oxalylglycine and Breast-Neoplasms

Previously, it has been reported that hypoxia causes increased mutagenesis and alteration in DNA repair mechanisms. In 2005, an interesting study showed that hypoxia-induced decreases in BRCA1 expression and the consequent suppression of homologous recombination may lead to genetic instability. However, nothing is yet known about the involvement of BRCA2 in hypoxic conditions in breast cancer. Initially, a cell proliferation assay allowed us to hypothesize that hypoxia could negatively regulate the breast cancer cell growth in short term in vitro studies. Subsequently, we analyzed gene expression in breast cancer cell lines exposed to hypoxic condition by microarray analysis. Interestingly, genes involved in DNA damage repair pathways such as mismatch repair, nucleotide excision repair, nonhomologous end-joining and homologous recombination repair were downregulated. In particular, we focused on the BRCA2 downregulation which was confirmed at mRNA and protein level. In addition, breast cancer cells were treated with dimethyloxalylglycine (DMOG), a cell-permeable inhibitor of both proline and asparaginyl hydroxylases able to induce HIF-1 α stabilization in normoxia, providing results comparable to those previously described. These findings may provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying genetic instability mediated by hypoxia and BRCA involvement in sporadic breast cancers.

Topics: Amino Acids, Dicarboxylic; BRCA1 Protein; Breast Neoplasms; Cell Hypoxia; Cell Line, Tumor; DNA Damage; DNA Repair; Down-Regulation; Enzyme Inhibitors; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genome, Human; Genomic Instability; Humans

Solid tumors often have an inadequate blood supply, which results in large regions that are subjected to hypoxic or anoxic stress. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a transcription factor that regulates much of the transcriptional response of cells to hypoxia. Activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3) is another transcription factor that responds to a variety of stresses and is often upregulated in cancer. We investigated the regulation of ATF3 by oxygen deprivation. ATF3 induction occurred most robustly under anoxia, is common, and it is not dependent on presence of HIF-1 or p53, but is sensitive to the inhibition of c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase activation and the antioxidant N-acetylcystein. ATF3 could also be induced by desferrioxamine but not by the mitochondrial poison cyanide or the nonspecific 2-oxoglutarate dioxygenase inhibitor dimethyloxalylglycine. We also show that anoxic ATF3 mRNA is more stable than normoxic mRNA providing a mechanism for this induction. Thus, this study demonstrates that the regulation of ATF3 under anoxia is independent of 2-oxoglutarate dioxygenase, HIF-1 and p53, presumably involving multiple regulatory pathways.

Topics: Acetylcysteine; Activating Transcription Factor 3; Amino Acids, Dicarboxylic; Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors; Breast Neoplasms; Cells, Cultured; Cyanides; Deferoxamine; Enzyme Activation; Free Radical Scavengers; Humans; Hypoxia; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit; Melanoma; Mixed Function Oxygenases; Neurons; Oxygen; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun; Siderophores; Signal Transduction; Transcription Factors; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; Von Hippel-Lindau Tumor Suppressor Protein

Recently, we have shown that PFKFB4 gene which encodes the testis isoenzyme of PFKFB is also expressed in the prostate and hepatoma cancer cell lines. Here we have studied expression and hypoxic regulation of the testis isoenzyme of PFKFB4 in several malignant cell lines from a female organ--the mammary gland. Our studies clearly demonstrated that PFKFB4 mRNA is also expressed in mammary gland malignant cells (MCF-7 and T47D cell lines) in normoxic conditions and that hypoxia strongly induces it expression. To better understand the mechanism of hypoxic regulation of PFKFB4 gene expression, we used dimethyloxalylglycine, a specific inhibitor of HIF-1alpha hydroxylase enzymes, which strongly increases HIF-1alpha levels and mimics the effect of hypoxia. It was observed that PFKFB4 expression in the MCF7 and T47D cell lines was highly responsive to dimethyloxalylglycine, suggesting that the hypoxia responsiveness of PFKFB4 gene in these cell lines is regulated by HIF-1 proteins. Moreover, desferrioxamine and cobalt chloride, which mimic the effect of hypoxia by chelating or substituting for iron, had a similar stimulatory effect on the expression of PFKFB mRNA. In other mammary gland malignant cell lines (BT549, MDA-MB-468, and SKBR-3) hypoxia and hypoxia mimics also induced PFKFB4 mRNA, but to variable degrees. The hypoxic induction of PFKFB4 mRNA was equivalent to the expression of PFKFB3, Glut1, and VEGF, which are known HIF-1-dependent genes. Hypoxia and dimethyloxalylglycine increased the PFKFB4 protein levels in all cell lines studied except MDA-MB-468. Through site-specific mutagenesis in the 5'-flanking region of PFKFB4 gene the hypoxia response could be limited. Thus, this study provides evidence that PFKFB4 gene is also expressed in mammary gland cancer cells and strongly responds to hypoxia via an HIF-1alpha dependent mechanism. Moreover, the PFKFB4 and PFKFB3 gene expression in mammary gland cancer cells has also a significant role in the Warburg effect which is found in all malignant cells.

Topics: Amino Acids, Dicarboxylic; Breast Neoplasms; Cell Hypoxia; Cell Line, Tumor; Female; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genes, Reporter; Humans; Luciferases; Molecular Sequence Data; Phosphofructokinase-2; Recombinant Proteins; RNA, Messenger; Transfection