cancer treatment together with other therapies. Here we report a novel approach to enhancement of cancer cell killing by combined treatment of IFNγ with ionizing radiation.

We found that IFNγ treatment alone in HeLa cells induced phosphorylation of Chk1 in a time- and dose-dependent manner, and resulted in cell arrest. Moreover IFNγ treatment was correlated with attenuation of Chk1 as the treatment shortened protein half-life of Chk1. As Chk1 is an essential cell cycle regulator for viability after DNA damage, attenuation of Chk1 by IFNγ pre-treatment in HeLa cells resulted in increased cell death following ionizing radiation about 2-folds than ionizing radiation treatment alone whereas IFNγ treatment alone had little effect on cell death.

X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis-associated factor 1 (XAF1), an IFN-induced gene, seems to partly regulate IFNγ-induced Chk1 destabilization and radiation sensitivity because transient depletion of XAF1 by siRNA prevented IFNγ-induced Chk1 attenuation and partly protected cells from IFNγ-enhanced radiation cell killing.

Therefore the results provide a novel rationale to combine IFNγ pretreatment and DNA-damaging anti-cancer drugs such as ionizing radiation to enhance cancer cell killing.

Inhibition of p38-MAPK alters SRC coactivation and estrogen receptor phosphorylation

James W. Antoon, Melyssa R. Bratton, Lori M. Guillot, Scott Wadsworth, Virgilio A. Salvo and Matthew E. Burow
Pages 1026 - 1033
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.20992
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

The p38 mitogen activated protein kinase pathway (MAPK) is known to promote cell survival, endocrine therapy resistance and hormone independent breast cancer cell proliferation. Therefore, we utilized the novel p38 inhibitor RWJ67657 to investigate the relevance of targeting this pathway in the ER⁺ breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Our results show that RWJ67657 inhibits both basal and estrogen stimulated phosphorylation of p38α, resulting in decreased activation of the downstream p38α targets hsp27 and MAPAPK. Furthermore, inhibition of p38α by RWJ67657 blocks clonogenic survival of MCF-7 cells with little effect on non-cancerous breast epithelial cells. Even though p38α is known to phosphorylate ERα at residue within ER’s hinge region at Thr311, resulting in increased ERα transcriptional activation, our results suggest RWJ67657 inhibits the p38α-induced activation of ER by targeting both the AF-1 and AF-2 activation domains within ERα. We further show that RWJ67657 decreases the transcriptional activity of the ER coactivators SRC-1, SRC-2 and SRC-3. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that in addition to phosphorylating Thr311 within ERα, p38α indirectly activates the ER by phosphorylation and stimulation of the known ERα coactivators, SRC-1, -2 and-3. Overall, our data underscore the therapeutic potential of targeting the p38 MAPK pathway in the treatment of ER⁺ breast cancer.

Aurora kinase inhibitor VE 465 synergistically enhances cytotoxicity of carboplatin in ovarian cancer cells through induction of apoptosis and downregulation of histone 3

Siqing Fu, Yanfang li, Jie Huang, Tao Liu, Zhen Hong, Aiping Chen, Robert C. Bast, John J. Kavanagh, David M. Gershenson, Anil K. Sood and Wei Hu
Pages 1034 - 1041
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21045
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Aurora kinases are essential for regulation of chromosome segregation and cytokinesis during mitosis and play a role in growth and progression of human tumors, including ovarian cancer. Aurora A and Aurora B are frequently overexpressed in high-grade and low-grade ovarian cancers. Targeting Aurora kinases has great potential for improving the efficacy of chemotherapies of ovarian cancer. In this study, we investigated whether the Aurora kinase inhibitor, VE 465, can enhance the anti-tumor activity of carboplatin in human ovarian cancer cells. The antitumor activity of VE 465 was tested by MTT proliferative assay in multiple established human epithelial ovarian cancer cell lines of varying p53 status. VE 465 and carboplatin had a synergistic effect on cell viability in both platinum-sensitive and -resistant ovarian cancers. The growth-inhibitory effect was accompanied by reduction in expression of histone 3 and an increase in apoptosis. We conclude that VE 465 enhances the efficacy of carboplatin agents in ovarian carcinoma.

Cullin-3 protein expression levels correlate with breast cancer progression

Kelly K. Haagenson, Larry Tait, Juan Wang, Malathy P. Shekhar, Lisa Polin, Wei Chen and Gen Sheng Wu
Pages 1042 - 1046
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21046
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Cullin-3 is a component of the Cullin-Ring ubiquitin ligase (CRL) family that plays an important role in mediating protein degradation. Deregulation of Cullin-3 expression has been observed in human cancers; however, a role for Cullin-3 in tumor progression has not been previously recognized. Using the MCF10DCIS.com human breast cancer xenograft model, we show that Cullin-3 is increasingly expressed during progression from comedo ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) to invasive carcinomas. Cullin-3 protein is not detected in early lesions but is noticeably increased in DCIS tumors and significantly overexpressed in invasive cancers. In experimental metastasis assays, high expression of Cullin-3 was observed in the lung site. Importantly, Cullin-3 staining is detected in human breast cancer tissues, not in normal breast tissues and its expression level positively correlates with tumor stage. These data suggest that Cullin-3 may play an important role in tumor progression from DCIS to invasive cancer and may serve as a biomarker for the diagnosis of aggressive breast cancer.

Differential regulation of p21^waf1 protein half-life by DNA damage and Nutlin-3 in p53 wild-type tumors and its therapeutic implications

Li-Ju Chang and Alan Eastman
Pages 1047 - 1057
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21047
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

DNA damage induces the canonical p53 pathway including elevation of p21^waf1 resulting in arrest of cell cycle progression. This can protect cells from subsequent Chk1 inhibition. Some p53 wild-type cancer cells such as HCT116 and U2OS exhibit attenuated p21^waf1 induction upon DNA damage due to translational inhibition, and are incapable of maintaining arrest upon Chk1 inhibition. The purpose of this study was to determine whether this attenuated p21^waf1 induction also occurred with the non-DNA damaging agent Nutlin-3 which induces p53 by disrupting binding to its negative regulator MDM2. We find that Nutlin-3 circumvented the attenuated induction of p21^waf1 protein by increasing its half-life which led to G₁ and G₂ arrest in both cell lines. Interestingly, the p21^waf1 protein half-life remained short on Nutlin-3 in p53 wild-type MCF10A cells; these cells achieve high p21^waf1 levels through transcriptional upregulation. Consequently, all three p53 wild-type cells but not p53 mutant MDA-MB-231 cancer cells were protected from subsequent incubation with a combination of DNA damage plus a checkpoint inhibitor.

Antagonism between curcumin and the topoisomerase II inhibitor etoposide: A study of DNA damage, cell cycle regulation and death pathways

Ekram M. Saleh, Raafat A El-awady, Nadia A. Eissa and Wael M. Abdel-Rahman
Pages 1058 - 1071
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21078
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

The use of combinations of chemotherapy and natural products has recently emerged as a new method of cancer therapy, relying on the capacity of certain natural compounds to trigger cell death with low doses of chemotherapeutic agents and few side effects. The current study aims to evaluate the modulatory effects of curcumin (CUR), Nigella sativa (NS) and taurine on etoposide (ETP) cytotoxicity in a panel of cancer cell lines and to identify their underlying mechanisms.

CUR alone showed potent antitumor activity, but surprisingly, its interaction with ETP was antagonistic in four out of five cancer cell lines. Neither taurine nor Nigella sativa affect the sensitivity of cancer cells to ETP. Examination of the DNA damage response machinery (DDR) showed that both ETP and CUR elicited DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) and evoked γ-H2AX foci formation at doses as low as 1 µg/ml. Cell cycle analysis revealed S phase arrest after ETP or CUR application, whereas co-treatment with ETP and CUR led to increased arrest of the cell cycle in S phase (MCF-7 cells) or the accumulation of cells in G₂/M phases (HCT116, and HeLa cells). Furthermore, cotreatment with ETP and CUR resulted in modulation of the level of DNA damage induction and repair compared with either agent alone. Electron microscopic examination demonstrated that different modalities of cell death occurred with each treatment. CUR alone induced autophagy, apoptosis and necrosis, whereas ETP alone or in combination with CUR led to apoptosis and necrosis.

Conclusions: Cotreatment with ETP and CUR resulted in an antagonistic interaction. This antagonism is related, in part, to the enhanced arrest of tumor cells in both S and G₂/M phases, which prevents the cells from entering M-phase with damaged DNA and, consequently, prevents cell death from occurring. This arrest allows time for the cells to repair DNA damage so that cell cycle -arrested cells can eventually resume cell cycle progression and continue their physiological program.

The novel ATR inhibitor VE-821 increases sensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells to radiation and chemotherapy

Remko Prevo, Emmanouil Fokas, Philip M. Reaper, Peter A. Charlton, John R. Pollard, W. Gillies McKenna, Ruth J. Muschel and Thomas B. Brunner
Pages 1072 - 1081
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21093
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

DNA damaging agents such as radiotherapy and gemcitabine are frequently used for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. However, these treatments typically provide only modest benefit. Improving the low survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients therefore remains a major challenge in oncology. Inhibition of the key DNA damage response kinase ATR has been suggested as an attractive approach for sensitization of tumor cells to DNA damaging agents, but specific ATR inhibitors have remained elusive. Here we investigated the sensitization potential of the first highly selective and potent ATR inhibitor, VE-821, in vitro. VE-821 inhibited radiation- and gemcitabine-induced phosphorylation of Chk1, confirming inhibition of ATR signaling. Consistently, VE-821 significantly enhanced the sensitivity of PSN-1, MiaPaCa-2 and primary PancM pancreatic cancer cells to radiation and gemcitabine under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. ATR inhibition by VE-821 led to inhibition of radiation-induced G₂/M arrest in cancer cells. Reduced cancer cell radiosurvival following treatment with VE-821 was also accompanied by increased DNA damage and inhibition of homologous recombination repair, as evidenced by persistence of γH2AX and 53BP1 foci and inhibition of Rad51 foci, respectively. These findings support ATR inhibition as a novel approach to improve the efficacy and therapeutic index of standard cancer treatments across a large proportion of pancreatic cancer patients.

Increasing the therapeutic index of 5-fluorouracil and 6-thioguanine by targeting loss of MTAP in tumor cells

Baiqing Tang, Joseph R. Testa and Warren D. Kruger
Pages 1082 - 1090
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21115
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP), a key enzyme in the catabolism of 5′-deoxy-5′-methylthioadenosine (MTA), catalyzes the formation of adenine and 5-methylthioribose-1-phosphate. MTAP is expressed in all cells throughout the body, but a significant percentage of human tumors have lost MTAP expression, thereby making MTAP-loss a potential therapeutic target. Here, we have tested an MTAP-targeting strategy based on the idea that MTAP-expressing cells can be protected from toxic purine and uracil analogs by addition of MTA, but MTAP-deleted tumor cells cannot. Addition of as little as 10 μM MTA could entirely protect isogenic MTAP⁺, but not MTAP^-, HT1080 cells from toxicity caused by the chemotherapy agents 6-thioguanine (6TG) or 5-fluorouracil (5FU). Inhibitor studies showed that MTA protection requires functional MTAP activity. Addition of adenine protected both MTAP⁺ and MTAP^- cells from 6TG and 5FU, consistent with the idea that adenine produced from the MTAP reaction competes with 6TG and 5FU for a rate limiting pool of phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP), which is required for the conversion of purine and uracil bases into nucleotides. Extracellular MTA can also protect mouse mesothelioma cells from killing by 6-TG or the drug L-alanosine in an MTAP-dependent manner. In addition, MTA can protect non-transformed MTAP⁺ mouse embryo fibroblasts from 6TG toxicity. Taken together, our data suggest that the addition of MTA to anti-purine-based chemotherapy may greatly increase the therapeutic index of this class of drugs if used specifically to treat MTAP^- tumors.

E2F-1 lacking the transcriptional activity domain induces autophagy

Aracely Garcia-Garcia, Humberto Rodriguez-Rocha, Michael T. Tseng, Roberto Montes de Oca-Luna, H. Sam Zhou, Kelly M. McMasters and Jorge G. Gomez-Gutierrez
Pages 1091 - 1101
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21143
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

The transcription factor E2F-1 plays a crucial role in the control of cell proliferation. E2F-1 has tumor suppressive properties by inducing apoptosis and autophagy. In this study, E2F-1 and its truncated form (E2Ftr), lacking the transactivation domain (TAD), were compared for their ability to induce autophagy. In Gaussia luciferase-based assays, both E2F-1 and E2Ftr induced the proteolytic cleavage of the autophagic marker LC3. In addition, LC3 and autophagy protein 5 (Atg5) were upregulated by E2F-1 and E2Ftr. Likewise, both E2F proteins induced a punctate pattern of GFP-tagged LC3, indicating autophagosome formation. The presence of double-membrane autophagic vesicles induced by E2F-1 and E2Ftr was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The application of z-VAD-fmk, a caspase inhibitor, partially blocked both E2F-1 and E2Ftr-mediated cytotoxicity. Moreover, Atg5^−/− cells were more resistant to the E2F-1 or E2Ftr-induced cell killing effect than Atg5 wt cells. The TAD of E2F-1 is not essential for induction of autophagy; apoptosis and autophagy cooperate for an efficient cancer cell killing effect induced by E2F-1 or E2Ftr. E2Ftr-induced autophagy is a promising approach to destroy tumors that are resistant to conventional treatments.

Dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor NVP-BEZ235 suppresses hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α expression by blocking protein translation and increases cell death under hypoxia

Jayashree Karar, George J. Cerniglia, Tullia Lindsten, Constantinos Koumenis and Amit Maity
Pages 1102 - 1111
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21144
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

The PI3K/Akt pathway is activated in many cancers; therefore, we investigated NVP-BEZ235, a dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor. BEZ235 was more potent than either the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin or the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 in blocking HIF-1α induction. BEZ235 decreases protein translation, and 7-methyl GTP chromatography showed that the drug induced robust recruitment of 4E-BP1 to eIF4E and a near absence of binding of eIF4G. BEZ235 also decreased expression of other proteins known to be regulated by eIF4E including cyclin B1 and D1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). BEZ235 also decreased the level of eIF4G but not eIF4E. As HIF-1α has been associated with adaptation to hypoxic stress, we examined the effect of the drug on cell survival in low pO₂. BEZ235 increased killing of cells under hypoxia, measured by short-term (MTT) and long-term (clonogenic) assays. To understand the underlying mechanism, we examined BEZ235’s effect on the expression of factors associated with cell survival. Under normoxia, Akt Ser473 phosphorylation decreased within an hour of BEZ235 treatment, but then increased by 24 h. In contrast, under hypoxia, BEZ235 caused prolonged suppression of Akt Ser473 phosphorylation. Furthermore, there was greater PARP cleavage in hypoxic cells than in normoxic cells, consistent with increased apoptosis. BEZ235 increased autophagy as measured by LC3-I to LC3-II conversion under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions, but our data indicate that this is actually a pro-survival mechanism. In conclusion, we have found that BEZ235 blocks HIF-1α induction by decreasing protein translation and increases cell killing under hypoxia, likely by increasing apoptosis.

Gadd45a inhibits cell migration and invasion by altering the global RNA expression

Zhanhai Shan, Guiyuan Li, Qimin Zhan and Dan Li
Pages 1112 - 1122
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21186
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Gadd45a, the first well-defined p53 downstream gene, can be induced by multiple DNA-damaging agents, which plays important roles in the control of cell cycle checkpoint, DNA repair process and signaling transduction. Our previous findings suggested that Gadd45a maintains cell-cell adhesion and cell contact inhibition. However, little is known about how Gadd45a participates in the suppression of malignancy in human cancer cells. To examine the functions of Gadd45a in cell invasion and metastasis, we performed the adhesion, wound-healing and transwell assays in Gadd45a^+/+ and Gadd45a^−/− MEF cell lines. We found the adhesion, migration and invasive abilities were much higher in Gadd45a deficient cells. We furthermore applied high-throughput cDNA microarray analysis and bioinformatics analysis to analyze the mechanisms of Gadd45a gene in invasion and metastasis. Compared with the Gadd45a wild type cells, the Gadd45a deficient cells showed a wide range of transcripts alterations. The altered gene pathways were predicted by the MAS software, which indicated focal adhesion,cell communication,ECM-receptor interaction as the three main pathways. Real-time PCR was employed to validate the differentially expressed genes. Interestingly, we figured out that the deregulations of these genes are caused neither by genomic aberrations nor methylation status. These findings provided a novel insight that Gadd45a may involve in tumor progression by regulating related genes expressions.

Open Access Article

Protein expression changes during human triple negative breast cancer cell line progression to lymph node metastasis in a xenografted model in nude mice

María Paula Roberti, Juan Martín Arriaga, Michele Bianchini, Héctor Ramiro Quintá, Alicia Inés Bravo, Estrella Mariel Levy, José Mordoh and María Marcela Barrio
Pages 1123 - 1140
http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/cbt.21187
Abstract | Full Text | PDF

Triple negative breast cancers (TNBC) lacking hormone receptors and HER-2 amplification are very aggressive tumors. Since relevant differences between primary tumors and metastases could arise during tumor progression as evidenced by phenotypic discordances reported for hormonal receptors or HER-2 expression, in this analysis we studied changes that occurred in our TNBC model IIB-BR-G throughout the development of IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 metastasis to the lymph nodes (LN) in nude mice, using an antibody-based protein array to characterize their expression profile. We also analyzed their growth kinetics, migration, invasiveness and cytoskeleton structure in vitro and in vivo.

In vitro IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 cells grew slower but showed higher anchorage independent growth. In vivo IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 tumors grew significantly faster and showed a 100% incidence of LN metastasis after s.c. inoculation, although no metastasis was observed for IIB-BR-G. CCL3, IL1β, CXCL1, CSF2, CSF3, IGFBP1, IL1α, IL6, IL8, CCL20, PLAUR, PlGF and VEGF were strongly upregulated in IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 while CCL4, ICAM3, CXCL12, TNFRSF18, FIGF were the most downregulated proteins in the metastatic cell line. IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 protein expression profile could reflect a higher NFκB activation in these cells. In vitro, IIB-BR-G displayed higher migration but IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 had more elevated matrigel invasion ability. In agreement with that observation, IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 had an upregulated expression of MMP1, MMP9, MMP13, PLAUR and HGF. IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 tumors presented also higher local lymphatic invasion than IIB-BR-G but similar lymphatic vessel densities. VEGFC and VEGFA/B expression were higher both in vitro and in vivo for IIB-BR-G-_MTS6. IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 expressed more vimentin than IB-BR-G cells, which was mainly localized in the cellular extremities and both cell lines are E-cadherin negative.

Our results suggest that IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 cells have acquired a pronounced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition phenotype. Protein expression changes observed between primary tumor-derived IIB-BR-G and metastatic IIB-BR-G-_MTS6 TNBC cells suggest potential targets involved in the control of metastasis.