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Advances in Brief |
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China [E-M. T., J-N. L.], and Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030 [S-C. W., M-C. H.]
| ABSTRACT |
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| Introduction |
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The involvement of estrogen signaling in Akt activation is highlighted by the recent discovery that the cytoplasmic ER binds to PI3K in an estrogen-dependent manner, resulting in activation of Akt, which in turn activates endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (4) . Activation of this pathway by estrogen protects cardiovascular muscle cells after ischemia and reperfusion. In addition, the estrogen/ER-PI3K-Akt pathway has been shown to be a neuroprotective factor against toxic insults for neuronal cells (5) . Estrogen treatment reduced the neurotoxicity induced by glutamate, and the protective effect of estrogen was blocked by coadministration of a PI3K inhibitor (LY 294002). In cancer cells, estrogen has been shown to exhibit growth-promoting properties in breast epithelial cells, and abnormal estrogen exposure is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Consistently, it has been reported that estrogen mediated Akt activation in breast cancer cells with endogenous ER (6) .
Despite the documented ER-dependent signaling mechanisms described above, evidence of a receptor-independent function of estrogen or its analogues is emerging. For instance, estrogen activates the mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade in brain cells derived from mice lacking ER-
expression (7)
. In this report, we describe a novel mechanism of estrogen-mediated Akt activation independent from known ERs in human breast cancer cells.
| Materials and Methods |
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Activation of Akt.
Cells (1 x 106) were plated in 100-mm plates in phenol red-free DMEM/F-12 containing 5% normal FBS for 48 h and then in phenol red-free medium supplemented with 5% charcoal-stripped FBS for an additional 24 h before estrogen stimulation. Different concentrations of estrogen were used in the absence or presence of other inhibitors to treat cells for 30 min or for the times indicated. For treatment with inhibitors, cells were pretreated with the respective inhibitors for 30 min and cotreated with estrogen for an additional 30 min. In the experiments, 10 nM wortmannin, 1 µM LY 294002, 40 µM emodin, or 20 µg/ml genistein was used. All of the experiments described in this report have been repeated two to three times, and the representative results are shown.
Immunoblot Analysis.
Cells were harvested and lysed in ice-cold NETN buffer [150 mM NaCl, 1 mM EDTA, 20 mM Tris (pH 8.0), and 0.5% NP40]. Cell lysates with equal amounts of protein were loaded in SDS-polyacrylamide gels and separated with electrophoresis. The separated proteins were transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride membranes and probed with antibodies.
| Results |
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and ER-ß are undetectable (8
, 9)
. Treatment with estrogen resulted in activation of Akt as indicated by the levels of phosphorylated Akt protein recognized by an antibody raised against Ser473 phosphorylation of Akt. Activation of Akt by estrogen is a relatively fast response, and the peak level of phospho-Akt can be observed within 30 min of incubation with estrogen (Fig. 1A)
in the cell lines used in this study, MDA-MB-435, MDA-MB-231, and MCF-7, was confirmed by Western blotting analysis (Fig. 1C)
expression can be readily detected in MCF-7 cells, whereas no ER-
expression can be detected in MDA-MB-435 and MDA-MB-231 cells even after a longer exposure, consistent with previous reports that MDA-MB-435 and MDA-MB-231 are breast cancer cell lines lacking expression of endogenous ER-
(8
, 9)
. The antibody detected a significant level of ER-
in a stable transfectant of ER-
derived from 293 cells, whereas no ER-
was detected in the parental cells, confirming the specificity of the antibody used in this analysis.
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antagonist ICI 182,780, consistent with our observation that estrogen induced Akt phosphorylation in an ER-independent manner (Fig. 3B)
-positive MCF-7 cells, confirming the activity of the estrogen antagonist used in this study (Fig. 3C)
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(Fig. 4B)
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| Discussion |
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-positive MCF-7 cells (Fig. 3C)
-independent function of estrogen in neuronal cells was reported (7)
; in this previous study, estrogen induced the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling in the cerebral cortex of ER-
knockout mice. Other evidence supporting the ER-independent mechanism of estrogen came from the growth-inhibitory activity of the estrogen antagonist tamoxifen and its active metabolite, 4-hydroxytamoxifen, in MDA-MB-435 cells (8)
. In addition, it was recently reported that tamoxifen induces p21WAF1 gene transcription through the Sp1 binding site of the promoter in ER-negative lung cancer cells (14)
. In this study, we show for the first time that estrogen activated the PI3K-Akt pathway in breast cancer cells lacking expression of the known ERs.
The actual mechanism triggering the ER-
- and ER-ß-independent estrogen activity remains to be determined. Our results suggest that the activation appeared to be mediated through the Src-PI3K signaling cascade. When the specific Src kinase inhibitor PP1 was used, the phosphorylation of Akt was down-regulated, whereas the inactive compound, PP2, did not have any effect on Akt phosphorylation. Therefore, our study demonstrates that estrogen can activate the PI3K-Akt pathway through an ER-independent mechanism. Further study is required to understand the downstream signaling consequences of the estrogen-activated Akt pathway.
| FOOTNOTES |
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1 E-M. T. and S-C. W. contributed equally to this work. ![]()
2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Box 108, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, TX 77030. Phone: (713) 792-3668; Fax: (713) 794-0209; E-mail: mchung{at}mail.mdanderson.org ![]()
3 The abbreviations used are: PI3K, phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase; ER, estrogen receptor; FBS, fetal bovine serum. ![]()
Received 6/15/01. Accepted 10/16/01.
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