Cancer/testis antigen-Plac1 promotes invasion and metastasis of breast cancer through Furin/NICD/PTEN signaling pathway.

Abstract

Placenta-specific protein 1 (Plac1) is a cancer/testis antigen that plays a critical role in promoting cancer initiation and progression. However, the clinical significance and mechanism of Plac1 in cancer progression remain elusive. Here, we report that Plac1 is an important oncogenic and prognostic factor, which physically interacts with Furin to drive breast cancer invasion and metastasis. We have shown that Plac1 expression positively correlates with clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, hormone receptor status, and overall patient survival. Overexpression of Plac1 promoted invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence cell staining assays revealed that interaction of Plac1 and Furin degraded Notch1 and generated Notch1 intracellular domain (NICD) that could inhibit PTEN activity. These findings are consistent with the results of microarray study in MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing Plac1. A rescue study showed that inhibition of Furin and overexpression of PTEN in Plac1 overexpression cells blocked Plac1-induced tumor cell progression. Taken together, our findings suggest that functional interaction between Plac1 and Furin enhances breast cancer invasion and metastasis and the Furin/NICD/PTEN axis may act as an important therapeutic target for breast cancer treatment.

• Authors: Yongfei Li, Jiahui Chu, Jun Li, Wanting Feng, Fan Yang, Yifan Wang, Yanhong Zhang, Chunxiao Sun, Mengzhu Yang, Shauna N Vasilatos, Yi Huang, Ziyi Fu, Yongmei Yin
• Journal: Molecular oncology (Mol Oncol) Vol. 12 Issue 8 Pg. 1233-1248 (08 2018) ISSN: 1878-0261 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 29704427 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2018 The Authors. Published by FEBS Press and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Chemical References

• NOTCH1 protein, human
• PLAC1 protein, human
• Pregnancy Proteins
• Receptor, Notch1
• PTEN Phosphohydrolase
• Furin

Topics

• Breast Neoplasms (metabolism, pathology)
• Cell Line, Tumor
• Female
• Furin (metabolism)
• Humans
• Neoplasm Invasiveness (pathology)
• Neoplasm Metastasis (pathology)
• PTEN Phosphohydrolase (metabolism)
• Pregnancy Proteins (metabolism)
• Protein Interaction Maps
• Receptor, Notch1 (metabolism)
• Signal Transduction