Gene expression alterations associated with outcome in aromatase inhibitor-treated ER+ early-stage breast cancer patients

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Karina G Thomsen
  • Maria B Lyng
  • Daniel Elias
  • Henriette Vever
  • Ann S Knoop
  • Anne E Lykkesfeldt
  • Lænkholm, Anne-Vibeke
  • Henrik J Ditzel

Aromatase inhibitors (AI), either alone or together with chemotherapy, have become the standard adjuvant treatment for postmenopausal, estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer. Although AIs improve overall survival, resistance is still a major clinical problem, thus additional biomarkers predictive of outcome of ER+ breast cancer patients treated with AIs are needed. Global gene expression analysis was performed on ER+ primary breast cancers from patients treated with adjuvant AI monotherapy; half experienced recurrence (median follow-up 6.7 years). Gene expression alterations were validated by qRT-PCR, and functional studies evaluating the effect of siRNA-mediated gene knockdown on cell growth were performed. Twenty-six genes, including TFF3, DACH1, RGS5, and GHR, were shown to exhibit altered expression in tumors from patients with recurrence versus non-recurrent (fold change ≥1.5, p < 0.05), and the gene expression alterations were confirmed using qRT-PCR. Ten of these 26 genes could be linked in a network associated with cellular proliferation, growth, and development. TFF3, which encodes for trefoil factor 3 and is an estrogen-responsive oncogene shown to play a functional role in tamoxifen resistance and metastasis of ER+ breast cancer, was also shown to be upregulated in an AI-resistant cell line model, and reduction of TFF3 levels using TFF3-specific siRNAs decreased the growth of both the AI-resistant and -sensitive parental cell lines. Moreover, overexpression of TFF3 in parental AI-sensitive MCF-7/S0.5 cells resulted in reduced sensitivity to the AI exemestane, whereas TFF3 overexpression had no effect on growth in the absence of exemestane, indicating that TFF3 mediates growth and survival signals that abrogate the growth inhibitory effect of exemestane. We identified a panel of 26 genes exhibiting altered expression associated with disease recurrence in patients treated with adjuvant AI monotherapy, including TFF3, which was shown to exhibit a growth- and survival-promoting effect in the context of AI treatment.

Original languageEnglish
JournalBreast Cancer Research and Treatment
Volume154
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)483-94
Number of pages12
ISSN0167-6806
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2015

    Research areas

  • Aged, Androstadienes, Antineoplastic Agents, Aromatase Inhibitors, Breast Neoplasms, Cell Line, Tumor, Chemotherapy, Adjuvant, Drug Resistance, Neoplasm, Eye Proteins, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Humans, Middle Aged, Neoplasm Recurrence, Local, Nitriles, Peptides, RGS Proteins, Receptors, Estrogen, Retrospective Studies, Transcription Factors, Treatment Outcome, Trefoil Factor-3, Triazoles, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

ID: 179317339