Expression of NgBR is highly associated with estrogen receptor alpha and survivin in breast cancer

PLoS One. 2013 Nov 4;8(11):e78083. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0078083. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

NgBR is a type I receptor with a single transmembrane domain and was identified as a specific receptor for Nogo-B. Our recent findings demonstrated that NgBR binds farnesylated Ras and recruits Ras to the plasma membrane, which is a critical step required for the activation of Ras signaling in human breast cancer cells and tumorigenesis. Here, we first use immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR approaches to examine the expression patterns of Nogo-B and NgBR in both normal and breast tumor tissues. Then, we examine the relationship between NgBR expression and molecular subtypes of breast cancer, and the roles of NgBR in estrogen-dependent survivin signaling pathway. Results showed that NgBR and Nogo-B protein were detected in both normal and breast tumor tissues. However, the expression of Nogo-B and NgBR in breast tumor tissue was much stronger than in normal breast tissue. The statistical analysis demonstrated that NgBR is highly associated with ER-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer. We also found that the expression of NgBR has a strong correlation with the expression of survivin, which is a well-known apoptosis inhibitor. The correlation between NgBR and survivin gene expression was further confirmed by real-time PCR. In vitro results also demonstrated that estradiol induces the expression of survivin in ER-positive T47D breast tumor cells but not in ER-negative MDA-MB-468 breast tumor cells. NgBR knockdown with siRNA abolishes estradiol-induced survivin expression in ER-positive T47D cells but not in ER-negative MDA-MB-468 cells. In addition, estradiol increases the expression of survivin and cell growth in ER-positive MCF-7 and T47D cells whereas knockdown of NgBR with siRNA reduces estradiol-induced survivin expression and cell growth. In summary, these results indicate that NgBR is a new molecular marker for breast cancer. The data suggest that the expression of NgBR may be essential in promoting ER-positive tumor cell proliferation via survivin induction in breast cancer.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers, Tumor / genetics
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism*
  • Breast Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / metabolism*
  • Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / pathology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Epithelium / metabolism
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha / genetics
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression
  • Humans
  • Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / genetics
  • Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins / metabolism*
  • Myelin Proteins / metabolism
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Nogo Proteins
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / genetics
  • Receptors, Cell Surface / metabolism*
  • Survivin
  • Tissue Array Analysis

Substances

  • BIRC5 protein, human
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • ESR1 protein, human
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha
  • Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins
  • Myelin Proteins
  • NUS1 protein, human
  • Nogo Proteins
  • RTN4 protein, human
  • Receptors, Cell Surface
  • Survivin