Introduction
Breast cancer has become one of the cancers with high survival rate. As long as most patients can be detected early and receive standard treatment, the 5-year survival rate is as high as 80%. Nevertheless, breast cancer is still one of the most deadly cancers for women [
1,
2]. Diagnosis of breast cancer is more prevalent among women [
3,
4]. At present, surgical resection remains the most effective approach for breast cancer management [
5]. Notably, conventional radiotherapy is widely administered as an adjuvant therapy post surgery [
6]. Recent findings indicate that ionizing radiation (I.R.) influences several gene characteristics, including expression levels, epigenetics, etc., which potentially cause radioresistance [
7]. Unsuccessful therapy of breast cancer patients is, in most cases, associated with radioresistance. The therapeutic efficacy is often hampered by the development of radioresistance in breast cancer cells [
8]. Hence, uncovering the precise molecular mechanisms that modulate radioresistance is crucial for the clinical management of breast cancer.
Heparin-binding growth factor (HDGF) was first purified from the Huh-7 cell medium, a human hepatoma-derived cell line [
9]. Recently, it was found to exert critical functions in vascular development and mitosis [
10], and promote malignant processes including cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis [
11‐
15]. Studies have also revealed the association of HDGF expression with clinical outcomes of patients with pancreatic cancer [
16], gastric cancer [
17], hepatocellular carcinoma [
18]. Nevertheless, the precise role of HDGF in the radioresistance of breast cancer remains largely unknown.
In the present study, we found dramatically upregulated HDGF levels in radioresistant breast cancer cells. Also, we uncovered the role of HDGF in radioresistant breast cancer both in vitro and in vivo and explored its underlying molecular mechanism.
Discussion
Studies on the critical roles of HDGF in various cancers, including pancreatic cancer [
16], gastric cancer [
17], hepatocellular carcinoma [
18], have matured. However, there are no reports on the explicit role of HDGF in the radioresistance of breast carcinoma. Herein, we revealed that RXRα binding to the HDGF promoter suppresses HDGF transcriptional activity. The potential association of HDGF with TKT and STAT3 promotes STAT3 phosphorylation and transcriptional activity. In consequence, tumor radioresistance occurs in breast cancer (Fig.
6G).
The extraordinary research team genotyped seven polymorphisms in six genes reported by others as modifiers of oxidative stress (NQO1, mEPXH1, GSTT1 and GSTM1) and inflammation (TNF-α and TGF-β1) for an association in effect of decreasing in liver function tests (LFTs) [
25]. In this excellent study, the authors described NQO1, mEPXH1, GSTT1 and GSTM1 play an important role in general oxidative stress defense. Antioxidant therapy play an important role in human health. Free radical participates in DNA damage, induction of apoptosis, and inhibition of growth and proliferation of cancer cells [
26]. Antioxidant therapy help to scavenge free radical and might help anticancer therapy such as radiotherapy. High doses of dietary antioxidants (vitamin C, vitamin E succinate and natural beta-carotene) which can be used adjunctively with radiation therapy [
27]. Antioxidants may alleviate radiation toxicities [
28,
29]. Antioxidant therapy might contribute to human health and plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of diseases. As previously reported, radioresistance is a crucial tumor recurrence factor characterized by the survival fraction [
30]. Therefore, to establish the association of HDGF with radioresistance of breast cancer, we prepared the clonogenic assay to assess the survival fraction. Notably, the suppression of HDGF induced radioresistance. HDGF is positively associated with radioresistance in esophageal cancer [
31]. Our in vivo experiments demonstrated that HDGF downregulation inhibited breast cancer radioresistance, suggesting its potential association with breast cancer radioresistance.
Recent reports show that RXRα is critical for breast cancer progression and has been proven to be a transcriptional factor inducing tumor suppression in breast cancer [
32‐
34]. Interestingly, RXRα was reported to inhibit radioresistance in the Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma [
35]; however, its explicit role in breast cancer remains largely elusive. Our findings demonstrated the direct association of RXRα with HDGF promoter and that it negatively mediates HDGF transcriptional activity. Furthermore, RXRα agonist, 9cRA, rescued HDGF overexpression-increased the survival fraction and cell proliferation after I.R. Taken together, the present findings demonstrate that HDGF is critical in RXRα suppression of breast cancer radioresistance.
Activated STAT3 is a potential molecular target in the management of numerous cancers [
36‐
39]. STAT3 signaling is involved in the regulation of metastasis, the transition of cancer stem cells, and chemoresistance of cancer by epithelial-mesenchymal transition [
40]. STAT3 have been reported to localize to mitochondria. The mitochondrial localization of STAT3 is required for its ability to support malignant transformation in breast cancer cells [
41]. Some genes contribute to the alteration of STAT3 phosphorylation status, consequently influencing its nuclear import–export dynamics [
42,
43]. The association of Lnc-DC with STAT3 promotes the Y705 phosphorylation [
42]. Herein, we found the HDGF binding with STAT3 could promote the Y705 phosphorylation, thereby inducing STAT3 transcriptional activity. A recent study revealed that activated STAT3 is related to Y705 and/or S727 phosphorylation [
22]. Y705 show oncogenic characteristic in several cancers [
44]. S727 phosphorylation was found to potentially induce or suppress Y705-phosphorylated STAT3 [
45]. In the present study, we demonstrated that HDGF promoted Y705 phosphorylation and decreased S727 phosphorylation; these effects increased the survival fraction and cell proliferation post I.R. These findings affirm the role of HDGF in breast cancer radioresistance through modulation of STAT3 phosphorylation.
TKT, a ubiquitous enzyme, has potential catalytic effects on the reversible transfer of two-carbon ketolunits between ketose and aldose phosphates, tuning the carbon flow via the non-oxidative branch of the PPP [
43]. In hepatocellular carcinoma, TKT exerts an inhibitory effect on STAT3-S727 phosphorylation and activator effect on STAT3-Y705 phosphorylation, respectively [
24]. Herein, found that TKT interacted with STAT3 or HDGF. TKT suppression blocked HDGF interaction with STAT3. Additionally, TKT exerted an inhibitory effect on STAT3-S727 phosphorylation and an activator effect on STAT3-Y705 phosphorylation in breast cancer, which rescued HDGF inhibition- suppressed the survival fraction and cell proliferation after I.R. These observations present a novel molecular link between HDGF, STAT3 phosphorylation, and TKT in breast cancer.
In conclusion, the present findings demonstrate that RXRα binds with HDGF promoter and suppresses HDGF transcriptional activity. The potential association of HDGF with TKT and STAT3 promotes STAT3-Y705 phosphorylation and inhibits STAT3-S727 phosphorylation enhancing STAT3 transcriptional activity, thereby increasing tumor radioresistance in breast cancer. Our results reveal the critical roles of the HDGF-TKT-STAT3 signaling pathway in breast cancer radioresistance; thus, it is a promising therapeutic molecular target for breast cancer.
Materials and methods
Cell lines
MCF7, BT549, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-453, and MCF10A were acquired from the Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China). All cells were cultured in a humidified incubator at 37 °C and 5% CO2. Breast cancer cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). MCF10A cells were cultured in DMEM/F12 (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) supplemented with penicillin- streptomycin (100 μg/ml), cholera toxin (100 ng/ml), insulin (10 μg/ml), hydro-cortisone (0.5 μg/ml), epidermal growth factor (20 ng/ml), and horse serum (5%).
Plasmids
TKT and HDGF plasmids were purchased from Shanghai Bioegene Co., Ltd. The shRNAs were designed as follows: shRXRα-1 (5’-GGCAAGCACTATGG AGTGTAC-3’); shRXRα-2 (5’-TGCGCTCCATCGGGCTCAAAT-3’); shTKT(5’-GCCAT CATCTATAACAACAAT-3’); shHDGF(5’-CGAGAACAACCCTACTGTCAA-3’).
RNA extraction and qRT-PCR
Total RNA was extracted using Trizol reagent (Takara, Dalian, China). All cDNAs were synthesized using the Reverse Transcription Kit (Takara, Dalian, China). qPCR reactions using the qPCR Master Mix (SYBR Green) (Clontech, USA), with GAPDH as a control. Specific primers are listed in Additional file
2: Table S1.
Western blot analysis
WB analyses were undertaken following our previously described protocol [
46], using the following antibodies: TKT (ab112997, 1:1000, Abcam), HDGF (ab244485, 1:1000, Abcam), RXRA (21218-1-AP, 1:1000, Proteintech), STAT3 (ab119352, 1:1000, Abcam); STAT3 (phospho Y705) (ab76315, 1:1000, Abcam); STAT3 (phospho S727) (ab86430; 1:1000; Abcam); GAPDH (ab8245; 1:5000; Abcam).
ChIP-qPCR
ChIP was performed using ChIP Kit (Millipore-17-408) following the manufacturer's protocol. Purified ChIP DNA was subjected to qRT-PCR. All primers are listed in Additional file
2: Table S1.
pGL3-HDGF promoter plasmids were prepared for co-transfection with RXRA or empty vector using the Lipofectamine 3000 transfection reagent (Invitrogen). pRL Renilla luciferase vector (Promega) acted as a control group. A dual-luciferase Reporter kit (Promega) was employed to detect the luciferase signals.
LC–MS/MS analysis
Tryptic peptides = dissolved in 0.1% formic acid (solvent A) were directly loaded onto a custom-made reversed-phase analytical column (15-cm length, 75 μm i.d.). The gradient depicted an increase from 6 to 23% solvent B (0.1% formic acid in 98% acetonitrile) over 16 min, 23% to 35% in 8 min before rising to 80% in 3 min, and then holding at 80% for the last 3 min. The peptides were subjected to an NSI source. This was followed by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) in Q ExactiveTM Plus (Thermo) coupled online to the UPLC. We applied an electrospray voltage at2.0 kV. The m/z scan ranged between 350 and1800 for a full scan. Intact peptides were detected in the Orbitrap at 70,000 resolution. Then, peptides were selected for MS/MS, with the NCE set at 28. The fragments were detected in the Orbitrap at a resolution of 17,500. We performed a data-dependent procedure that alternated between one M.S. scan, followed by 20 MS/MS scans with 15.0 s dynamic exclusion. The automatic gain control (AGC) was set at 5E4.
Cell proliferation and colony formation
The proliferation of cells seeded in 96-well plates was detected using a WST-1 Assay Kit (Roche). For colony formation, we seeded cells into the 6-well plates, after which cell colonies were stained with 1% crystal violet solution. We recorded the scores and analyzed colony counts.
Tumorigenesis studies
Four-weeks old female athymic NCr-nu/nu mice (SLAC, Shanghai, China) were categorized into two groups randomly. Each group comprised five mice. Subsequently, MDA-MB-231 cell suspension (5 × 106) was injected into mammary fat pads of mice. Approval for animal experiments was issued by the Guidance of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) from Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital. The IVIS Lumina imaging station (Caliper Life Sciences) was adopted for bioluminescence imaging.
Statistical analysis
The clonogenic survival assay was subjected to a one-way analysis of variance. A two-tailed paired Student's t-test was applied to evaluate the significance of data for two groups. A P value < 0.05 denoted statistical significance. The SPSS13.0 software was employed to analyze all statistical data.
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