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  2. Estrogen receptor α-NOTCH1 axis enhances basal stem-like cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotypes in prostate cancer

Estrogen receptor α-NOTCH1 axis enhances basal stem-like cells and epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotypes in prostate cancer

  • Cell Commun Signal. 2019 May 23;17(1):50. doi: 10.1186/s12964-019-0367-x.
Yongmei Shen 1 Jiasong Cao 1 Zhixian Liang 1 Qimei Lin 1 Jianxi Wang 2 Xu Yang 1 Ran Zhang 1 Jiaojiao Zong 1 Xiaoling Du 1 Yanfei Peng 3 Ju Zhang 4 Jiandang Shi 5
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 College of Life Sciences and Bioactive Materials Key Lab of the Ministry of Education, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China.
  • 2 National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, China.
  • 3 School of Integrative Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, 300193, China.
  • 4 College of Life Sciences and Bioactive Materials Key Lab of the Ministry of Education, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China. shijd@nankai.edu.cn.
  • 5 College of Life Sciences and Bioactive Materials Key Lab of the Ministry of Education, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China. zhangju@nankai.edu.cn.
Abstract

Background: Prostate Cancer (PCa) is the second leading cause of mortality and a leading cause of malignant tumors in males. Prostate Cancer Stem Cells (PCSCs) are likely the responsible cell types for Cancer initiation, clinical treatment failure, tumor relapse, and metastasis. Estrogen Receptor alpha (ERα) is mainly expressed in the basal layer cells of the normal prostate gland and has key roles in coordinating stem cells to control prostate organ development. Here, we investigated the roles of the estrogen-ERα signaling pathway in regulating PCSCs.

Methods: Correlation of CD49f and ERα/NOTCH1 was analyzed in human clinical datasets and tissue samples. Flow cytometry was used to sort CD49fHi and CD49fLow cells. EZH2 recruitment by ERα and facilitation of ERα binding to the NOTCH1 promoter was validated by Co-IP and ChIP. Primary tumor growth, tumor metastasis and sensitivity to 17β-estradiol (E2) inhibitor (tamoxifen) were evaluated in castrated mice.

Results: ERα expression was significantly higher in CD49fHi prostate Cancer basal stem-like cells (PCBSLCs), which showed basal and EMT features with susceptibility to E2 treatment. ERα-induced estrogen effects were suggested to drive the NOTCH1 signaling pathway activity via binding to the NOTCH1 promoter. Moreover, EZH2 was recruited by ERα and acted as a cofactor to assist ERα-induced estrogen effects in regulating NOTCH1 in PCa. In vivo, E2 promoted tumor formation and metastasis, which were inhibited by tamoxifen.

Conclusions: Our results implicated CD49f+/ERα + prostate Cancer cells associated with basal stem-like and EMT features, named EMT-PCBSLCs, in heightened potential for promoting metastasis. NOTCH1 was regulated by E2 in CD49fHi EMT-PCBSLCs. These results contribute to insights into the metastatic mechanisms of EMT-PCBSLCs in PCa.

Keywords

CD49f; EMT; ERα; Estrogen; NOTCH1; Prostate cancer.

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