Increased expression of enolase alpha in human breast cancer confers tamoxifen resistance in human breast cancer cells

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2010 Jun;121(3):539-53. doi: 10.1007/s10549-009-0492-0. Epub 2009 Aug 5.

Abstract

Enolase-alpha (ENO-1) is a key glycolytic enzyme that has been used as a diagnostic marker to identify human lung cancers. To investigate the role of ENO-1 in breast cancer diagnosis and therapy, the mRNA levels of ENO-1 in 244 tumor and normal paired tissue samples and 20 laser capture-microdissected cell clusters were examined by quantitative real-time PCR analysis. Increased ENO-1 mRNA expression was preferentially detected in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) tumors (tumor/normal ratio >90-fold) when compared to ER-negative (tumor/normal ratio >20-fold) tumor tissues. The data presented here demonstrate that those patients whose tumors highly expressed ENO-1 had a poor prognosis with greater tumor size (>2 cm, *P = .017), poor nodal status (N > 3, *P = .018), and a shorter disease-free interval (<==1 year, *P < .009). We also found that higher-expressing ENO-1 tumors confer longer distance relapse (tumor/normal ratio = 82.8-92.4-fold) when compared to locoregional relapse (tumor/normal ratio = 43.4-fold) in postsurgical 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen (4-OHT)-treated ER+ patients (*P = .014). These data imply that changes in tumor ENO-1 levels are related to clinical 4-OHT therapeutic outcome. In vitro studies demonstrated that decreasing ENO-1 expression using small interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly augmented 4-OHT (100 nM)-induced cytotoxicity in tamoxifen-resistant (Tam-R) breast cancer cells. These results suggest that downregulation of ENO-1 could be utilized as a novel pharmacological approach for overcoming 4-OHT resistance in breast cancer therapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / pharmacology*
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Biomarkers, Tumor / metabolism*
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cells, Cultured
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism*
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm*
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha / metabolism
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • NF-kappa B / metabolism
  • Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / metabolism*
  • Prognosis
  • RNA, Messenger / analysis
  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • Survival Analysis
  • Tamoxifen / pharmacology*
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal
  • Biomarkers, Tumor
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Estrogen Receptor alpha
  • NF-kappa B
  • RNA, Messenger
  • RNA, Small Interfering
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • Tamoxifen
  • ENO1 protein, human
  • Phosphopyruvate Hydratase