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Murakami T, Shoji Y, Nishi T, Chang SC, Jachimowicz RD, Hoshimoto S, Ono S, Shiloh Y, Takeuchi H, Kitagawa Y, Hoon DSB, Bustos MA. Regulation of MRE11A by UBQLN4 leads to cisplatin resistance in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Mol Oncol 2021; 15:1069-1087. [PMID: 33605536 PMCID: PMC8024730 DOI: 10.1002/1878-0261.12929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2020] [Revised: 01/20/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Resistance to standard cisplatin‐based chemotherapies leads to worse survival outcomes for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Therefore, there is an urgent need to understand the aberrant mechanisms driving resistance in ESCC tumors. We hypothesized that ubiquilin‐4 (UBQLN4), a protein that targets ubiquitinated proteins to the proteasome, regulates the expression of Meiotic Recombination 11 Homolog A (MRE11A), a critical component of the MRN complex and DNA damage repair pathways. Initially, immunohistochemistry analysis was conducted in specimens from patients with ESCC (n = 120). In endoscopic core ESCC biopsies taken from 61 patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) (5‐fluorouracil and cisplatin), low MRE11A and high UBQLN4 protein levels were associated with reduced pathological response to NAC (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). Multivariable analysis of surgically resected ESCC tissues from 59 patients revealed low MRE11A and high UBLQN4 expression as independent factors that can predict shorter overall survival [P = 0.01, hazard ratio (HR) = 5.11, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.45–18.03; P = 0.02, HR = 3.74, 95% CI, 1.19–11.76, respectively]. Suppression of MRE11A expression was associated with cisplatin resistance in ESCC cell lines. Additionally, MRE11A was found to be ubiquitinated after cisplatin treatment. We observed an amplification of UBQLN4 gene copy numbers and an increase in UBQLN4 protein levels in ESCC tissues. Binding of UBQLN4 to ubiquitinated‐MRE11A increased MRE11A degradation, thereby regulating MRE11A protein levels following DNA damage and promoting cisplatin resistance. In summary, MRE11A and UBQLN4 protein levels can serve as predictors for NAC response and as prognostic markers in ESCC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomohiro Murakami
- Department of Translational Molecular Medicine, Division of Molecular Oncology, Saint John's Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, USA.,Department of Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan
| | - Yoshiaki Shoji
- Department of Translational Molecular Medicine, Division of Molecular Oncology, Saint John's Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, USA.,Department of Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Japan
| | - Tomohiko Nishi
- Department of Translational Molecular Medicine, Division of Molecular Oncology, Saint John's Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, USA.,Department of Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Japan
| | - Shu-Ching Chang
- Medical Data Research Center Providence Health and Services at Providence Saint Joseph's Health, Portland, OR, USA
| | - Ron D Jachimowicz
- Clinic I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany.,Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Germany.,Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Response in Ageing-Associated Diseases, University of Cologne, Germany
| | - Sojun Hoshimoto
- Department of Translational Molecular Medicine, Division of Molecular Oncology, Saint John's Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, USA.,Department of Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Japan
| | - Shigeshi Ono
- Department of Translational Molecular Medicine, Division of Molecular Oncology, Saint John's Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, USA.,Department of Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Japan
| | - Yosef Shiloh
- David and Inez Myers Laboratory for Cancer Genetics, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel
| | - Hiroya Takeuchi
- Department of Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Japan
| | - Yuko Kitagawa
- Department of Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Japan
| | - Dave S B Hoon
- Department of Translational Molecular Medicine, Division of Molecular Oncology, Saint John's Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, USA
| | - Matias A Bustos
- Department of Translational Molecular Medicine, Division of Molecular Oncology, Saint John's Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, CA, USA
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