Differential Regulation and Targeting of Estrogen Receptor alpha Turnover in Invasive Lobular Breast Carcinoma
ENDOCRINOLOGY
Authors: Sreekumar, Sreeja; Levine, Kevin M.; Sikora, Matthew J.; Chen, Jian; Tasdemir, Nilgun; Carter, Dorothy; Dabbs, David J.; Meier, Carolin; Basudan, Ahmed; Boone, David; McAuliffe, Priscilla F.; Jankowitz, Rachel C.; Lee, Adrian, V; Atkinson, Jennifer M.; Oesterreich, Steffi
Abstract
Invasive lobular breast carcinoma (ILC) accounts for 10% to 15% of breast cancers diagnosed annually. Evidence suggests that some aspects of endocrine treatment response might differ between invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and ILC, and that patients with ILC have worse long-term survival. We analyzed The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset and observed lower levels of ESR1 mRNA (P = 0.002) and ER alpha protein (P = 0.038) in ER+ ILC (n = 137) compared to IDC (n = 554), and further confirmed the mRNA difference in a local UPMC cohort (ILC, n = 143; IDC, n = 877; P < 0.005). In both datasets, the correlation between ESR1 mRNA and ER alpha protein was weaker in ILC, suggesting differential post-transcriptional regulation of ER alpha. In vitro, 17 beta-estradiol (E2) decreased the rate of degradation and increased the half-life of ERa in ILC cell lines, whereas the opposite was observed in IDC cell lines. Further, E2 failed to induce robust ubiquitination of ERa in ILC cells. To determine the potential clinical relevance of these findings, we evaluated the effect of 2 selective estrogen receptor downregulators (SERDs), ICI 182,780 and AZD9496, on ER alpha turnover and cell growth. While ICI 182,780 and AZD9496 showed similar effects in IDC cells, in ILC cell lines, AZD9496 was not as effective as ICI 182,780 in decreasing ER alpha stability and E2-induced proliferation. Furthermore, AZD9496 exhibited partial agonist activity in growth assays in ILC cell lines. Our study provides evidence for a distinct ER alpha regulation by SERDs in ILC cell lines, and therefore it is important to include ILC models into preclinical and clinical testing of novel SERDs.
Estrogen receptor (ESR1 and ESR2)-mediated activation of eNOS-NO-cGMP pathway facilitates high altitude acclimatization
NITRIC OXIDE-BIOLOGY AND CHEMISTRY
Authors: Pooja; Sharma, Manish; Singh, Krishan; Himashree, Gidugu; Bhaumik, Gopinath; Kumar, Bhuvnesh; Sethy, Niroj Kumar
Abstract
Higher levels of circulatory nitric oxide (NO) and NO metabolites reportedly facilitate high altitude acclimatization. But the underlying factors and molecular pathways promoting NO production at high altitude has been poorly characterized. Studying healthy lowlanders at sea level (C, lowlander) and high altitude (3500 m, after day 1, 4 and 7 of ascent), we report higher protein levels of eNOS and eNOS(Ser1177), higher plasma levels of BH4, NOx (nitrate and nitrites), cGMP and lower levels of endogenous eNOS inhibitor ADMA during healthy high altitude acclimatization. Our qRT-PCR-based gene expression studies identified higher levels of eNOS/NOS3 mRNA along with several other eNOS pathway genes like CALM1, SLC7A1 and DNM2. In addition, we observed higher mRNA levels of estrogen (E2) receptors ER alpha/ESR1 and ER beta/ESR2 at high altitude that transcriptionally activates NOS3. We also observed higher mRNA level of membrane receptor ERBB2 that phosphorylates eNOS at Ser1177 and thus augments NO availability. Evaluating E2 biosynthesis at high altitude, we report higher plasma levels of CYP11A1, CYP19A1, E2, lower levels of testosterone (T) and T/E2 ratio as compared to sea level. Correlation studies revealed moderate positive correlation between E2 and NOx (R = 0.68, p = 0.02) after day 4 and cGMP (R = 0.69, p = 0.02) after day 7 at high altitude. These findings suggest a causative role of E2 and its receptors ESR1 and ESR2 in augmenting eNOS activity and NO availability during healthy high altitude ascent. These results will aid in better understanding of NO production during hypobaric hypoxia and help in designing better high altitude acclimatization protocols.