Ward Erin C, Hoekstra Anna V, Blok Leen J, Hanifi-Moghaddam P, Lurain John R, Singh Diljeet K, Buttin Barbara M, Schink Julian C, Kim J Julie
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University, 303 East Superior, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Endocrinology. 2008 Apr;149(4):1942-50. doi: 10.1210/en.2007-0756. Epub 2007 Dec 20.
In many type I endometrial cancers, the PTEN gene is inactivated, which ultimately leads to constitutively active Akt and the inhibition of Forkhead box O1 (FOXO1), a member of the FOXO subfamily of Forkhead/winged helix family of transcription factors. The expression, regulation, and function of FOXO1 in endometrial cancer were investigated in this study. Immunohistochemical analysis of 49 endometrial tumor tissues revealed a decrease of FOXO1 expression in 95.9% of the cases compared with the expression in normal endometrium. In four different endometrial cancer cell lines (ECC1, Hec1B, Ishikawa, and RL95), FOXO1 mRNA was expressed at similar levels; however, protein levels were low or undetectable in Ecc1, Ishikawa, and RL95 cells. Using small interfering RNA technology, we demonstrated that the low levels of FOXO1 protein were due to the involvement of Skp2, an oncogenic subunit of the Skp1/Cul1/F-box protein ubiquitin complex, given that silencing Skp2 increased FOXO1 protein expression in Ishikawa cells. Inhibition of Akt in Ishikawa cells also increased nuclear FOXO1 protein levels. Additionally, progestins increased FOXO1 protein levels, specifically through progesterone receptor B (PRB) as determined by using stably transfected PRA-specific and PRB-specific Ishikawa cell lines. Finally, overexpression of triple mutant (Tm) FOXO1 in the PR-specific Ishikawa cell lines caused cell cycle arrest and significantly decreased proliferation in the presence and absence of the progestin, R5020. Furthermore, TmFOXO1 overexpression induced apoptosis in PRB-specific cells in the presence and absence of ligand. Taken together, these data provide insight into the phosphoinositide-3-kinase/Akt/FOXO pathway for the determination of progestin responsiveness and the development of alternate therapies for endometrial cancer.
在许多I型子宫内膜癌中,PTEN基因失活,最终导致Akt持续激活,并抑制叉头框O1(FOXO1),FOXO1是叉头/翼状螺旋家族转录因子的FOXO亚家族成员。本研究对子宫内膜癌中FOXO1的表达、调控及功能进行了研究。对49例子宫内膜肿瘤组织进行免疫组化分析发现,与正常子宫内膜相比,95.9%的病例中FOXO1表达降低。在四种不同的子宫内膜癌细胞系(ECC1、Hec1B、Ishikawa和RL95)中,FOXO1 mRNA表达水平相似;然而,Ecc1、Ishikawa和RL95细胞中的蛋白水平较低或无法检测到。利用小干扰RNA技术,我们证明FOXO1蛋白水平较低是由于Skp2的参与,Skp2是Skp1/Cul1/F盒蛋白泛素复合体的致癌亚基,因为沉默Skp2可增加Ishikawa细胞中FOXO1蛋白的表达。抑制Ishikawa细胞中的Akt也可增加细胞核中FOXO1蛋白水平。此外,孕激素可增加FOXO1蛋白水平,具体是通过孕激素受体B(PRB)实现的,这是通过使用稳定转染的PRA特异性和PRB特异性Ishikawa细胞系确定的。最后,在PR特异性Ishikawa细胞系中过表达三重突变(Tm)FOXO1导致细胞周期停滞,并在存在和不存在孕激素R5020的情况下显著降低细胞增殖。此外,TmFOXO1过表达在存在和不存在配体的情况下均可诱导PRB特异性细胞凋亡。综上所述,这些数据为磷酸肌醇-3-激酶/Akt/FOXO途径在确定孕激素反应性及子宫内膜癌替代疗法开发方面提供了见解。