Regulation of the stem‑like properties of estrogen receptor‑positive breast cancer cells through NR2E3/NR2C2 signaling.

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are major drivers of metastasis, drug resistance and recurrence in numerous cancers. However, critical factors that can modulate CSC stemness have not been clearly identified. Nuclear receptor subfamily 2 group E member 3 () expression has been previously reported to be positively associated with drug sensitivity and favorable clinical outcomes in patients with estrogen receptor (ER) breast cancer. This suggests that expression may be inversely associated with CSC stemness in this type of tumor cells. The present study aimed to investigate the regulatory roles of NR2E3 in the stem-like properties of ER breast cancer cells and to identify the underlying mechanisms. Bioinformatics analysis was performed using the data derived from the Cancer Genome Atlas database. -specific shRNA and nuclear receptor subfamily 2 group C member 2 () overexpressed plasmids were constructed to silence and enhance the expression of and , respectively. Transwell and wound healing experiments were conducted to evaluate the migration and invasion ability of MCF7 cells, while colony formation tests were used to evaluate the clonality. Flow cytometry was used to detect the percentage of CD44CD24 cells. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and western blotting were performed to detect expression at the mRNA and protein levels. The results showed that compared with normal breast tissues and MCF10A cells, the expression of was increased in ER breast tumor tissues and cell lines. silencing promoted the migration, invasion and colony-forming ability of the ER MCF7 cells. It also increased the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers and stem cell-related transcription factors, in addition to the percentage of CD44CD24 cells. The expression of and was found to be positively correlated. knockdown decreased the mRNA and protein expression levels of , whereas overexpression reversed the elevated CD44CD24 cell ratio and the increased migratory activity caused by silencing. The results of the present study suggest that NR2E3 may serve an important role in modulating the stem-like properties of ER breast cancer cells, where NR2E3/NR2C2 signaling may be a therapeutic target in ER breast cancer.