Inaba Satoru, Li Cong, Shi Y Eric, Song Dan-Qing, Jiang Jian-Dong, Liu Jingwen
VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.
Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2005 Nov;94(1):25-35. doi: 10.1007/s10549-005-6938-0.
Aberrant expressions of the neuronal protein synuclein gamma (SNCG) in malignant mammary epithelial cells are strongly associated with the progression of breast cancer. SNCG is not expressed in normal breast tissues but abundantly expressed in a high percentage of invasive and metastatic breast carcinomas. Several studies have demonstrated that SNCG expression significantly stimulates proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of breast cancer cells. To elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the tumorigenic functions of SNCG, we investigated the effects of SNCG expression on the mitotic checkpoint function of breast cancer cells. By conducting several different lines of investigations, we now demonstrate that SNCG expression in breast cancer cells overrides the mitotic checkpoint control and confers the cellular resistance to anti-microtubule drug-caused apoptosis. We further show that the inhibitory effects of SNCG on mitotic checkpoint can be overthrown by enforced overexpression of the mitotic checkpoint protein BubR1 in SNCG-expressing cells. These new findings combined with our previous observation that SNCG intracellularly associates with BubR1 together suggest that SNCG expression compromises the mitotic checkpoint control by inhibition of the normal function of BubR1, thereby promoting genetic instability. Genetic instability is recognized as an important contributing factor in tumorigenesis. Hence, our studies gain insight into the mechanisms whereby SNCG expression advances breast cancer disease progression and fasters tumor metastasis.
神经元蛋白γ-突触核蛋白(SNCG)在恶性乳腺上皮细胞中的异常表达与乳腺癌的进展密切相关。SNCG在正常乳腺组织中不表达,但在高比例的侵袭性和转移性乳腺癌中大量表达。多项研究表明,SNCG的表达显著刺激乳腺癌细胞的增殖、侵袭和转移。为了阐明SNCG致瘤功能的分子和细胞机制,我们研究了SNCG表达对乳腺癌细胞有丝分裂检查点功能的影响。通过进行多项不同的研究,我们现在证明乳腺癌细胞中SNCG的表达超越了有丝分裂检查点控制,并赋予细胞对抗微管药物诱导凋亡的抗性。我们进一步表明,在表达SNCG的细胞中强制过表达有丝分裂检查点蛋白BubR1可以推翻SNCG对有丝分裂检查点的抑制作用。这些新发现与我们之前观察到的SNCG在细胞内与BubR1结合的结果共同表明,SNCG的表达通过抑制BubR1的正常功能而损害有丝分裂检查点控制,从而促进基因不稳定。基因不稳定被认为是肿瘤发生的一个重要促成因素。因此,我们的研究深入了解了SNCG表达促进乳腺癌疾病进展和加速肿瘤转移的机制。