Breast cancer genes PSMC3IP and EPSTI1 play a role in apoptosis regulation

PLoS One. 2015 Jan 15;10(1):e0115352. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115352. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

A key element to delineate the biology of individual tumors is the regulation of apoptosis. In this work, we functionally characterize two breast cancer associated genes, the proteasome 26S subunit ATPase 3 interacting protein (PSMC3IP) and the epithelial-stromal interaction 1 (EPSTI1), to explore their potential apoptotic role in breast cancer. We first explore the existence of direct physical interactions with annotated BC-apoptotic genes. Based on the generated interaction network, we examine several apoptotic markers to determine the effect of PSMC3IP and EPSTI1 gene expression modulation in two different human breast cancer cell lines to suggest potential molecular mechanisms to unveil their role in the disease. Our results show that PSMC3IP and EPSTI1 are able to modulate the extrinsic apoptotic pathway in estrogen receptor positive and triple negative breast cancer cell lines, highlighting them as potential therapeutic targets.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Apoptosis / genetics*
  • Breast Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic*
  • Humans
  • Neoplasm Proteins / genetics*
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics*
  • Trans-Activators / genetics*

Substances

  • EPSTI1 protein, human
  • Neoplasm Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • PSMC3IP protein, human
  • Trans-Activators

Grants and funding

This work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (BIO2010-22073). EC-B is a recipient of an FPI fellowship.