Abstract 3671: The role of FOXQ1 in benzyl isothiocyanate-mediated inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human breast cancer cells.

Abstract

Abstract We have shown previously that breast cancer chemoprevention by benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) in mouse mammary tumor virus-neu transgenic mice is associated with induction of E-cadherin protein expression. Loss of E-cadherin expression concomitant with induction of mesenchymal markers (eg, vimentin and fibronectin) is a biochemical hallmark of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is a developmental process but implicated in progression of cancer to aggressive state. We have also shown previously that BITC treatment inhibits EMT in cultured MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cells. The present study extends these observations and investigates the mechanism by which BITC inhibits EMT. Initially, we designed experiments using another triple-negative human breast cancer cell line (SUM159) to determine generality of the BITC-mediated inhibition of EMT. Exposure of SUM159 cells to pharmacologically-relevant concentrations of BITC (2.5 and 5 μM) resulted in induction of E-cadherin protein expression, which was accompanied by suppression of vimentin protein level especially at the 5 μM dose. Protein levels of slug and snail, which are transcriptional repressors of E-cadherin, were also decreased markedly after treatment of SUM159 cells with BITC, but this effect was relatively more pronounced on slug protein level compared with snail. Similar to MDA-MB-231 cells, the BITC-mediated induction of E-cadherin protein expression in SUM159 cells was accompanied by its transcriptional upregulation as revealed by E-cadherin luciferase reporter assay. Immunofluorescence microscopy confirmed induction of E-cadherin protein and suppression of vimentin protein expression in BITC-treated SUM159 cells. BITC treatment resulted in downregulation of Forkhead Box Q1 transcription factor (FOXQ1) protein and FOXQ1 mRNA in MDA-MB-231, SUM159, and MDA-MB-468 cells. The BITC-mediated inhibition of MDA-MB-231 xenograft growth in vivo was associated with suppression of FOXQ1 protein level. Ectopic expression of FOXQ1 in a mammary epithelial cell line conferred marked protection against BITC-mediated inhibition of EMT as well as cell migration. In conclusion, the present study implicates FOXQ1 suppression in BITC-mediated inhibition of EMT in human breast cancer cells. This study was supported by the grant CA129347-06 awarded by the National Cancer Institute. Citation Format: Anuradha Sehrawat, Su-Hyeong Kim, Andreas Vogt, Shivendra V. Singh. The role of FOXQ1 in benzyl isothiocyanate-mediated inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human breast cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3671. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-3671