Upregulation of Ets1 expression by NFATc2 and NFKB1/RELA promotes breast cancer cell invasiveness

• DOI: 10.1038/s41389-018-0101-3
• Publication Date: 2018-11-21T14:59:08Z
• Authors: Gi-Cheon Kim; Ho-Keun Kwon; Choong-Gu Lee; Ravi Verma; Dipayan Rudra; Taemook Kim; Keunsoo Kang; Jong Hee Nam; Young Kim; Sin-Hyeog Im
• Keywords: TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR ETS-1; 0303 health sciences; NF-KAPPA-B; INVASION; HEPATOCYTE GROWTH-FACTOR; EPITHELIAL-MESENCHYMAL TRANSITION; GENE; ANGIOGENESIS; Article; 3. Good health; ACTIVATION; 03 medical and health sciences; EMERGING ROLES; CLINICAL-IMPLICATIONS

AbstractBreast cancer is highly aggressive and is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in women in developed countries. The ETS proto-oncogene 1 (Ets1) has versatile roles during the cellular processes of cancer development. It is often highly expressed in breast cancers and mediates migration and invasion of human breast cancer cells. However, underlying mechanisms ofEts1gene expression is still ambiguous. Here, we identified a core-regulatory element (CRE) located in the Ets1 promoter region (−540/−80 bp from TSS) that contains elements responsible for associating with NFATs and NF-κBs. Compared with the less metastatic breast cancer cells, metastatic breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) show open chromatin configurations in the CRE, which facilitates direct binding of NFATc2 and/or NFKB1/RELA complex to trans-activateEts1transcription. Moreover, enhanced level ofNfatc2andNfkb1positively correlated with Ets1 expression in the human breast cancer specimens. Deletion of the CRE region by CRISPR/Cas9 system resulted in significant reduction in Ets1 expression, which led to alterations of Ets1-mediated transcription programs including tumor invasiveness-related genes. Proper regulation ofEts1gene expression by targeting the NFATc2 and NFKB1/RELA interaction could be a potential therapeutic target for Ets1-mediated metastatic breast cancer.