CUL4B renders breast cancer cells tamoxifen-resistant via miR-32-5p/ER-α36 axis

Tamoxifen (TAM) resistance is a significant clinical challenge in endocrine therapies for estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer patients. Cullin 4B (CUL4B), which acts as a scaffold protein in CUL4B-RING ubiquitin ligase complexes (CRL4B), is frequently overexpressed in cancer and represses tumor suppressors through diverse epigenetic mechanisms. However, the role and the underlying mechanisms of CUL4B in regulating drug resistance remain unknown. Here, we showed that CUL4B promotes TAM resistance in breast cancer cells through a miR-32-5p/ER-alpha 36 axis. We found that upregulation of CUL4B correlated with decreased TAM sensitivity of breast cancer cells, and knockdown of CUL4B or expression of a dominant-negative CUL4B mutant restored the response to TAM in TAM-resistant MCF7-TAM(R) and T47D-TAM(R) cells. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that CUL4B renders breast cancer cells TAM-resistant by upregulating ER-alpha 36 expression, which was mediated by downregulation of miR-32-5p. We further showed that CRL4B epigenetically represses the transcription of miR-32-5p by catalyzing monoubiquitination at H2AK119 and coordinating with PRC2 and HDAC complexes to promote trimethylation at H3K27 at the promoter of miR-32-5p. Pharmacologic or genetic inhibition of CRL4B/PRC2/HDAC complexes significantly increased TAM sensitivity in breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Taken together, our findings thus establish a critical role for the CUL4B-miR-32-5p-ER-alpha 36 axis in the regulation of TAM resistance and have important therapeutic implications for combined application of TAM and the inhibitors of CRL4B/PRC2/HDAC complex in breast cancer treatment. (c) 2021 The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Automated summary

CUL4B promotes TAM resistance in breast cancer cells by upregulating ER-alpha 36 expression through the regulation of miR-32-5p. This mechanism involves epigenetic modifications mediated by CRL4B, PRC2, and HDAC complexes, and targeting these complexes can increase sensitivity to TAM in breast cancer cells.