Proteasome inhibition represses ERalpha gene expression in ER+ cells: a new link between proteasome activity and estrogen signaling in breast cancer

Estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha) is a major therapeutic target of hormonal therapies in breast cancer, and its expression in tumors is predictive of clinical response. Protein levels of ERalpha are tightly controlled by the 26S proteasome; yet, how the clinical proteasome inhibitor, bortezomib, affects ERalpha regulation has not been studied. Bortezomib selectively inhibits the chymotrypsin-like activity of the proteasome. Unlike other laboratory proteasome inhibitors, bortezomib failed to stabilize ERalpha protein at a dose exceeding 90% inhibition of the chymotrypsin-like activity. Unexpectedly, however, chronic bortezomib exposure caused a reduction of ERalpha levels in multiple ER+ breast cancer cell lines. This response can be explained by the fact that bortezomib induced a dramatic decrease in ERalpha mRNA because of direct transcriptional inhibition and loss of RNA polymerase II recruitment on the ERalpha gene promoter. Bortezomib treatment resulted in promoter-specific changes in estrogen-induced gene transcription that related with occupancy of ERalpha and RNA polymerase II (PolII) on endogenous promoters. In addition, bortezomib inhibited estrogen-dependent growth in soft agar. These results reveal a novel link between proteasome activity and expression of ERalpha in breast cancer and uncover distinct roles of the chymotrypsin-like activity of the proteasome in the regulation of the ERalpha pathway.