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The translation elongation factor eEF1A promotes protein synthesis. Its methylation by METTL13 increases its activity, supporting tumor growth. However, in some cancers, a high abundance of eEF1A isoforms is associated with a good prognosis. Here, we found that eEF1A2 exhibited oncogenic or tumor-suppressor functions depending on its interaction with METTL13 or the phosphatase PTEN, respectively. METTL13 and PTEN competed for interaction with eEF1A2 in the same structural domain. PTEN-bound eEF1A2 promoted the ubiquitination and degradation of the mitosis-promoting Aurora kinase A in the S and G2 phases of the cell cycle. eEF1A2 bridged the interactions between the SKP1-CUL1-FBXW7 (SCF) ubiquitin ligase complex, the kinase GSK3β, and Aurora-A, thereby facilitating the phosphorylation of Aurora-A in a degron site that was recognized by FBXW7. Genetic ablation of Eef1a2 or Pten in mice resulted in a greater abundance of Aurora-A and increased cell cycling in mammary tumors, which was corroborated in breast cancer tissues from patients. Reactivating this pathway using fimepinostat, which relieves inhibitory signaling directed at PTEN and increases FBXW7 expression, combined with inhibiting Aurora-A with alisertib, suppressed breast cancer cell proliferation in culture and tumor growth in vivo. The findings demonstrate a therapeutically exploitable, tumor-suppressive role for eEF1A2 in breast cancer.

Estrogen receptor-α (ERα) is a central transcription factor that regulates mammary gland physiology and a key driver in breast cancer. In the present study, we aimed to identify novel modulators of ERα-mediated transcriptional regulation via a custom-built siRNA library screen. This screen was directed against a variety of coregulators, transcription modifiers, signaling molecules and DNA damage response proteins. By utilizing a microscopy-based, multi-end point, estrogen responsive biosensor cell line platform, the primary screen identified a wide range of factors that altered ERα protein levels, chromatin remodeling and mRNA output. We then focused on UBR5, a ubiquitin ligase and known oncogene that modulates ERα protein levels and transcriptional output. Finally, we demonstrated that UBR5 also affects endogenous ERα target genes and E2-mediated cell proliferation in breast cancer cells. In conclusion, our multi-end point RNAi screen identified novel modulators of ERα levels and activity, and provided a robust systems level view of factors involved in mechanisms of nuclear receptor action and pathophysiology. Utilizing a high throughput RNAi screening approach we identified UBR5, a protein commonly amplified in breast cancer, as a novel regulator of ERα protein levels and transcriptional activity.

Estrogen receptor-α (ERα, ESR1) is a pivotal transcriptional regulator of breast cancer physiology and is targeted by endocrine therapies. Loss of ERα activity or expression is an indication of endocrine resistance and is associated with increased risk of tumor recurrence and worse prognosis. In this study, we sought to investigate whether elements of the tumor microenvironment, namely macrophages, would impact on ERα and we found that macrophage-derived factors caused loss of ERα expression in breast cancer cells. Conditioned media from macrophages caused activation of several intracellular pathways in breast cancer cells of which c-Src, protein kinase c and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) were essential for loss of ERα expression. Moreover, a prolonged hyperactivation of MAPK was observed. The activation of this kinase cascade resulted in recruitment of extracellular signal regulated kinase 2 (ERK2) directly to chromatin at the ESR1 gene locus in a process that was dependent upon activation and recruitment of the c-Jun transcription factor. Thus, we identify a novel mechanism for loss of ERα expression in breast cancer cells via macrophage activation of kinase cascades in the cancer cells causing transcriptional repression of the ESR1 gene by a direct chromatin action of a c-Jun/ERK2 complex. The findings in this study support an alternative mechanism, not intrinsic to the tumor cell but derived from the cross-talk with the tumor microenvironment, that could lead to endocrine resistance and might be targeted therapeutically to prevent loss of ERα expression in breast tumors.

The estrogen receptor α (ERα) is a master regulator of gene expression and works along with cooperating transcription factors in mediating the actions of the hormone estradiol (E2) in ER-positive tissues and breast tumors. Here, we report that expression of paired-like homeodomain transcription factor (PITX1), a tumor suppressor and member of the homeobox family of transcription factors, is robustly up-regulated by E2 in several ERα-positive breast cancer cell lines via ERα-dependent interaction between the proximal promoter and an enhancer region 5' upstream of the PITX1 gene. Overexpression of PITX1 selectively inhibited the transcriptional activity of ERα and ERβ, while enhancing the activities of the glucocorticoid receptor and progesterone receptor. Reduction of PITX1 by small interfering RNA enhanced ERα-dependent transcriptional regulation of a subset of ERα target genes. The consensus PITX1 binding motif was found to be present in 28% of genome-wide ERα binding sites and was in close proximity to estrogen response elements in a subset of ERα binding sites, and E2 treatment enhanced PITX1 as well as ERα recruitment to these binding sites. These studies identify PITX1 as a new ERα transcriptional target that acts as a repressor to coordinate and fine tune target-specific, ERα-mediated transcriptional activity in human breast cancer cells.

The nuclear hormone receptor, estrogen receptor α (ERα), and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) play key roles in hormone-dependent cancers, and yet their interplay and the integration of their signaling inputs remain poorly understood. In these studies, we document that estrogen-occupied ERα activates and interacts with extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2), a downstream effector in the MAPK pathway, resulting in ERK2 and ERα colocalization at chromatin binding sites across the genome of breast cancer cells. This genomic colocalization, predominantly at conserved distal enhancer sites, requires the activation of both ERα and ERK2 and enables ERK2 modulation of estrogen-dependent gene expression and proliferation programs. The ERK2 substrate CREB1 was also activated and recruited to ERK2-bound chromatin following estrogen treatment and found to cooperate with ERα/ERK2 in regulating gene transcription and cell cycle progression. Our study reveals a novel paradigm with convergence of ERK2 and ERα at the chromatin level that positions this kinase to support nuclear receptor activities in crucial and direct ways, a mode of collaboration likely to underlie MAPK regulation of gene expression by other nuclear receptors as well.

Posttranslational modifications of the estrogen receptor (ER) are emerging as important regulatory elements of cross talk between different signaling pathways. ER phosphorylation, in particular, has been implicated in the ligand-independent effects of ER and in tamoxifen resistance of breast tumors. In our studies, Western immunoblot analysis of endogenous ER in parental MCF-7 cells reveals specific, ligand-dependent phosphorylations at S118 and S167, with this ligand dependence being lost in tamoxifen-resistant, MCF-7 Her2/neu cells. Using highly purified components and sensitive fluorescence methods in an in vitro system, we show that phosphorylation by different kinases alters ER action through distinct mechanisms. Phosphorylation by Src and protein kinase A increases affinity for estradiol (E2), whereas ER phosphorylation by MAPK decreases trans-hydroxytamoxifen (TOT) binding. Affinity of ER for the consensus estrogen response element is also altered by phosphorylation in a ligand-specific manner, with decrease in affinity of MAPK- and Src-phosphorylated ER in the presence of TOT. ER phosphorylation by MAPK, AKT, or protein kinase A increases recruitment of steroid receptor coactivator 3 receptor interaction domain to the DNA-bound receptor in the presence of E2. Taken together, these results suggest that ER phosphorylation alters receptor functions (ligand, DNA, and coactivator binding), effecting changes that could lead to an increase in E2 agonism and a decrease in TOT antagonistic activity, reflecting changes encountered in tamoxifen resistance in endocrine therapy of breast cancer.

Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) such as tamoxifen are effective in the treatment of many estrogen receptor-positive breast cancers and have also proven to be effective in the prevention of breast cancer in women at high risk for the disease. The comparative abilities of tamoxifen versus raloxifene in breast cancer prevention are currently being compared in the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene trial. To better understand the actions of these compounds in breast cancer, we have examined their effects on the expression of approximately 12,000 genes, using Affymetrix GeneChip microarrays, with quantitative PCR verification in many cases, categorizing their actions as agonist, antagonist, or partial agonist/antagonist. Analysis of gene stimulation and inhibition by the SERMs trans-hydroxytamoxifen (TOT) and raloxifene (Ral) or ICI 182,780 (ICI) and by estradiol (E2) in estrogen receptor-containing MCF-7 human breast cancer cells revealed that (a) TOT was the most E2-like of the three compounds, (b) all three compounds either partially or fully antagonized the action of E2 on most genes, with the order of antagonist activity being ICI > Ral > TOT, (c) TOT and Ral, but not ICI, displayed partial agonist/partial antagonist activity on a number of E2-regulated genes, (d) several stimulatory cell cycle-related genes were down-regulated exclusively by ICI, (e) the estrogen-like activity of Ral nearly always overlapped with that of TOT, indicating that Ral has little unique agonist activity different from that of TOT, and (f) some genes were specifically up-regulated by TOT but not Ral, ICI, or E2. Hence, gene expression profiling can discern fundamental differences among SERMs and provides insight into the distinct biologies of TOT, Ral, and ICI in breast cancer.