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El Habre R, Aoun R, Tahtouh R, Hilal G. All-trans-retinoic acid modulates glycolysis via H19 and telomerase: the role of mir-let-7a in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells. BMC Cancer 2024; 24:615. [PMID: 38773429 PMCID: PMC11106948 DOI: 10.1186/s12885-024-12379-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Breast cancer (BC) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. Treatment approaches that differ between estrogen-positive (ER+) and triple-negative BC cells (TNBCs) and may subsequently affect cancer biomarkers, such as H19 and telomerase, are an emanating delight in BC research. For instance, all-trans-Retinoic acid (ATRA) could represent a potent regulator of these oncogenes, regulating microRNAs, mostly let-7a microRNA (miR-let-7a), which targets the glycolysis pathway, mainly pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2) and lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) enzymes. Here, we investigated the potential role of ATRA in H19, telomerase, miR-let-7a, and glycolytic enzymes modulation in ER + and TNBC cells. METHODS MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with 5 µM ATRA and/or 100 nM fulvestrant. Then, ATRA-treated or control MCF-7 cells were transfected with either H19 or hTERT siRNA. Afterward, ATRA-treated or untreated MDA-MB-231 cells were transfected with estrogen receptor alpha ER(α) or beta ER(β) expression plasmids. RNA expression was evaluated by RT‒qPCR, and proteins were assessed by Western blot. PKM2 activity was measured using an NADH/LDH coupled enzymatic assay, and telomerase activity was evaluated with a quantitative telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay. Student's t-test or one-way ANOVA was used to analyze data from replicates. RESULTS Our results showed that MCF-7 cells were more responsive to ATRA than MDA-MB-231 cells. In MCF-7 cells, ATRA and/or fulvestrant decreased ER(α), H19, telomerase, PKM2, and LDHA, whereas ER(β) and miR-let-7a increased. H19 or hTERT knockdown with or without ATRA treatment showed similar results to those obtained after ATRA treatment, and a potential interconnection between H19 and hTERT was found. However, in MDA-MB-231 cells, RNA expression of the aforementioned genes was modulated after ATRA and/or fulvestrant, with no significant effect on protein and activity levels. Overexpression of ER(α) or ER(β) in MDA-MB-231 cells induced telomerase activity, PKM2 and LDHA expression, in which ATRA treatment combined with plasmid transfection decreased glycolytic enzyme expression. CONCLUSIONS To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to elucidate a new potential interaction between the estrogen receptor and glycolytic enzymes in ER + BC cells through miR-let-7a.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rita El Habre
- Cancer and Metabolism Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Rita Aoun
- Cancer and Metabolism Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Roula Tahtouh
- Cancer and Metabolism Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - George Hilal
- Cancer and Metabolism Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon.
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Nguyen E, Richerolle A, Sánchez-Bellver J, Varennes J, Ségal-Bendirdjian E. hTERT DNA Methylation Analysis Identifies a Biomarker for Retinoic Acid-Induced hTERT Repression in Breast Cancer Cell Lines. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10030695. [PMID: 35327497 PMCID: PMC8945736 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10030695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Revised: 03/10/2022] [Accepted: 03/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Telomerase reactivation is responsible for telomere preservation in about 90% of cancers, providing cancer cells an indefinite proliferating potential. Telomerase consists of at least two main subunits: a catalytic reverse transcriptase protein (hTERT) and an RNA template subunit. Strategies to inhibit hTERT expression seem promising for cancer treatment. Previous works showed that all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) induces hTERT repression in acute promyelocytic leukemia cells, resulting in their death. Here, we investigated the effects of ATRA in a subset of breast cancer cell lines. The mutational status of hTERT promoter and the methylation patterns at a single CpG resolution were assessed. We observed an inverse relationship between hTERT expression after ATRA treatment and the methylation level of a specific CpG at chr5: 1,300,438 in a region of hTERT gene at −5 kb of the transcription initiation site. This observation highlighted the significance of this region, whose methylation profile could represent a promising biomarker to predict the sensitivity to ATRA-induced hTERT repression in specific breast cancer subtypes. As hTERT repression promotes drug-induced cell death, checking the methylation status of this unique region and the specific CpG included can help in decision-making to include ATRA in combination therapy and contributes to a better clinical outcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric Nguyen
- Université Paris Cité, INSERM, CNRS, T3S “Environmental Toxicity, Therapeutic Targets, Cellular Signaling and Biomarkers”, F-75006 Paris, France; (E.N.); (A.R.); (J.V.)
| | - Andréa Richerolle
- Université Paris Cité, INSERM, CNRS, T3S “Environmental Toxicity, Therapeutic Targets, Cellular Signaling and Biomarkers”, F-75006 Paris, France; (E.N.); (A.R.); (J.V.)
- Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, F-75014 Paris, France
| | | | - Jacqueline Varennes
- Université Paris Cité, INSERM, CNRS, T3S “Environmental Toxicity, Therapeutic Targets, Cellular Signaling and Biomarkers”, F-75006 Paris, France; (E.N.); (A.R.); (J.V.)
| | - Evelyne Ségal-Bendirdjian
- Université Paris Cité, INSERM, CNRS, T3S “Environmental Toxicity, Therapeutic Targets, Cellular Signaling and Biomarkers”, F-75006 Paris, France; (E.N.); (A.R.); (J.V.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +33-1-42-86-22-46
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3
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García-Padilla C, Lozano-Velasco E, López-Sánchez C, Garcia-Martínez V, Aranega A, Franco D. Non-Coding RNAs in Retinoic Acid as Differentiation and Disease Drivers. Noncoding RNA 2021; 7:ncrna7010013. [PMID: 33671241 PMCID: PMC8005990 DOI: 10.3390/ncrna7010013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Revised: 02/14/2021] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
All-trans retinoic acid (RA) is the most active metabolite of vitamin A. Several studies have described a pivotal role for RA signalling in different biological processes such as cell growth and differentiation, embryonic development and organogenesis. Since RA signalling is highly dose-dependent, a fine-tuning regulatory mechanism is required. Thus, RA signalling deregulation has a major impact, both in development and disease, related in many cases to oncogenic processes. In this review, we focus on the impact of ncRNA post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms, especially those of microRNAs and lncRNAs, in RA signalling pathways during differentiation and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos García-Padilla
- Department of Experimental Biology, University of Jaen, 23071 Jaen, Spain; (C.G.-P.); (E.L.-V.); (A.A.)
- Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain; (C.L.-S.); (V.G.-M.)
- Institute of Molecular Pathology Biomarkers, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
| | - Estefanía Lozano-Velasco
- Department of Experimental Biology, University of Jaen, 23071 Jaen, Spain; (C.G.-P.); (E.L.-V.); (A.A.)
- Fundación Medina, 18016 Granada, Spain
| | - Carmen López-Sánchez
- Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain; (C.L.-S.); (V.G.-M.)
- Institute of Molecular Pathology Biomarkers, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
| | - Virginio Garcia-Martínez
- Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain; (C.L.-S.); (V.G.-M.)
- Institute of Molecular Pathology Biomarkers, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
| | - Amelia Aranega
- Department of Experimental Biology, University of Jaen, 23071 Jaen, Spain; (C.G.-P.); (E.L.-V.); (A.A.)
- Fundación Medina, 18016 Granada, Spain
| | - Diego Franco
- Department of Experimental Biology, University of Jaen, 23071 Jaen, Spain; (C.G.-P.); (E.L.-V.); (A.A.)
- Fundación Medina, 18016 Granada, Spain
- Correspondence:
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Petrie K, Urban‐Wójciuk Z, Sbirkov Y, Graham A, Hamann A, Brown G. Retinoic acid receptor γ is a therapeutically targetable driver of growth and survival in prostate cancer. Cancer Rep (Hoboken) 2020; 3:e1284. [PMID: 32881426 PMCID: PMC7941583 DOI: 10.1002/cnr2.1284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2020] [Revised: 07/15/2020] [Accepted: 07/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Prostate cancer (PC) tissue contains all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) at a very low level (10-9 M), at least an order of magnitude lower than in adjacent normal healthy prostate cells or benign prostate hyperplasia. When this is coupled with deregulated expression of the intracellular lipid-binding proteins FABP5 and CRABP2 that is frequently found in PC, this is likely to result in the preferential delivery of ATRA to oncogenic PPARβ/δ rather than retinoic acid receptors (RARs). There are three isotypes of RARs (RARα, RARβ, and RARγ) and recent studies have revealed discrete physiological roles. For example, RARα and RARγ promote differentiation and self-renewal, respectively, which are critical for proper hematopoiesis. AIMS We have previously shown that ATRA stimulates transactivation of RARγ at sub-nanomolar concentrations (EC50 0.24 nM), whereas an 80-fold higher concentration was required for RARα-mediated transactivation (EC50 19.3 nM). Additionally, we have shown that RAR pan-antagonists inhibit the growth of PC cells (at 16-34 nM). These findings, together with the low level of ATRA in PC, led us to hypothesize that RARγ plays a role in PC pathogenesis and that RARγ-selective antagonism may be an effective treatment. METHODS AND RESULTS We found that concentrations of 10-9 M and below of ATRA promoted survival/proliferation and opposed adipogenic differentiation of human PC cell lines by a mechanism that involves RARγ. We also found that a RARγ-selective antagonist (AGN205728) potently induced mitochondria-dependent, but caspase-independent, cell death in PC cell lines. Furthermore, AGN205728 demonstrated synergism in killing PC cells in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents. CONCLUSION We suggest that the use of RARγ-selective antagonists may be effective in PC (and potentially other cancers), either as a single agent or in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin Petrie
- School of MedicineFaculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing University of SunderlandSunderlandUK
| | | | | | | | | | - Geoffrey Brown
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Clinical Sciences and Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, College of Medical and Dental SciencesThe University of BirminghamBirminghamUK
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Retinoic Acid Sensitivity of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells Characterized by Constitutive Activation of the notch1 Pathway: The Role of Rarβ. Cancers (Basel) 2020; 12:cancers12103027. [PMID: 33081033 PMCID: PMC7650753 DOI: 10.3390/cancers12103027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous disease that lacks effective therapeutic options. In this study, we profile eighteen TNBC cell lines for their sensitivity to the anti-proliferative action of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA). The only three cell lines (HCC-1599, MB-157 and MDA-MB-157) endowed with ATRA-sensitivity are characterized by genetic aberrations of the NOTCH1-gene, causing constitutive activation of the NOTCH1 γ-secretase product, N1ICD. N1ICD renders HCC-1599, MB-157 and MDA-MB-157 cells sensitive not only to ATRA, but also to γ-secretase inhibitors (DAPT; PF-03084014). Combinations of ATRA and γ-secretase inhibitors produce additive/synergistic effects in vitro and in vivo. RNA-sequencing studies of HCC-1599 and MB-157 cells exposed to ATRA and DAPT and ATRA+DAPT demonstrate that the two compounds act on common gene sets, some of which belong to the NOTCH1 pathway. ATRA inhibits the growth of HCC-1599, MB-157 and MDA-MB-157 cells via RARα, which up-regulates several retinoid target-genes, including RARβ. RARβ is a key determinant of ATRA anti-proliferative activity, as its silencing suppresses the effects exerted by the retinoid. In conclusion, we demonstrate that ATRA exerts a significant anti-tumor action only in TNBC cells showing constitutive NOTCH1 activation. Our results support the design of clinical trials involving combinations between ATRA and γ-secretase inhibitors for the treatment of this TNBC subtype.
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Rossetti S, Sacchi N. Emerging Cancer Epigenetic Mechanisms Regulated by All-Trans Retinoic Acid. Cancers (Basel) 2020; 12:E2275. [PMID: 32823855 PMCID: PMC7465226 DOI: 10.3390/cancers12082275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Revised: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 08/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
All-trans retinoic acid (RA), which is the dietary bioactive derivative obtained from animal (retinol) and plant sources (beta-carotene), is a physiological lipid signal of both embryonic and postembryonic development. During pregnancy, either RA deficiency or an excessive RA intake is teratogenic. Too low or too high RA affects not only prenatal, but also postnatal, developmental processes such as myelopoiesis and mammary gland morphogenesis. In this review, we mostly focus on emerging RA-regulated epigenetic mechanisms involving RA receptor alpha (RARA) and Annexin A8 (ANXA8), which is a member of the Annexin family, as well as ANXA8 regulatory microRNAs (miRNAs). The first cancer showing ANXA8 upregulation was reported in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), which induces the differentiation arrest of promyelocytes due to defective RA signaling caused by RARA fusion genes as the PML-RARA gene. Over the years, ANXA8 has also been found to be upregulated in other cancers, even in the absence of RARA fusion genes. Mechanistic studies on human mammary cells and mammary glands of mice showed that ANXA8 upregulation is caused by genetic mutations affecting RARA functions. Although not all of the underlying mechanisms of ANXA8 upregulation have been elucidated, the interdependence of RA-RARA and ANXA8 seems to play a relevant role in some normal and tumorigenic settings.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nicoletta Sacchi
- Department of Cancer Genetics and Genomics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA;
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7
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Terao M, Goracci L, Celestini V, Kurosaki M, Bolis M, Di Veroli A, Vallerga A, Fratelli M, Lupi M, Corbelli A, Fiordaliso F, Gianni M, Paroni G, Zanetti A, Cruciani G, Garattini E. Role of mitochondria and cardiolipins in growth inhibition of breast cancer cells by retinoic acid. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL & CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH : CR 2019; 38:436. [PMID: 31665044 PMCID: PMC6821005 DOI: 10.1186/s13046-019-1438-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 10/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Background All-trans-retinoic-acid (ATRA) is a promising agent in the prevention/treatment of breast-cancer. There is growing evidence that reprogramming of cellular lipid metabolism contributes to malignant transformation and progression. Lipid metabolism is implicated in cell differentiation and metastatic colonization and it is involved in the mechanisms of sensitivity/resistance to different anti-tumor agents. The role played by lipids in the anti-tumor activity of ATRA has never been studied. Methods We used 16 breast cancer cell-lines whose degree of sensitivity to the anti-proliferative action of ATRA is known. We implemented a non-oriented mass-spectrometry based approach to define the lipidomic profiles of each cell-line grown under basal conditions and following treatment with ATRA. To complement the lipidomic data, untreated and retinoid treated cell-lines were also subjected to RNA-sequencing to define the perturbations afforded by ATRA on the whole-genome gene-expression profiles. The number and functional activity of mitochondria were determined in selected ATRA-sensitive and –resistant cell-lines. Bio-computing approaches were used to analyse the high-throughput lipidomic and transcriptomic data. Results ATRA perturbs the homeostasis of numerous lipids and the most relevant effects are observed on cardiolipins, which are located in the mitochondrial inner membranes and play a role in oxidative-phosphorylation. ATRA reduces the amounts of cardiolipins and the effect is associated with the growth-inhibitory activity of the retinoid. Down-regulation of cardiolipins is due to a reduction of mitochondria, which is caused by an ATRA-dependent decrease in the expression of nuclear genes encoding mitochondrial proteins. This demonstrates that ATRA anti-tumor activity is due to a decrease in the amounts of mitochondria causing deficits in the respiration/energy-balance of breast-cancer cells. Conclusions The observation that ATRA anti-proliferative activity is caused by a reduction in the respiration and energy balance of the tumor cells has important ramifications for the therapeutic action of ATRA in breast cancer. The study may open the way to the development of rational therapeutic combinations based on the use of ATRA and anti-tumor agents targeting the mitochondria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mineko Terao
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Laura Goracci
- Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia, via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123, Perugia, Italy.,Consortium for Computational Molecular and Materials Sciences (CMS), via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123, Perugia, Italy
| | - Valentina Celestini
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Mami Kurosaki
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Marco Bolis
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandra Di Veroli
- Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia, via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123, Perugia, Italy
| | - Arianna Vallerga
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Maddalena Fratelli
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Monica Lupi
- Department of Oncology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandro Corbelli
- Department of Cardiovascular Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Fabio Fiordaliso
- Department of Cardiovascular Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Maurizio Gianni
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Gabriela Paroni
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Adriana Zanetti
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy
| | - Gabriele Cruciani
- Department of Chemistry, Biology and Biotechnology, University of Perugia, via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123, Perugia, Italy.,Consortium for Computational Molecular and Materials Sciences (CMS), via Elce di Sotto 8, 06123, Perugia, Italy
| | - Enrico Garattini
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, via La Masa 19, 20156, Milan, Italy.
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Parejo S, Tschan MP, Muraro MG, Garattini E, Spagnoli GC, Schläfli AM. Assessing Autophagy During Retinoid Treatment of Breast Cancer Cells. Methods Mol Biol 2019; 2019:237-256. [PMID: 31359401 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9585-1_17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Retinoids are derived from vitamin A through a multi-step process. Within a target cell, retinoids regulate gene expression by activating the retinoid acid receptors (RAR) and retinoid x receptors (RXR), which are ligand-dependent transcription factors. Besides its therapeutic use in dermatological disorders, all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is successfully utilized to treat acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients. The use of ATRA in APL patients is the first example of clinically useful differentiation therapy. Therapeutic strategies aiming at cancer cell differentiation have great potential for solid tumors, including breast cancer. The few clinical studies conducted with ATRA in breast cancer are rather disappointing. However, these studies did not take into account the heterogeneity of the disease and were conducted on unselected cohorts of patients.We recently showed that ATRA treatment of breast cancer cells induces autophagy, a highly conserved process aiming at degrading and recycling superfluous or harmful cellular components. In addition, autophagy inhibition significantly increases the therapeutic activity of ATRA. This finding is of fundamental importance, since autophagy has a dual role in cancer. Whereas autophagy may be a protective mechanism during the initial phases of cancer development, it may support cancer cell survival in already established tumors. Furthermore, autophagy can lower or enhance therapeutic efficiency, depending on the tumor type and the anticancer agent considered. Therefore, it is important to investigate the role of autophagy in the context of specific tumors and therapeutic approaches. Accurate autophagy studies are challenging given the dynamic nature of the process and the difficulty of measuring the rate of autophagosome degradation (autophagic flux). In this chapter, we provide protocols for a careful assessment of the autophagic flux in ATRA treated 2D and 3D breast cancer cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Parejo
- Division of Experimental Pathology, Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Mario P Tschan
- Division of Experimental Pathology, Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Manuele G Muraro
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Enrico Garattini
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS, Milan, Italy
| | - Giulio C Spagnoli
- Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- National Research Council, Institute of Translational Pharmacology, Rome, Italy
| | - Anna M Schläfli
- Division of Experimental Pathology, Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
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DNA Methylation Predicts the Response of Triple-Negative Breast Cancers to All-Trans Retinoic Acid. Cancers (Basel) 2018; 10:cancers10110397. [PMID: 30352973 PMCID: PMC6266978 DOI: 10.3390/cancers10110397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Revised: 10/18/2018] [Accepted: 10/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
All-trans retinoic acid (atRA) regulates gene expression and is used to treat acute promyelocytic leukemia. Attempts to use atRA in breast cancer without a stratification strategy have resulted in limited overall effectiveness. To identify biomarkers for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) with atRA, we characterized the effects of atRA on the tumor growth of 13 TNBC cell lines. This resulted in a range of effects that was not predictable based on previously hypothesized predictors of response, such as the levels of atRA nuclear shuttling proteins fatty acid binding protein 5 (FABP5) and cellular retinoic acid binding protein 2 (CRABP2). Transcriptional profiling revealed that atRA induced distinct gene expression changes in the sensitive versus resistant cell lines that were mostly independent of the presence of retinoic acid response elements (RAREs) or peroxisome proliferator response elements (PPREs). Given the importance of DNA methylation in regulating gene expression, we hypothesized that differential DNA methylation could predict the response of TNBCs to atRA. We identified over 1400 sites that were differentially methylated between atRA resistant and sensitive cell lines. These CpG sites predicted the response of four TNBC patient-derived xenografts to atRA, and we utilized these xenografts to refine the profile and identified that as many as 17% of TNBC patients could benefit from atRA treatment. These data illustrate that differential methylation of specific CpGs may be useful biomarkers for predicting the response of patient tumors to atRA treatment.
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10
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Peyvandipour A, Saberian N, Shafi A, Donato M, Draghici S. A novel computational approach for drug repurposing using systems biology. Bioinformatics 2018; 34:2817-2825. [PMID: 29534151 PMCID: PMC6084573 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/bty133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2017] [Revised: 02/07/2018] [Accepted: 03/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Motivation Identification of novel therapeutic effects for existing US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs, drug repurposing, is an approach aimed to dramatically shorten the drug discovery process, which is costly, slow and risky. Several computational approaches use transcriptional data to find potential repurposing candidates. The main hypothesis of such approaches is that if gene expression signature of a particular drug is opposite to the gene expression signature of a disease, that drug may have a potential therapeutic effect on the disease. However, this may not be optimal since it fails to consider the different roles of genes and their dependencies at the system level. Results We propose a systems biology approach to discover novel therapeutic roles for established drugs that addresses some of the issues in the current approaches. To do so, we use publicly available drug and disease data to build a drug-disease network by considering all interactions between drug targets and disease-related genes in the context of all known signaling pathways. This network is integrated with gene-expression measurements to identify drugs with new desired therapeutic effects based on a system-level analysis method. We compare the proposed approach with the drug repurposing approach proposed by Sirota et al. on four human diseases: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer and breast cancer. We evaluate the proposed approach based on its ability to re-discover drugs that are already FDA-approved for a given disease. Availability and implementation The R package DrugDiseaseNet is under review for publication in Bioconductor and is available at https://github.com/azampvd/DrugDiseaseNet. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Adib Shafi
- Computer Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Michele Donato
- Computer Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
| | - Sorin Draghici
- Computer Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
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Willmer T, Cooper A, Peres J, Omar R, Prince S. The T-Box transcription factor 3 in development and cancer. Biosci Trends 2017; 11:254-266. [DOI: 10.5582/bst.2017.01043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tarryn Willmer
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Anzio Road, University of Cape Town
| | - Aretha Cooper
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Anzio Road, University of Cape Town
| | - Jade Peres
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Anzio Road, University of Cape Town
| | - Rehana Omar
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Anzio Road, University of Cape Town
| | - Sharon Prince
- Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Anzio Road, University of Cape Town
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12
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Mumcuoglu M, Gurkan-Alp AS, Buyukbingol E, Cetin-Atalay R. Retinoid N-(1H-benzo[d]imidazol-2-yl)-5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydronaphthalene-2-carboxamide induces p21-dependent senescence in breast cancer cells. Steroids 2016; 108:31-8. [PMID: 26898539 DOI: 10.1016/j.steroids.2016.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2015] [Revised: 01/20/2016] [Accepted: 02/11/2016] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Retinoids have been implicated as pharmacological agents for the prevention and treatment of various types of cancers, including breast cancers. We analyzed 27 newly synthesized retinoids for their bioactivity on breast, liver, and colon cancer cells. Majority of the retinoids demonstrated selective bioactivity on breast cancer cells. Retinoid 17 had a significant inhibitory activity (IC50 3.5 μM) only on breast cancer cells while no growth inhibition observed with liver and colon cancer cells. The breast cancer selective growth inhibitory action by retinoid 17 was defined as p21-dependent cell death, reminiscent of senescence, which is an indicator of targeted receptor mediated bioactivity. A comparative analysis of retinoid receptor gene expression levels in different breast cancer cells and IC50 values of 17 indicated the involvement of Retinoid X receptors in the cytotoxic bioactivity of retinoid 17 in the senescence associated cell death. Furthermore, siRNA knockdown studies with RXRγ induced decrease in cell proliferation. Therefore, we suggest that retinoid derivatives that target RXRγ, can be considered for breast cancer therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mine Mumcuoglu
- LOSEV the Foundation for Children with Leukemia, Cancer Genetics Research Laboratory, Ankara, Turkey; Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Bilkent University, Bilkent, 06800 Ankara, Turkey
| | - A Selen Gurkan-Alp
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ankara University, Turkey
| | - Erdem Buyukbingol
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ankara University, Turkey
| | - Rengul Cetin-Atalay
- LOSEV the Foundation for Children with Leukemia, Cancer Genetics Research Laboratory, Ankara, Turkey; Graduate School of Informatics, Cancer Systems Biology Laboratory, METU, 06800 Ankara, Turkey.
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13
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Yan Y, Li Z, Xu X, Chen C, Wei W, Fan M, Chen X, Li JJ, Wang Y, Huang J. All-trans retinoic acids induce differentiation and sensitize a radioresistant breast cancer cells to chemotherapy. BMC COMPLEMENTARY AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE 2016; 16:113. [PMID: 27036550 PMCID: PMC4815257 DOI: 10.1186/s12906-016-1088-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2015] [Accepted: 03/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Background Radiotherapy is of critical importance in the treatment of breast cancer. However, not all patients derive therapeutic benefit and some breast cancers are resistant to the treatment, and are thus evidenced with prospective distant metastatic spread and local recurrence. In this study, we investigated the potential therapeutic effects of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on radiation-resistant breast cancer cells and the associated invasiveness. Methods The MCF7/C6 cells with gained radiation resistance after a long term treatment with fractionated ionizing radiation were derived from human breast cancer MCF7 cell line, and are enriched with cells expressing putative breast cancer stem cell biomarker CD44+/CD24-/low/ALDH+. The enhanced invasiveness and the acquired resistances to chemotherapeutic treatments of MCF7/C6 cells were measured, and potential effects of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on the induction of differentiation, invasion and migration, and on the sensitivities to chemotherapies in MCF7/C6 cells were investigated. Results MCF7/C6 cells are with enrichment of cancer stem-cell like cells with positive staining of CD44+/CD24-/low, OCT3/4 and NANOG. MCF7/C6 cells showed an increased tumoregensis potential and enhanced aggressiveness of invasion and migration. Treatment with ATRA induces the differentiation in MCF7/C6 cells, resulting in reduced invasiveness and migration, and increased sensitivity to Epirubincin treatment. Conclusion Our study suggests a potential clinic impact for ATRA as a chemotherapeutic agent for treatment of therapy-resistant breast cancer especially for the metastatic lesions. The study also provides a rationale for ATRA as a sensitizer of Epirubincin, a first-line treatment option for breast cancer patients. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-016-1088-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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14
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Brigger D, Schläfli AM, Garattini E, Tschan MP. Activation of RARα induces autophagy in SKBR3 breast cancer cells and depletion of key autophagy genes enhances ATRA toxicity. Cell Death Dis 2015; 6:e1861. [PMID: 26313912 PMCID: PMC4558517 DOI: 10.1038/cddis.2015.236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2014] [Revised: 07/15/2015] [Accepted: 07/20/2015] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a pan-retinoic acid receptor (RAR) agonist, is, along with other retinoids, a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of a variety of solid tumors. On the one hand, preclinical studies have shown promising anticancer effects of ATRA in breast cancer; on the other hand, resistances occurred. Autophagy is a cellular recycling process that allows the degradation of bulk cellular contents. Tumor cells may take advantage of autophagy to cope with stress caused by anticancer drugs. We therefore wondered if autophagy is activated by ATRA in mammary tumor cells and if modulation of autophagy might be a potential novel treatment strategy. Indeed, ATRA induces autophagic flux in ATRA-sensitive but not in ATRA-resistant human breast cancer cells. Moreover, using different RAR agonists as well as RARα-knockdown breast cancer cells, we demonstrate that autophagy is dependent on RARα activation. Interestingly, inhibition of autophagy in breast cancer cells by either genetic or pharmacological approaches resulted in significantly increased apoptosis under ATRA treatment and attenuated epithelial differentiation. In summary, our findings demonstrate that ATRA-induced autophagy is mediated by RARα in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, inhibition of autophagy results in enhanced apoptosis. This points to a potential novel treatment strategy for a selected group of breast cancer patients where ATRA and autophagy inhibitors are applied simultaneously.
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MESH Headings
- Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology
- Apoptosis/drug effects
- Autophagy/drug effects
- Autophagy-Related Protein 5
- Autophagy-Related Protein 7
- Cell Differentiation/drug effects
- Cell Line, Tumor
- Chloroquine/pharmacology
- Drug Resistance, Neoplasm/genetics
- Epithelial Cells/drug effects
- Epithelial Cells/metabolism
- Epithelial Cells/pathology
- Female
- Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
- Humans
- Macrolides/pharmacology
- Mammary Glands, Human/drug effects
- Mammary Glands, Human/metabolism
- Mammary Glands, Human/pathology
- Microtubule-Associated Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors
- Microtubule-Associated Proteins/genetics
- Microtubule-Associated Proteins/metabolism
- RNA, Small Interfering/genetics
- RNA, Small Interfering/metabolism
- Receptors, Retinoic Acid/agonists
- Receptors, Retinoic Acid/genetics
- Receptors, Retinoic Acid/metabolism
- Retinoic Acid Receptor alpha
- Signal Transduction
- Tretinoin/pharmacology
- Ubiquitin-Activating Enzymes/antagonists & inhibitors
- Ubiquitin-Activating Enzymes/genetics
- Ubiquitin-Activating Enzymes/metabolism
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Affiliation(s)
- D Brigger
- Division of Experimental Pathology, Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - A M Schläfli
- Division of Experimental Pathology, Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - E Garattini
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, IRCCS-Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche ‘Mario Negri', Milano, Italy
| | - M P Tschan
- Division of Experimental Pathology, Institute of Pathology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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15
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Zhang L, Zhou Q, Zhang N, Li W, Ying M, Ding W, Yang B, He Q. E2F1 impairs all-trans retinoic acid-induced osteogenic differentiation of osteosarcoma via promoting ubiquitination-mediated degradation of RARα. Cell Cycle 2014; 13:1277-87. [PMID: 24608861 DOI: 10.4161/cc.28190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) is a widely used differentiation drug that can effectively induce osteogenic differentiation of osteosarcoma cells, but the underlying mechanism remains elusive, which limits the clinical application for ATRA in osteosarcoma patients. In this study, we identified E2F1 as a novel regulator involved in ATRA-induced osteogenic differentiation of osteosarcoma cells. We observed that osteosarcoma cells are coupled with individual differences in the expression levels of E2F1 in patients, and E2F1 impairs ATRA-induced differentiation of osteosarcoma cells. Moreover, remarkable anti-proliferative and differentiation-inducing effects of ATRA treatment are only observed in E2F1 low to negative expressed primary osteosarcoma cultures. These results strongly suggested that E2F1 may serve as a potent indicator for the effectiveness of ATRA treatment in osteosarcoma. Interestingly, E2F1 is found to downregulate retinoic acid receptor α (RARα), a key factor determines the effectiveness of ATRA. E2F1 specifically binds to RARα and promotes its ubiquitination-mediated degradation; as a consequence, RARα-mediated differentiation is inhibited in osteosarcoma. Therefore, our studies present E2F1 as a potent biomarker, as well as a therapeutic target for ATRA-based differentiation therapeutics, and raise the hope of using differentiation-based approaches for osteosarcoma patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Zhang
- Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Zhejiang University; Hangzhou, China
| | - Qian Zhou
- Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Zhejiang University; Hangzhou, China
| | - Ning Zhang
- Department of Orthopedics; The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University; Zhejiang University; Hangzhou, China
| | - Weixu Li
- Department of Orthopedics; The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University; Zhejiang University; Hangzhou, China
| | - Meidan Ying
- Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Zhejiang University; Hangzhou, China
| | - Wanjing Ding
- Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Zhejiang University; Hangzhou, China
| | - Bo Yang
- Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Zhejiang University; Hangzhou, China
| | - Qiaojun He
- Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Zhejiang University; Hangzhou, China
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16
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Overexpression of retinoic acid-induced protein 3 predicts poor prognosis for hepatocellular carcinoma. Clin Transl Oncol 2013; 16:57-63. [PMID: 23632812 DOI: 10.1007/s12094-013-1040-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2013] [Accepted: 04/01/2013] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
AIM To investigate clinical significance of retinoic acid-induced protein 3 (RAI3) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS Expression of RAI3 at both mRNA and protein levels in tumor, para-tumor and normal liver tissues was detected in 106 HCC patients by real-time quantitative RT-PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemistry. Then, the correlation of RAI3 expression with clinicopathological characteristics and survivals of HCC patients was analyzed. RESULTS Our data first found that RAI3 mRNA and protein expression were both significantly higher in HCC than in para-tumor (both P < 0.001) and normal liver tissues (both P < 0.001). The correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between RAI3 mRNA level and RAI3 protein level in HCC tissues (r = 0.8, P < 0.001). Immunohistochemistry data also revealed that overexpression of RAI3 was present in 73.6 % (78/106) of HCC tissues. In addition, high RAI3 protein expression was correlated with advanced TNM stage (P = 0.001), high serum AFP (P = 0.008), vascular invasion (P = 0.01) and tumor recurrence (P = 0.008). Moreover, HCC patients with overexpression of RAI3 had significantly shorter overall (P = 0.01) and disease-free survival (P = 0.01). Furthermore, multivariate analysis showed that overexpression of RAI3 was an independent prognostic factor for both overall (P = 0.02) and disease-free survival (P = 0.03) in HCC. CONCLUSION Our data for the first time provide a basis for the concept that overexpression of RAI3 may contribute to the malignant progression of HCC and predict poor prognosis for patients with this deadly disease after curative hepatectomy. RAI3 might be an important marker for tumor progression and prognosis, as well as a potential therapeutic target of HCC.
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