Cancer Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida de Universidade, Taipa, Macau SAR; MoE Frontiers Science Center for Precision Oncology, University of Macau, Avenida de Universidade, Taipa, Macau SAR.
Centre for Precision Medicine Research and Training, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida de Universidade, Taipa, Macau SAR; Department of Pathology, Kiang Wu Hospital, Macau SAR.
Int J Biol Sci. 2022 May 29;18(9):3827-3844. doi: 10.7150/ijbs.69344. eCollection 2022.
Genomic instability is considered as one of the key hallmark during cancer development and progression. Cellular mechanisms, such as DNA replication initiation, DNA damage and repair response, apoptosis etc are observed to block progression of genomic instability and thereby induce protective effects against cancer. DNA replication initiation protein MCM10 has been previously observed to have an increased expression in different cancer subtypes. However, MCM10 association with genomic instability, cancer development and its relevant mechanisms remain unknown. Here, using a breast cancer model, we observe a significant association of MCM10 with the degree of clinical aggressiveness in breast cancer patients. By overexpression of MCM10, we observed that MCM10 promotes tumorigenic properties in immortal non-tumorigenic mammary cells by increasing proliferation, shortening the cell cycle, and promoting tumorigenic characters in mimicking conditions. Furthermore, overexpression of MCM10 is found to induce accumulation of ssDNA followed by overexpression of ssDNA binding protein RPA2. Mesenchymal markers such as up-regulation of Vimentin, transcription factor Snail and Twist2, and the down-regulation of E-cadherin were observed in MCM10 overexpression cells. Overall, the findings of this study revealed a novel mechanism by which MCM10 promotes genomic instability and breast cancer progression, and effectively differentiates the active degree of breast cancer aggressiveness. Thus, MCM10 has the potential to be a clinically useful biomarker as well as a therapeutic target for future breast cancer treatment.
基因组不稳定性被认为是癌症发生和发展过程中的关键特征之一。细胞机制,如 DNA 复制起始、DNA 损伤和修复反应、细胞凋亡等,被观察到可以阻止基因组不稳定性的进展,从而对癌症产生保护作用。先前观察到 DNA 复制起始蛋白 MCM10 在不同的癌症亚型中表达增加。然而,MCM10 与基因组不稳定性、癌症发展及其相关机制的关联仍然未知。在这里,我们使用乳腺癌模型观察到 MCM10 与乳腺癌患者临床侵袭程度之间存在显著关联。通过过表达 MCM10,我们观察到 MCM10 通过增加增殖、缩短细胞周期以及在模拟条件下促进肿瘤形成特性,促进永生化非肿瘤性乳腺细胞的肿瘤发生特性。此外,过表达 MCM10 被发现会导致 ssDNA 的积累,随后导致 ssDNA 结合蛋白 RPA2 的过度表达。在 MCM10 过表达细胞中观察到间充质标志物如波形蛋白、转录因子 Snail 和 Twist2 的上调,以及 E-钙粘蛋白的下调。总的来说,这项研究的结果揭示了 MCM10 促进基因组不稳定性和乳腺癌进展的新机制,并有效地区分了乳腺癌侵袭性的活跃程度。因此,MCM10 有可能成为一种有临床应用价值的生物标志物,以及未来乳腺癌治疗的治疗靶点。