Abstract 1987: The role of lipolysis-stimulated lipoprotein receptor in directing breast cancer cell behavior and subtype

Abstract

Abstract The claudin-low molecular subtype of breast cancer is of particular interest for clinically the majority of these tumors are poor prognosis, triple negative, invasive ductal carcinomas. Claudin-low tumors are characterized by low gene expression of cell junction and adhesion proteins, and de-regulation of tight junction proteins is often been implicated in tumorigenesis. Herein, we sought to define the role of tricellular tight junction (tTJ) proteins in breast cancer and cancer cell behavior with a focus on lipolysis-stimulated lipoprotein receptor (LSR). LSR was expressed in epithelium, endothelium, adipose and stromal cells within the healthy breast tissue, as well as in tumor epithelium. LSR expression was significantly correlated with invasive ductal carcinomas compared to invasive lobular carcinomas, and ERα positive tumors and breast cancer cell lines. Consistent with the role of LSR in tTJs, LSR levels were significantly reduced in claudin-low breast cancer cell lines. Functional studies illustrated that that re-introduction of LSR into a claudin-low cell line suppressed the EMT phenotype and reduced individual cell migration. However, our data suggest that LSR may direct collective cell migration. Moreover, re-introduction of LSR in claudin-low breast cancer cell lines reestablished a family of TJ expression, thereby reverting claudin-low lines to other molecular subtypes. Overexpression of LSR enhanced proliferation and survival in anchorage independent conditions, suggesting that reestablishment of tight junctions is not sufficient to inhibit aggressive cell behaviors in vitro. Collectively, these data highlight an unanticipated role for the tTJ protein, LSR in directing aggressive breast cancer behavior. Citation Format: Jodie M. Fleming, Denise K. Reaves, Katerina D. Fagan-Solis, Karen Dunphy, Shannon D. Oliver. The role of lipolysis-stimulated lipoprotein receptor in directing breast cancer cell behavior and subtype. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 1987. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-1987