Journal
MOLECULAR CANCER THERAPEUTICS
Volume 14, Issue 5, Pages 1152-1161Publisher
AMER ASSOC CANCER RESEARCH
DOI: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-14-0950
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Funding
- NIH [R01CA138587, R01NS077388]
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [U01NS069997]
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Brain metastases occur in about 10% to 30% of breast cancer patients, which culminates in a poor prognosis. It is, therefore, critical to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying brain metastatic processes to identify relevant targets. We hypothesized that breast cancer cells must express brain-associated markers that would enable their invasion and survival in the brain microenvironment. We assessed a panel of brain-predominant markers and found an elevation of several neuronal markers (beta III-tubulin, Nestin, and AchE) in brain metastatic breast cancer cells. Among these neuronal predominant markers, in silico analysis revealed overexpression of beta III-tubulin (TUBB3) in breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM) and its expression was significantly associated with distant metastases. TUBB3 knockdown studies were conducted in breast cancer models (MDA-Br, GLIM2, and MDA-MB-468), which revealed significant reduction in their invasive capabilities. MDA-Br cells with suppressed TUBB3 also demonstrated loss of key signaling molecules such as beta 3 integrin, pFAK, and pSrc in vitro. Furthermore, TUBB3 knockdown in a brain metastatic breast cancer cell line compromised its metastatic ability in vivo, and significantly improved survival in a brain metastasis model. These results implicate a critical role of TUBB3 in conferring brain metastatic potential to breast cancer cells. (C) 2015 AACR.
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