Background
Cervical cancer (CC) ranks as the third most common female cancer worldwide, and is the leading cause of death from cancer among women in developing countries [
1,
2]. Chemotherapy plays an important treatment option for CC [
3,
4]. Cisplatin is a potent chemotherapeutic drug widely used for the treatment of numerous human cancers including CC, although its effectiveness is often limited by the development of resistance [
5].
The protein iASPP, encoded by
PPP1R13L gene, is overexpressed in human tumors [
6], and can inhibit the function of p53 through inhibiting the transactivation function of p53 on the promoters of pro-apoptotic genes [
7‐
9]. Inhibition of iASPP was shown to improve the efficacy of chemotherapy in cancer treatment [
10‐
13]. Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a key role in facilitating cancer metastasis, and suppression of EMT leads to enhanced sensitivity to chemotherapy [
14]. We recently identified iASPP as a novel determinant of EMT and cisplatin resistance in CC cells [
15]. However, the precise downstream mechanism through which iASPP contributes to EMT and cisplatin resistance in CC is unknown.
In this study, we showed that stable silencing of iASPP expression enhances cisplatin chemosensitivity in vivo, and miR-20a-FBXL5/BTG3 signaling is responsible for iASPP-induced EMT and cisplatin resistance. Our results uncovered a molecular basis for silencing iASPP to improve the activity of cisplatin, potentially providing a new therapeutic approach for human CC.
Methods
Human CC samples
After informed consent, 40 pairs of primary CC specimens and adjacent non-tumor cervical tissues were collected according to an Institutional Review Broad-approved protocol at the Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center (Guangzhou, China). Samples were snap-frozen and stored in liquid nitrogen until the RNA was extracted.
Cell lines, culture condition and reagents
CC cell lines (HeLa and SiHa, ATCC), human embryonic kidney 293 T (HEK293T, ATCC) cells and immortalized human normal endometrial epithelial cell line (EM) [
16] were maintained in DMEM/F12 medium (Gibco Laboratories, Grand Island, NY, USA) containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Gibco Laboratories, Grand Island, NY, USA). cisplatin (Sigma, St Louis, MO, USA) was used at a final concentration of 2.0 μg/ml. The miR-20a mimics (mimic-20a) or negative control mimic (mimic-NC), anti-miR-20a inhibitor (anti-20a), negative control inhibitor (anti-NC), siRNA targeting FBXL5 (AM16708) and BTG3 (AM16708) and respective negative controls (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) were transfected using Lipofectamine 2000 transfection reagent (Invitrogen, CA, USA). The iASPP expression vector, p53 expression vector and empty control vector (OriGene, MD, USA) were transfected using the Lipofectamine Plus reagent (Invitrogen, CA, USA).
Plasmid construction and transfection
Lentiviral expression vector pLVX-shRNA and Lenti-X HTX packaging System were from Clontech (Palo Alto, CA, USA). Three different short hairpin RNA (shRNA) sequences (shRNA-iASPP-1, -2 and -3) targeting the coding region of iASPP gene and a negative control sequence, as listed in Table S1, were designed for by online design software BLOCK-iT™ RNAi Designer (Invitrogen Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA). Oligonucleotides were annealed and cloned into pLVX-shRNA vector sites (EcoRI and BamHI) to generate pLVX-shRNA-iASPP (shRNA-iASPP-1, -2 and -3) vectors and pLVX-shRNA-NC vector (shRNA-NC). The shRNA-iASPP vectors or shRNA-NC vector were co-transfected with the Lenti-X HTX Packaging Mix into HEK293T cells. HeLa and SiHa cells were infected with lentivirus supernatant at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 10, along with 5 μg/ml polybrene (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA). After the fresh media change, infected cells were selected with 1 μg/mL of puromycin (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO, USA) for 3 weeks. After selection, western blotting was performed to determine if the knockdown was effective.
Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK8) Assay
Cells were seeded in 96-well plates (4000 cells/well). Twenty-four hours after seeding, cisplatin was added to cells. Cells were then incubated for 48 h with cisplatin, and cell viability was assessed using the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay according to the manufacturer’s protocol (Dojindo laboratories, Kumamoto, Japan). Relative survival was calculated as the ratio normalized to DMSO-treated controls (set as 1).
RNA isolation and qPCR
Total RNA was extracted using TRIzol (Invitrogen, CA) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. For mRNA and mature miRNA analysis, cDNA was synthesized using the Thermo Scientific RevertAid First Strand cDNA Synthesis Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The mRNA levels were determined using Maxima™ SYBR Green/ROX qPCR Master Mix (2X) (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) on ABI 7500 Real-Time PCR Systems. Primers specific to FBXL5, BBTG3, E-cadherin and Vimentin were from the PrimerBank Web-based database (
http://pga.mgh.harvard.edu/primerbank/). Detection of mature miRNA was performed using the NCode miRNA qRT–PCR kit (Invitrogen, CA), forward primers (the exact sequences of the mature miRNA genes) and a universal reverse primer supplied by the manufacturer. GAPDH and U6 small nuclear RNA were used as internal normalization controls. Data are expressed as the fold change over control (set as 1).
Western blotting
Total cell lysates were extracted using the M-Per Mammalian Protein Extraction Reagent (Pierce Biotechnology, MA, USA), followed by immunoblotting with anti-iASPP (1:1000; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA), p53 (1:1000; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA), anti-phosphorylated p53 (1:1000; Abcam, Cambridge, UK), anti-Caspase-3 (Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA, USA), anti-E-cadherin (1:1000; Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA, USA), anti-Vimentin (1:1000, Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA, USA), anti-FBXL5 (1:1000; Abcam, Cambridge, MA, USA), anti-BTG3 (1:1000, Abcam, Abcam, Cambridge, UK) or anti-GAPDH (1:2000; Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA). Membranes were incubated with appropriate secondary antibodies and immunoreactive bands were visualized with ECL reagent (Perkin Elmer, Waltham, MA, USA). GAPDH was used as the endogenous control.
In vitro invasion assay
Cell invasion assays were performed using a 24-well transwell inserts (Corning Costar, Cambridge, MA, USA) as previously described [
17]. Briefly, 5 × 10
4 cells in serum-free media were seeded in the upper chamber of a 24-well plate. The membrane of the Transwell unit was coated with Matrigel, and medium containing 10% FBS was added to in the lower compartment of each well. After 24 h, the non-motile cells on the upper surface of the inset were removed by a cotton swab. Invaded cells on the lower surface of the insert membrane was fixed and stained by Giemsa. The cells from at least five representative fields were counted. Relative invasion was expressed as the fold-change over the respective control.
ChIP-qPCR assays
ChIP-qPCR analysis was performed using a Pierce Agarose ChIP kit (Pierce, Thermo Scientific, Rockford, IL, USA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Briefly, cells were cross-linked for 10 min with 1% formaldehyde and lysed. Protein-DNA complexes were immunoprecipitated using either anti-p53 antibody (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA, USA) or unrelated rabbit IgG (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Rockford, IL) as a negative control. The immunoprecipitated DNA was reverse cross-linked, purified and analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR, using primers specific for the
p21 [
18],
miR-20a [
19] and
GAPDH [
20] genomic loci. Results are shown as the fold enrichment compared with IgG control, and further normalized to the
GAPDH promoter.
Microarray analysis
HeLa cells were transfected with anti-20a or anti-NC for 72 h. Total RNA was labeled and subsequently hybridized to the Superprint G3 Human GE 8x60k Microarray (Agilent Technologies) as described before [
21]. Microarray expression data was imported into the GeneSpring software (Agilent Technologies). The differentially expressed mRNAs (
P <0.05 and fold change ≥ 2.0) were selected for further analysis.
Dual 3’-UTR reporter assay
Human FBXL5 or BTG3 3’-untranslated region (3’-UTR) cloned downstream of the firefly luciferase gene was purchased from OriGene Technologies (Rockville, MD, USA). Mutations in the miR-20a seed-matching sequences were created using a quick-change site-directed mutagenesis kit (Stratagene, CA, USA). Cells were seeded in 24-well plates and transfected after 24 h with 100 ng of the indicated firefly reporter vectors, 10 ng of Renilla reporter plasmid pRL-CMV as a normalization control, and 30 nM of mimic-20a or anti-20a or their negative controls. After 48 h, a Dual Luciferase Reporter assay (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) was performed according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Xenograft experiments
Female BALB/c-nu mice (aged 4 weeks) were purchased from Guangdong Medical Laboratory Animal Center (Guangzhou, China). All animal procedures were performed in accordance with Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee guidelines. In brief, iASPP shRNA- or control shRNA-expressing HeLa cells (5 × 106) were subcutaneously injected into the right flank of nude mice under sterile conditions. After the formation of palpable tumors (tumor volume reached 100 mm3), the mice were randomly divided into two groups with four animals in each group: PBS or cisplatin (5.0 mg/kg), via intraperitoneal injection twice a week for 24 days. Tumor sizes were measured every 6 days, and tumor volume was calculated by the formula: tumor volume (mm3) = width (mm2) × length (mm) × 0.5. After 24 days, all mice were sacrificed and photographed. Tumors were harvested and weighed.
Statistics
Data are presented as mean ± SD. Differences were analyzed by a 2-tailed Student’s t-test or 1-way ANOVA. Calculations were performed using SPSS software (Release 13.0, Chicago, USA), and P-values of <0.05 were considered as significant.
Discussion
Resistance to chemotherapy is a major obstacle for effective treatment of cancers including CC [
29]. The acquisition of EMT features has been proposed as the key contributor of chemoresistance in cancer cells [
30,
31]. In CC, EMT was reported to play a major role in promoting chemoresistance [
32]. Hence, it is crucial to obtain better insight into the mechanisms underlying the induction of EMT and to explore novel approaches to improve drug sensitivity in CC patients. Although iASPP was known to regulate EMT in CC cells [
15] and overexpression of iASPP correlates with poor prognosis and chemoresistance in CC [
33], the underlying mechanism are not understood.
In this study, we demonstrate that stable silencing of iASPP sensitizes CC cells to cisplatin-induced cell death in vivo, supporting iASPP as a new therapeutic candidate to overcome cisplatin resistance in CC. Furthermore, we provided the first evidence that iASPP stimulates EMT and induces cisplatin resistance in both cervical adenocarcinoma cell line HeLa and cervical squamous cell carcinoma cell line SiHa, through regulating the downstream miR-20a-FBXL5/BTG3 signaling pathway.
The miR-17-92 cluster is highly expressed in various cancer types, including B-cell lymphoma [
34], breast cancer [
35], colon cancer [
36], lung cancer [
37] and CC [
38,
39]. Among this cluster, miR-20a is a known oncogenic miRNA, thought be critically associated with enhanced EMT properties in colon cancer [
40] and cisplatin-resistant phenotype in gastric cancer [
41]. In CC cells, overexpression of miR-20a facilitates the proliferation and metastasis of CC [
39]. Our results validated invasion-promoting role of miR-20a in CC cells, and further emphasized the requirement of miR-20a in iASPP-induced EMT and cisplatin resistance. Therefore, inactivation of miR-20a might be a novel strategy for the treatment of CC.
Overexpression of miR-17-92 cluster can be attributable to the amplification of the miR-17-92 locus [
34], direct transactivation by c-Myc [
42] or indirect Notch-dependent activation [
43]. However, the molecular mechanism of miR-20a overexpression in CC remains unclear. Previous study showed that tumor suppressor p53 can directly bind to the promoters of miR-17-92 and repress its transcription [
19]. In line with this finding, we found that, though interfering with the activity of p53, iASPP up-regulates miR-20a level in CC cells, leading to EMT features, increased cell invasion and resistance to cisplatin treatment.
FBXL5 inhibits EMT and attenuates the metastasis and cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer [
24,
25]. BTG3 was also shown to suppress proliferation and invasion of gastric and esophageal cancer cells [
26,
44]. We demonstrated for the first time that FBXL5 and BTG3 are down-regulated in CC tissues and their downregulation are associated with worse prognosis in CC patients. In CC cells, FBXL5 and BTG3 function as tumor suppressors and direct downstream targets of miR-20a, and the repression of FBXL5 and BTG3 can restore the invasive and resistant characteristics of CC cells, which was suppressed by iASPP or miR-20a depletion.
Conclusions
In conclusion, our data suggest that iASPP promotes EMT and confers cisplatin resistance in CC via miR-20a-FBXL5/BTG3 signaling, and blocking iASPP activity or down-regulating its expression in CC may be a novel therapeutic strategy to improve the efficacy of cisplatin, one of the most widely used chemotherapy agents.
Acknowledgements
We thank Dr. Zhujie Xu for technical assistance.