Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are defined as environmental compounds that modulate steroid hormone receptor-dependent responses an abnormal manner, resulting in adverse health problems for humans such as cancer growth and metastasis. Cathepsins are proteases that have been implicated in cancer progression. However, there have been few studies about the association between cathepsins and estrogenic chemicals during the cancer progression. In this study, we examined the effect(s) of 4-tert-octylphenol (OP), a potent EDC, on the expression of cathepsins B and D in human MCF-7 breast cancer cells and a xenograft mouse model. Treatment with OP significantly induced the proliferation MCF-7 cells in an MTT assay. In addition, the expression of cathepsins B and D was markedly enhanced in MCF-7 cells at both the transcriptional and the translational levels following treatment with E2 or OP up to 48h. These results demonstrated the ability of OP to disrupt normal transcriptional regulation of cathepsins B and D in human breast cancer cells. However, the effects of OP on cell growth or overexpression of cathepsins by inhibiting ER-mediated signaling were abolished by an ER antagonist and siRNA specific for ERα. In conclusion, our findings suggest that OP at 10(-6)M, like E2, may accelerate breast cancer cell proliferation and the expression of cathepsins through an ER-mediated signaling pathway. In addition, the breast cancer cells exposed with OP to a xenograft mouse model were more aggressive according to our histological analysis and showed markedly increased expression of cathepsin B. These effects of mouse model resulted in an increased potential for metastasis in breast cancer. Taken together, we determined that OP can adversely affect human health by promoting cancer proliferation and metastasis through the amplification of cathepsins B and D via the ER-mediated signaling pathway.
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