ABSTRACT
The high frequency of relapse of epithelial ovarian tumors treated with standard chemotherapy has highlighted the necessity to identify targeted therapies that can improve patient outcomes. The dynamic relationship between cyclin E and PKCiota frequent overexpression in high-grade ovarian tumors poses a novel pathway for therapeutic investigation. We hypothesized that a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-dependent signaling pathway activating PKCiota perpetuates cyclin E deregulation during ovarian tumorigenesis. We observed a positive correlation between PKCiota and cyclin E in a panel of 19 ovarian cancer cell lines. Modulation of cyclin E had no effect on PKCiota knockdown/overexpression; however, PKCiota differentially regulated cyclin E expression. In the serous ovarian cancer cells (IGROV and OVCAR-3), shPKCiota decreased proliferation, caused a G1 arrest and significantly prolonged overall survival in xenograft mouse models. In vitro, shPKCiota decreased the ability of IGROV cells to grow under anchorage-independent conditions and form aberrant acini, which was dependent on Ad-cyclin E or Ad-LMW-E expression. Reverse-phase protein array analysis of PKCiota wild-type, catalytic active, dominant-negative protein isoforms strengthened the association between phospho-PKCiota levels and PI3K pathway activation. Inhibitors of PI3K coordinately decreased phospho-PKCiota and cyclin E protein levels. In conclusion, we have identified a PI3K/PKCiota/cyclin E signaling pathway as a therapeutic target during ovarian tumorigenesis.
Subject(s)
Cyclin E/metabolism , Disease Progression , Isoenzymes/metabolism , Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial/pathology , Ovarian Neoplasms/pathology , Protein Kinase C/metabolism , Animals , Base Sequence , Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Transformation, Neoplastic , Enzyme Activation , Female , Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic , Humans , Mice , Neoplasm Grading , Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial/metabolism , Ovarian Neoplasms/metabolism , Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases/metabolism , Protein Stability , Signal TransductionABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The HER-2/neu protein (p185) has become a promising target for antibody therapy in breast cancer. We tested the feasibility of a quantitative approach for HER-2/neu testing based on the analysis of tumor tissue extracts by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Tumor tissue extracts of primary human breast cancers (n=124) were prepared using a triton-based buffer. HER-2/neu concentration was quantified by ELISA. Paraffin-embedded tissue sections of the same tumors were analyzed by immunohistochemical staining applying the monoclonal HER-2/neu antibody TAB 250 (n=124) and by chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) (n=73). RESULTS: Concentrations of p185 in tissue extracts determined by ELISA varied from 1 to 927 ng per mg protein with a median of 25 ng/mg protein, whereas normal breast tissue showed values from 0.4 to 5.5 ng/mg with a median of 2.2 ng/mg (p<0.0001, Mann-Whitney U test). A significant correlation between p185 concentration and immunohistochemical staining was observed (p<0.0001, Kruskal-Wallis test). In addition, p185 concentration measured by ELISA was correlated with the degree of HER-2/neu gene amplification determined by CISH. HER-2/neu-amplified tumors had significantly higher p185 concentrations (median value 181 ng/mg protein) than non-amplified tumors (median value 20 ng/mg; p<0.0001, Mann-Whitney U test). CONCLUSIONS: ELISA-based measurement of HER-2/neu protein concentration in breast cancer tissue extracts is feasible and provides quantitative results for p185 protein concentrations that correlate closely with HER-2/neu immunoscore and gene amplification.
