Notch-1 signaling activates NF-κB in human breast carcinoma MDA-MB-231 cells via PP2A-dependent AKT pathway.

Breast cancer has a high incidence in the world and is becoming a leading cause of death in female patients due to its high metastatic ability. High expression of Notch-1 and its ligand Jagged-1 correlates with poor prognosis in breast cancer. Our previous work has shown that Notch-1 signaling pathway upregulates NF-κB transcriptional activity and induces the adhesion, migration and invasion of human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231. However, the role of Notch-1 in NF-κB activation is still poorly understood. Here, we aim to understand the exact mechanism that Notch-1 regulates NF-κB activity. In MDA-MB-231 cells where Notch-1 is constitutively activated, the phosphorylation of p85 and AKT (Tyr308/Ser473) is upregulated, indicating PI3K/AKT pathway is activated. Notch-1 activation caused the increase of PP2A phosphorylation at Tyr307, indicating Notch-1 inhibits PP2A activity. NF-κB transcriptional activity was evaluated by dual-luciferase reporter assay, and the results showed that, while silencing of Notch-1, PP2A activity was upregulated and NF-κB activity was downregulated, whereas PP2A inhibitor okadaic acid (OA) restored NF-κB activity. Immunofluorescence and Western blots showed that OA treatment antagonized the decrease of p65 nuclear translocation caused by Notch-1 silencing. Moreover, OA treatment also upregulated MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF mRNA expression levels, indicating OA rescues Notch-1 silencing that caused low cell invasion. Taken together, our results suggest that Notch-1-activating PI3K/AKT/NF-κB pathway is PP2A dependent; PP2A may be a potential therapeutic target in breast cancer.