Effect of impaired autophagic flux on breast carcinogenesis through the enhanced LC3-p62-NRF2 feedback loop.

Authors

null

Mehreen Aftab

Indian Council of Medical Research- National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida, India

Mehreen Aftab , Kamran Waidha , Jacob Gopas , Showket Hussain

Organizations

Indian Council of Medical Research- National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research, Noida, India, Indian Council of Medical Research, Noida, India, The Shraga Segal Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel, ICMR-NCPR, Noida, India

Research Funding

No funding sources reported

Background: Breast cancer affects more women worldwide than any other type of cancer. Although some genes have been identified as potential causes, the exact molecular mechanism of the disease is still unknown. In our study, we aimed to investigate the role of NRF2 and the autophagy markers p62 and LC3 in breast cancer cell lines that have different Tp53 status using a new compound called 6,6'dihydroxythiobinupharidine (DTBN). In our previous research, we have shown that DTBN modulates key cellular signal transduction pathways that are relevant to disease biology, including cancer. Furthermore, we analyzed online databases to determine the correlation between NRF2, p62, LC3, and Tp53 in breast cancer patients. Methods: To evaluate the effect of DTBN on NRF2, p62 and LC3 in different types of breast cancer cell lines with varying TP53 status, we conducted molecular studies by inhibiting NRF2 activity. We synthesized the correlation between NRF2, p62, LC3 and TP53 expression and clinical parameters by analyzing TCGA and GEO datasets. Results: Our findings suggest that DTBN induces cell death and autophagy in all breast cancer cell lines, regardless of their Tp53 status. However, they also led us to hypothesize that NRF2 may hinder the sensitivity of cancer cells to DTBN-induced cell death and autophagy. To test this hypothesis, we inhibited NRF2 activity using an NRF2 inhibitor called brusatol. The results of the study indicate that the inhibition of NRF2 significantly increased cell death and autophagy in DTBN-treated cells. We observed a decrease in the expression of the autophagy marker p62, while an increase in the expression of another autophagy marker LC3. These findings suggest that the interaction between NRF2, LC3 and p62, which is activated in response to DTBN treatment, may serve as a potential anticancer drug target. We have validated the positive correlation between NRF2 and the autophagic gene p62 and LC3, in different Tp53 status breast cancer cell lines by analyzing TCGA and GEO data. Conclusions: Our study shows that high levels of Nrf2, LC3 and p62 expression are significantly associated with increased breast cancer cell proliferation and migration. This implies that patients with breast cancer have lower overall survival and a higher rate of recurrence. Our findings highlight the role of DTBN-induced NRF2 and LC3 expression and reduced p62 expression in breast cancer cells with varying Tp53 status. These results may represent a paradigm for better understanding the cancer cell response to therapies and designing more efficient combined anticancer therapies targeting NRF2, LC3 p62, and Tp53.

Disclaimer

This material on this page is ©2024 American Society of Clinical Oncology, all rights reserved. Licensing available upon request. For more information, please contact licensing@asco.org

Abstract Details

Meeting

2024 ASCO Breakthrough

Session Type

Poster Session

Session Title

Poster Session B

Track

Thoracic Cancers,Breast Cancer,Gynecologic Cancer,Head and Neck Cancer,Hematologic Malignancies,Genetics/Genomics/Multiomics,Healthtech Innovations,Models of Care and Care Delivery,Viral-Mediated Malignancies,Other Malignancies or Topics

Sub Track

Diagnostics

Citation

J Clin Oncol 42, 2024 (suppl 23; abstr 6)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2024.42.23_suppl.6

Abstract #

6

Poster Bd #

A5

Abstract Disclosures

Similar Abstracts

First Author: Jinpu Yu

Abstract

2022 ASCO Quality Care Symposium

Academic and community physician perspectives on breast cancer biomarker use in clinical trials.

First Author: Halle H. Thannickal

Abstract

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Profile of breast cancer in patients with Li-Fraumeni syndrome: An institutional experience.

First Author: Nithin S G