Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
J Biol Chem. 2013 Mar 1;288(9):6478-87. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M112.419184. Epub 2013 Jan 10.
Gene expression profiling has identified breast cancer (BCa) subtypes, including an aggressive basal-like (BL) subtype. The molecular signals underlying the behavior observed in BL-BCa group are largely unknown, although recent results indicate a prevalent increase in Wnt/β-catenin activity. Our immunohistochemistry study confirmed that SOX9, one of the BL-BCa signature genes, was expressed by most BL-BCa, and its expression correlated with indicators of poor prognosis. Importantly, BCa gene expression profiling strongly associated SOX9 with the expression of Wnt/β-catenin pathway components, LRP6 and TCF4. In cancer cell lines, SOX9 silencing reduced cell proliferation and invasion, LRP6 and TCF4 transcription, and decreased Wnt/β-catenin activation. SOX9 expression was also increased by Wnt, indicating that SOX9 is at the center of a positive feedback loop that enhances Wnt/β-catenin signaling. Consistently, SOX9 overexpression in BCa cell lines and transgenic SOX9 expression in breast epithelium caused increased LRP6 and TCF4 expression and Wnt/β-catenin activation. These results identify SOX9-mediated Wnt/β-catenin activation as one of the molecular mechanisms underlying aberrant Wnt/β-catenin activity in BCa, especially in the BL-BCa subgroup.
基因表达谱分析已经确定了乳腺癌(BCa)亚型,包括侵袭性基底样(BL)亚型。BL-BCa 组观察到的行为的分子信号在很大程度上是未知的,尽管最近的结果表明 Wnt/β-catenin 活性普遍增加。我们的免疫组织化学研究证实,SOX9 是 BL-BCa 特征基因之一,在大多数 BL-BCa 中表达,其表达与预后不良指标相关。重要的是,BCa 基因表达谱分析强烈表明 SOX9 与 Wnt/β-catenin 途径成分 LRP6 和 TCF4 的表达相关。在癌细胞系中,沉默 SOX9 减少了细胞增殖和侵袭、LRP6 和 TCF4 转录,并降低了 Wnt/β-catenin 激活。Wnt 也增加了 SOX9 的表达,表明 SOX9 处于正反馈回路的中心,增强了 Wnt/β-catenin 信号。一致地,BCa 细胞系中 SOX9 的过表达和乳腺上皮细胞中的转基因 SOX9 表达导致 LRP6 和 TCF4 表达增加和 Wnt/β-catenin 激活。这些结果表明,SOX9 介导的 Wnt/β-catenin 激活是 BCa 中异常 Wnt/β-catenin 活性的分子机制之一,尤其是在 BL-BCa 亚组中。